Sana for Microsoft Dynamics 365 FAQ

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

What are the details of the Sana Service Level Agreement regarding Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud?

All details can be found in the Customer Service Slides. These include response times, contact numbers, emails, links to Sana support systems to create support requests, and more.

What do I need to know about Sana upgrades?

Sana consists of two main components - the Sana Framework and the Sana extension which is installed inside Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. Sana Framework upgrades are made independent of Sana extension upgrades inside Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. The Sana Framework and the Sana extension in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central are compatible as long as you use the same major version of Sana.

For example, the Sana Framework 9.3.4 is compatible with the Sana extension 9.3.0, 9.3.3 and 9.3.4 in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. But if you have the Sana Framework 9.3.* and the Sana extension 9.2.* or 9.1.* in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central - they might be compatible, but cannot be guaranteed by Sana, because the major Sana versions are different. This means that if you upgrade the Sana Framework to the major Sana version, it is also required to upgrade the Sana extension in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. For this reason, we strongly recommend the use of Sana Saas in combinations with Microsoft Dynamics Business Central.

When we release the new version of the Sana Framework, you must check whether we also released the new version of the Sana extension for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. You can check this in our release notes, on the Sana Community website, in the Extension Marketplace directly in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central or in Microsoft AppSource.

Even when we release a minor version of the Sana extension for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, we recommend to upgrade it. It may be necessary to upgrade your Sana extension (app) in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central in order to enable new Sana features which have a dependency on the Sana extension in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. If the Sana extension is not updated in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, then the new ERP-dependent Sana features will simply not be available.

Will a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central major upgrade impact my Sana web store, for example, from version 13 to 14?

As an independent software vendor (ISV), Sana is responsible for compatibility with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central versions, which we adhere to by thoroughly testing against the bi-yearly major releases. There are also some practices Microsoft uses to avoid any dependencies between Sana and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. Releasing Developer Preview of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Microsoft will inform Sana of any issues that the official release may cause. Sana will then fix any issues and upload the new version of the Sana extension to Microsoft AppSource before the official release of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central takes place.

When Microsoft releases a major version of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud, every app installed on your tenant will be updated automatically to the latest available version. For example, if you have Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 13 with the Sana extension installed and Microsoft upgrades it to version 14, the Sana extension will be also automatically updated to the latest available version, if there is any. For this reason, we strongly recommend the use of Sana Saas in combinations with Microsoft Dynamics Business Central Cloud.

For Sana on-premise there is a possibility to "lock-in" a specific Sana version in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. Even when Microsoft rolls out a major update for Dynamics 365 Business Central and therefore upgrades the Sana extension on the customers' environments automatically to the latest available version, the Sana extension will still run on the same version, even though a later one might be available.

For more information, see "Sana Compatibility Level".

For Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central On-Premises, Microsoft does not push any updates automatically. The partner is responsible for upgrading Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and the Sana extension of a customer.

During an upgrade there may be some connection downtime, therefore Sana will automatically switch to the maintenance mode during this period. With regards to the Cloud version of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Microsoft performs the upgrade at a time that minimizes impact, for instance during the night. If you have the On-Premises version of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, the time of the upgrade can be discussed with your partner.

Will a Business Central minor upgrade impact my Sana web store?

To date, there have been no minor upgrades that have caused any issues with the Sana extension. Typically, monthly releases contain only minor bug fixes. It is unlikely that such a change will impact Sana, however we can never be 100% confident, so there are a couple of areas we are considering to be more confident.

Moreover, every night Sana downloads and deploys the latest internal version of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, compiles the Sana extension on it and runs the tests.

What do you need to know about API rate limits in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud?

Microsoft introduced API limits in Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud to ensure that no single client consumes too many shared resources and all tenants are running smoothly.

Sana connects to and communicates with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central via the Web service. The current API rate limits are the following:

Sandbox: 300 req/min
Production: 600 req/min

These are Microsoft limitations and Sana cannot influence these API limits, but they are subject to change by Microsoft.

If you have a high-traffic web store or you expect a significant increase in your store's traffic during seasonal sales or holidays, for example Christmas sale and Black Friday, you can contact Microsoft to request a higher threshold.

I need a customization to the Sana extension, but I heard this is not possible, is it true?

This is not true. Microsoft offers the possibility to build customizations in the form of a dependent extension. In case of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud, Sana or a partner can create a per-tenant extension in the object range 50000 - 99999 which will depend on the Sana Commerce extension. According to Microsoft this is the preferred approach to enhance the Sana extension for a single customer scenario running Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud.

Are there any other Apps in Microsoft AppSource that should not be installed with Sana?

To date, Sana didn't have any issues with other Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central extensions. Although we have not tested Sana in combination with all available apps in Microsoft AppSource, there are certain infrastructural measures that Sana follows to avoid such conflicts. For example, Sana added a unique prefix to all objects within our application. The purpose of this is to avoid collision with other extensions.

From a functional point of view, we try our best but neither Sana nor Microsoft can guarantee that all extensions will run nicely together. For example, if Sana is installed with another e-Commerce extension, some conflicting processes may occur. None have been reported to date.

Another noteworthy point is the dependent extensions. Such extensions may influence the Sana extension. You can find more information on how to build a dependent extension using our integration events on the Sana Community website. Only Sana Partners can access our community.