The System Landscape Your Business Was Built On and What Comes Next
For many organizations, Microsoft Dynamics SL has been more than just an ERP system. It has been the foundation for how financials are managed, projects are tracked, costs are allocated, and performance is reported across the business.
Over time, that foundation becomes deeply embedded. Processes evolve around it. Integrations are built on top of it. Reporting and downstream systems depend on it. That is why even planned change can feel disruptive.
Microsoft has clearly outlined its shift away from on-premises ERP platforms such as Dynamics SL. While the system will not stop functioning overnight, defined support timelines mean that staying on the same platform introduces growing risk each year. Security exposure, compliance challenges, rising maintenance effort, and limited flexibility become harder to ignore as 2028 approaches. The real question is no longer if change is required. It is how to move forward in a way that protects operations while giving your organization room to evolve.
The Bigger Picture: SL Is Just One Piece of the Puzzle
In most environments, Dynamics SL does not operate in isolation. It often sits at the center of a broader system landscape that includes payroll, time, and expense systems, CRM platforms, reporting tools, custom databases, and third-party applications.
Any transition away from SL must account for these dependencies. Data movement, historical access, and ongoing integrations all play a critical role in maintaining business continuity.
This is also where many migration initiatives encounter challenges. When the complexity of data and connected systems is underestimated, projects can face delays, rework, or unexpected risk. Planning for the broader ecosystem from the start makes the difference between a controlled transition and a reactive one.
Let’s walk through what matters.
Time is Clicking: Ensuring Data Continuity Beyond Dynamics SL
Dynamics SL is approaching the end of its lifecycle, prompting many organizations to focus on protecting legacy data while maintaining uninterrupted day-to-day operations and business processes.
KingswaySoft continues to support teams that rely on Dynamics SL as Microsoft advances its cloud-first strategy. For a seamless migration, organizations must make informed decisions around data accessibility, system modernization, and long-term stability. To support a wide range of Dynamics SL migration strategies, KingswaySoft enables data migration and integration from Dynamics SL to any destination, including:
Migration Options: Where You Can Go From Here
KingswaySoft enables migration from Dynamics SL to virtually any platform, including:
- Microsoft Dynamics Platforms
- Alternative Cloud ERP Systems
- Cloud Data & Analytics Platforms for Historical Data Retention
Whether you are modernizing your ERP or preserving historical data for reporting and compliance, KingswaySoft migration solutions ensure your project, financial, and historical data remain accurate, complete, and accessible from day one.
The SL End of Life: Key Dates and Implications
Microsoft's strategic prioritization of cloud solutions has established definitive dates for the on-premises Dynamics SL (formerly Solomon) platform. Organizations in project-based industries, such as construction and professional services, must prepare for a structured transition.
The lifecycle for the last available version, Dynamics SL 2018, is governed by the Fixed Lifecycle Policy with the following definitive date:
- Mainstream Support End (Passed): Mainstream support ended on January 9, 2024. Microsoft is no longer releasing new functional updates, feature enhancements, or year-end regulatory updates (such as tax or government compliance changes).
- End of Extended Support: All support, including critical security patches and hotfixes, will cease on July 11, 2028.
Operating on an unsupported platform beyond July 2028 exposes your business to significant risks, ranging from security vulnerabilities to compliance failures in project-based contracts. The time to plan your migration process is now.
Sources:
Microsoft’s official support timeline for Dynamics SL: Microsoft Dynamics SL Lifecycle Policy
More information: Dynamics SL Lifecycle FAQ
Why Migrate Early?
Waiting until the deadline accelerates costs and security risks. Migrating early ensures data continuity and positions your business to take advantage of modern cloud technology.
Reduced Maintenance Costs
As support ends, troubleshooting requires specialized, increasingly expensive resources.
Compliance and Security
Post-2028, the lack of security patches exposes complex SL databases to cyber threats.
Integration Stability
Unsupported platforms risk downtime and compatibility issues with modern time-and-billing or field service management systems.
Innovation
Over Stagnation
A deliberate, early plan ensures your new ERP starts with clean, high-quality data rather than a rushed "lift and shift."
Secure your systems, reduce costs, and stay ahead.
Strategy is Key: Navigating the Migration Process
Dynamics SL migration is a fundamental business transformation, and success depends on a robust data strategy. Key steps to ensure business processes continue smoothly include:
- Customization Assessment (Solomon Logic): Review critical Project Accounting modules and unique business logic (Dexterity or VBA) built into your SL environment.
- Target ERP Evaluation: Evaluate standard features against your deep requirements for contract billing and resource planning.
- Data Strategy and Cleanup: Legacy project ledger data requires dedicated cleansing to maintain accurate historical reporting.
- Integration and Testing: Ensure external applications integrate flawlessly with the new ERP using modern APIs.
KingswaySoft's Role: The Bridge to Your Future Environment
Data is the lifeblood of your business. KingswaySoft’s SSIS Integration Toolkit for Microsoft Dynamics SL eliminates the complexity and risk associated with ERP migration. Utilizing the familiar SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) platform, we provide a high-performance bridge for your data.
KingswaySoft's Dynamics SL migration solution is designed to eliminate the complexity, custom coding, and high risk often associated with ERP data migration and integration. The toolkit utilizes Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), a familiar platform for many Dynamics users, offering a reliable, high-performance bridge for your data.
Dynamics SL Toolkit: Key Advantages That Simplify Migration
- Simplified Data Extraction: KingswaySoft's Dynamics SL Source Component can easily read directly from your SL SQL database, simplifying the extraction of complex transactional records and customized fields.
- Any-to-Any Integration: Manage the entire process via drag-and-drop components. This reduces development time and eliminates the risks of custom coding.
- Data Archiving: Use the toolkit to archive historical data into a separate SQL database for long-term compliance while keeping your new ERP streamlined.
Don’t let the Dynamics SL end-of-life create uncertainty or force a rushed decision.
Implement a proactive strategy and leverage a specialized cloud migration tool such as SSIS Integration Toolkit for Microsoft Dynamics SL to transform a potential challenge into a powerful opportunity for modernization and future growth.
What to Do Next: Migrate Data from Dynamics SL
Dynamics SL environments are highly customized and data-rich, especially for project accounting and historical financials. Extracting, cleansing, and mapping that data to a modern system is often the most complex and risky part of any migration.
This is where KingswaySoft transforms a high-risk initiative into a structured and predictable process by acting as the data bridge between SL and your future platform.
- Audit First: Gain a clear understanding of your current Dynamics SL data, customizations, and integrations.
- Evaluate Targets: Assess Dynamics 365 Business Central, Finance & Operations, NetSuite, Acumatica, or other modern ERP platforms to determine the best long-term fit for your business.
- Contact KingswaySoft: Before finalizing your plan, let us help you design a reliable approach for extracting and validating your SL data.
Would you like to connect with a KingswaySoft expert to discuss your specific SL migration scenario?
Get In TouchAbout KingswaySoft
KingswaySoft offers robust data enablement solutions that simplify complex integration scenarios and enhance data connectivity. These include our recently introduced JDBC Driver Pack, and over 300 SSIS components across diverse categories, such as data masking and anonymization, duplicate detection, data comparison, data profiling, advanced expression, encryption and compression, JSON & XML processing, SFTP/FTPS, and message queuing, to name a few. Many other premium components support in delivering a rapid ETL development experience using Microsoft Visual Studio and SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) as the platform.
Our solution also includes support for connecting to NoSQL databases, cloud storage services, REST APIs, and virtually any other API or web service endpoint (SOAP or REST). Connectivity solutions are also available for facilitating data integration with enterprise applications such as Microsoft Dynamics 365, Business Central, Active Directory, HubSpot, Microsoft SharePoint, Salesforce, SAP, and many more. Similarly, REST connections are available for numerous applications, including LinkedIn, Facebook Messenger, Acumatica, Zoom, Shopify, ServiceNow, and Zendesk, to name a few.
Get in touch with an expert to secure
your risk-free Dynamics SL migration plan.
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FAQ
Under Microsoft’s Fixed Lifecycle Policy, Mainstream Support for Dynamics SL 2018 ended on January 9, 2024. This means no new functional or regulatory updates are being released. Extended Support, which includes critical security patches, will officially cease on July 11, 2028. Organizations should finalize migration plans before this final deadline.
Operating an ERP beyond the July 2028 deadline exposes your business to security vulnerabilities without official patches, non-compliance with financial regulations, and integration failures with modern third-party applications. As the talent pool for legacy SL specialized resources shrinks, maintenance costs will also significantly increase.
The KingswaySoft SSIS Integration Toolkit for Microsoft Dynamics SL offers a high-performance, drag-and-drop solution for data migration. It eliminates the need for expensive custom coding by allowing teams to extract complex project accounting and historical records directly from the SL SQL database. Our toolkit acts as a reliable bridge, ensuring your data is cleaned and accurately mapped to your new modern ERP platform.
Microsoft officially recommends Dynamics 365 Business Central as the primary cloud successor for SL users. However, project-heavy firms also frequently migrate to platforms like Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations or NetSuite. KingswaySoft provides "any-to-any" connectivity, making it easy to migrate your data to whichever platform fits your business strategy best.
Yes. Many organizations use KingswaySoft to archive high volumes of historical SL data into cloud warehouses like Azure SQL, Snowflake, or Amazon Redshift. This allows you to decommission your SL servers while maintaining access to historical records for audit and reporting purposes without cluttering your new ERP environment.