Lifecycle Services – July 2019 (Release 1) release notes
Configure updates for ONE Version
In April 2019, we released a configuration experience in LCS for ONE Version to enable customers configure Microsoft managed service updates to their environments. However, at that time we were slowly onboarding customers to ONE version. For that reason, the update settings page was visible for most projects but it was up to the customer to set the default values for when they want to get the updates. Starting with this release, we will be setting default values for all projects. This includes existing projects that don’t have default values set as well as any new project that will be provisioned after this release. This will ensure that your environments are part of the ONE Version Microsoft managed service updates. In addition to this, if you delete the designated sandbox environment, then we will default to the next available sandbox environment in the following order of preference: 1) next available Tier 2 sandbox 2) Tier 3 sandbox 3) Tier 4 sandbox and 4) Tier 5 sandbox. When we make any changes to the update settings for your project, we do send a notification to the project owners informing them of this update.
LCS update experience for ONE Version
Last month we announced the upcoming changes to the update tiles in Lifecycle Services (LCS). The new LCS update feature is now available with this LCS release.
There is a new update experience for Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations and Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Retail both cloud and on-premises environments running on product version 8.1 and later.
From the environment detail page, you will see the available update options based on the product version you’re running and the service update availability. Each update option is a cumulative roll-up build associated with a version number and a build number.
You may see one or more of the following update options –
| Update | Description | Availability |
| Quality update | A quality update is a cumulative, roll-up build that contains fixes for issues that are specific to the product version that you’re currently running. |
A quality update is available when your environment is running the same version of the current service update (n), or when your environment is running on one version older than the current service update (n-1). For example, if the current service update is version 10.0.2, you will have the option to choose a quality update if you’re running version 10.0.2, or if you’re running one version older, which is 10.0.1.
There will be no quality update available for any version that’s older than 2 versions of the current service update. You will have to apply the latest service update to stay current. |
| Service update |
A service update is the version currently automatically applied to customer environments based on the LCS project update settings.
A service update is a cumulative, roll-up build that contains new features, functionality, and the related quality update that is generally available. |
A service update is available if your environment has not been updated to the current service update version available for auto-update.
Only the designated sandbox or production environment will be auto-updated if you have configured the update settings for the LCS project. However, you can manually apply the current service update version to other sandbox environments or your cloud-hosted environments. |
| Upcoming service update |
An upcoming service update is the latest version that is generally available for self-update.
An upcoming service update is a cumulative, roll-up build that contains new features, functionality, and the related quality update that is generally available. |
An upcoming service update will be made generally available for self-deployment approximately 2 weeks prior to when Microsoft starts automatically applying this version based on your update settings for the LCS project. |
This change does not impact existing One Version service update policy.
If your environment is on an earlier version such as 8.0 or 7.x, there will be no change with your LCS update tile experience.
LCS project onboarding
A new feature is available in LCS to streamline the project setup for a new implementation project. This new feature is called Project onboarding, it is available for both online and on-premises implementation projects for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations and Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Retail.
After a new implementation project is provisioned in LCS, it is recommended to complete the Project onboarding setup before start deploying new environments. Project onboarding is a step-by-step, self-paced, wizard-driven onboarding experience. It guides the tenant administrator to setup the key configuration components for the new implementation project provisioned in LCS. At each of the project onboarding steps, there is video reference and description that provide guidance on the information needed in order to complete the onboarding process for a successful implementation. During the project onboarding setup, you can save and exist the wizard anytime and return to continue throughout the implementation. After you completed the project onboarding, Microsoft FastTrack team will contact your project team and provide information about the FastTrack program.
You can access Project onboarding from the hamburger dropdown menu of an implementation project. Besides the tenant administrator, only users with the project owner or environment manager LCS security role will be able to access the project onboarding tool.
If you have completed the implementation and have gone live with your production environment, Project onboarding is an optional tool to your implementation project, you are not required to use it. We do have an issue today where if you visit the tool once the projects’ action center will surface the message saying you need to complete the project onboarding. We will fix this in the next release.
