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[Jamie Evenson]

Hi all!

I am looking to see if anyone has done a GP 2013 R2 to latest release upgrade?  I have completed numerous upgrades going from GP 2013 to GP 2018 but not finding anything on the upgrade paths to the latest.  If I upgrade to an applicable GP 2015 version (say, 14.00.1100) can I go directly to 18.2.1013??

Looking to see what others may have done or might suggest.  Really hoping to limit to 2 hops, if possible.  

Thanks all!

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Jamie Evenson
CEO
Najaxa Software
Fargo, ND
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[David Morinello]

If I am reading this correctly, it looks like you may be able to go to GP 2016, then directly to Dynamics GP (19).

Depending on the path level for your GP 2013 R2, you may need to patch GP 2013 first. Last June we jumped from GP 2013 R2 Version 12.00.2230, to GP 2018 R2 in 2 hops, GP 2016 was our middle hop. With several practice upgrades, everything went very smooth. Watch out for both the OS and SQL versions. Make sure you keep an eye on any 3rd party plug-ins also.

Upgrade Paths

Upgrading From	Patch Requirement for the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 Upgrade	Notes
12.00.1826 January Hotfix KB 3030071	RTM or later Version 16.00.0371 or later	Release 2013 Service Packs Release 2015 Service Packs
14.00.0725 R2 KB 3063038	RTM or later Version 16.00.0371 or later	Release 2013 Service Packs Release 2015 Service Packs

Upgrade Paths

?Upgrading From	?Patch Requirement for the Microsoft Dynamics GP Upgrade	?Notes
16.00.0716 or later Mid-Year KB4099098	??RTM or later Version 18.2.1013 or later	Release 2016 Service Packs
?16.00.0814 or later U.S. Year-End KB4528417	?U.S. Year-End Version 18.2.1036 or later	?
?16.00.0814 or later Canada Payroll Year-End KB4533807	?Canada Payroll Year-End Version 18.2.1036 or later SEE NOTE #4 below	?
?16.00.0814 or later Canada Payroll Year-End Rd 2 KB4536494	?Canada Payroll Year-End Rd 2 Version 18.2.1036 or later	?
?18.00.0496 or later Mid-Year KB4099101	?RTM or later Version 18.2.1013 or later	Release 2018 Service Packs

 

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David Morinello
Senior Dynamics GP Systems Architect
Ascend Learning, LLC
Leawood KS
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[Jamie Evenson]

It’s like you found a unicorn.  I searched PartnerSource, Bing, and Google for the second Upgrade Path to know avail. I would have to agree with you that patching 2013 then upgrade to GP 2016 and then go directly to GP (2019). 

Yes, I plan to do a discovery upgrade and a couple of test upgrades.  They have a lot of ISVs and large databases.  This will certainly be a major upgrade even without the multi-step upgrade.  And yes, will need to utilize multiple OS/SQL versions to get from A to B.  I will definitely take a look at the information you provided.  There is always something more to learn. 🙂 

Thanks again, guys! It is very much appreciated. 
?

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Jamie Evenson
CEO
Najaxa Software
Las Vegas, NV
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[Blair Christensen]

Just a note, but things get very complicated when you start mixing in operating system upgrades in the mix.  Exponentially so when ALSO mixing in SQL Server upgrades.  My suggestion: take each one individually.  The problem is that each one (accounting system, operating system, database engine) is its own MAJOR upgrade – with its own debugging.  Change too many things at the same time and issues become impossible to troubleshoot.

My strong recommendation is to do the OS upgrades first and let them burn in for a month (or two).  They WILL introduce their own set of hiccups and you want time to work through them all before introducing new issues.  Unless you’re still back on SQL Server 2008, I would actually do the GP upgrade next.  If you are still back on 2008, upgrade SQL Server to 2016 or later (which will be at least a two-step jump on its own).  Now I would watch this one VERY closely because there are major engine changes in 2014 which completely took down one of our major systems after we upgraded.  The only fix – still in place to this day – was to take our compatibility level back down to 2012.  (I will note that it didn’t seem to affect GP.)

Take them one at a time to give yourself the chance to work through the bugs that each change is going to introduce.  Good luck – and I mean that in all sincerity.  We faced a similar scenario and spread out the changes over a year so we weren’t trying to force too much too quickly.  We still ran into issues, but it was manageable.

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Blair Christensen
Database Administrator
Oppenheimer Companies, Inc.
Boise Idaho GPUG Chapter Leader
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[Blair Christensen]

Funny you should ask.  We did this last January and I actually presented a class on it at Summit in Orlando!

Yes, it’s at least a two-step jump.  You have to be on 2013R2 before you can jump to either 2015 or 2016 (either version of those two) and from there you can go to 2018/2019.

My suggestions: test the entire upgrade process at least twice on a test system.  As I discussed in my presentation, this is so that you can resolve any issues which may spring up and so you can get a good feel for the process and how much time its going to take you to complete.  If it’s a plain vanilla install, it may only take a couple of hours to jump each version.  If you’ve got a lot of large companies and a lot of third party add-ons (like us), it was a holiday weekend project (4 days).  If you’d like more information about how things went, you’re welcome to check out the GPUG Orlando archives for my class “In the Trenches: Upgrading Dynamics GP” and check out the slides, or you’re welcome to reach out to me directly.

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Blair Christensen
Database Administrator
Oppenheimer Companies, Inc.
Boise Idaho GPUG Chapter Leader
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[Diana Doane]

and anyone else that has made the trek from a GP version on the Fixed Lifecyle Model to the Modern Lifecycle Model, wondering how this went for you.  We are on 2018 R2 and wanting to determine how many hops will be involved to get ourselves current.  Can we go directly from 2018R2 to latest or will we have a hop per year of modern lifecycle releases?

Thanks!?

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Diana Doane
TruckPro
Leawood KS
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[Jamie Evenson]

Hi !

The upgrades went well. Definitely look at the upgrade blogs for known issues as this will save a lot of time and headaches. Since getting customers to the modern lifecycle, we look to complete one upgrade a year to keep them up to date (supported).  I am not sure if you saw this site or not but if not, it may prove to be useful.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/s-e/gp/hot_topic_mdgpupgrade_415

There is a ?note and some really big font (shouting that I am important information not to be missed ;)).  I have added a screenshot below so you can simply see the information. Based on the notes, it would seem to me that you could go from 2018 R2 to the December release but it never calls it out that you can (because you can go from GP 2018 to the October 2021 release). At the very least, you know for sure that you can go to 18.4.1361.   

Sorry if this doesn’t quite answer your question. Microsoft has proven yet again that ambiguity is acceptable within documentation. 🙁 

Good luck! 

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Jamie Evenson
CEO
Najaxa Software
Las Vegas, NV
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[Beat Bucher]

Jamie,
As Blair & David pointed out, this is at least a 2-hop upgrade, with a possible patching of 2013 to the latest service pack available before going to 2016 & then 2018(i.e. YE 2021 release). 
The good news is that you don’t need several OS & SQL environment to do all of the updates.. I’ve upgraded numerous clients from 2013, 2015, 2016 all the way to the latest build 18.4 on Azure environment and did everything in a single system (Windows 2019 Datacenter and SQL 2019).
The trick is to use ‘s tip to make older GP versions believe they are running on the actual SQL version they want to be on..
?https://winthropdc.wordpress.com/2019/09/20/how-to-bypass-sql-version-errors-from-dynamics-utilities/
I’ve seen partners installing multiple versions of SQL server in various instances to comply with the intermediary GP versions, but all that extra work is no required with this little trick..
As a warning, this shouldn’t be used as a permanent bypass in a production environment, but is perfectly acceptable when doing the upgrade passes. 
You still want to make sure all the ISV products are upgraded at the same pace, because some of them don’t like to jump versions too far apart (like GP).
Have all the registration keys ready for every version, including the intermediary releases. GP only allows limited functionality when reg keys are not entered, so you are usually not allowed to install/upgrade ISV products.

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Beat Bucher
Business Analyst, Dynamics GP SME
Montreal QC/Canada
@GP_Beat http://www.gp-geek.com
Montreal QC GPUG Chapter Leader
MBS MVP (2015-2018)

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