Dime.Scheduler as a Service

It is official: we are working on a new offering to bring Dime.Scheduler to the cloud as a service. The transition from a single-tenant, on-premise application to a multi-tenant, cloud-native service brings a few changes with it. In this article, we will document everything you need to know about implementing and using the software.

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On our partner zone, we share more details on what the consequences are for you as a partner. This article focuses exclusively on the product itself.

The way forward

The decision to transition to the SaaS business model is one that we did not take lightly. After months of meetings and consulting almost everybody under the sun, we are convinced that a managed solution will be beneficial to everybody.

Just take a look that the below comparison of the current on-premise deployment model with the upcoming SaaS offering:

Topic	Dime.Scheduler as a Service	Dime.Scheduler on-premise
Hardware	Provided by Dime Software and CSPs	Requires purchase/lease of hardware
Updates	Continuous	Keeping the lights on mode
Maintenance	Provided by Dime Software and CSPs	Resources from reseller or customer need to be allocated
Scalability	Automatic	None by default
Backups	Automatic	None by default
Storage	In the cloud	Stored locally
Customizations	BC connector, private import actions	BC connector, import actions, client-side scripts
CAPEX	None	Hardware
OPEX	Subscription	License, maintenance, staff, hardware, utilities
Uptime	Very high	High
Deployment	Click & run	Run installer
License	Subscription	Subscription or perpetual
Trials	Free	Free, but requires local installation on your premises

By taking control over hosting and maintenance, it will be easier for resellers, customers, and Dime Software, to use Dime.Scheduler. It is quite clear that SaaS has many benefits, but there are other factors that some might find worrisome. We have thought long and hard about it, and we believe we can provide a better solution than the vast majority of our resellers and customers could possibly provide. Let's go over some of the typical concerns that arise in the cloud vs on-premise debate:

• Security: with a managed solution, we can invest in world-class security. Multiple layers of protection and extensive disaster recovery and business continuity plans can be implemented that would otherwise make no sense in on-premise deployments.
• Customization: nearly all customizations in Dime.Scheduler are made in the connectors of the backoffice systems. As such, Dime.Scheduler will remain the flexible application as it has always been.
• Performance: some are concerned of downgraded performance as an internet connection is required to work with the software. With Dime.Scheduler as a Service, Dime Software is able to deploy a scalable and high-performing solution that just can't be rivaled by an on-premise deployment. It is true that latency may go up as there is a bigger distance to travel to the nearest node, but with some clever engineering, we should be able to minimize the latency.
• Regulatory compliance: This is a valid concern that every company on the surface of the earth faces, and it is a top priority for us to ensure that we comply with data protection and security laws.

Release strategy

Dime Software will adopt a cloud-only approach, which entails that new features will be developed for the cloud solution. Deployments will be frequent and seamless, up to multiple times a month, with improvements and new functionality. This cloud-only approach allows us to focus more on developing new features, and less on support and backwards/forwards compatibility. Hence, we expect the rate of innovation to go up significantly.

With new features pushed only to the cloud version, this does not mean that the on-premise version of Dime.Scheduler is discontinued. We will keep supporting it with bug fixes and security updates for the foreseeable future. We, therefore, recommend that customers join us in the cloud version so they can benefit from the many new features that we are planning to build.

What will change

The journey to Dime.Scheduler as a Service has consequences in every aspect of our business. Fortunately, as you'll learn in the next part, not so much will change for you per se. Don't forget to check out our partner zone where we share more details on the ramificiations for our resellers.

For the product's bits and bytes itself, the journey looks as follows.

Wave 1: Tech stack upgrade

The first phase is mostly a technical excercise. Even so, it has an impact on pretty much everything else, so it's worth to keep on reading, even if you're not involved in technical areas.

First of all, upgrading our tech stack allows us to place our nodes in containers. Containers are lightweight, self-contained, portable, and easy to deploy. By containerizing our software, we eliminate the need of requiring a full-blown Windows Server. Dime.Scheduler will internally run on Linux, which is distributed under the GNU General Public License v2 (GPL). As a result, we will benefit from lower operating, licensing and maintenance costs.

Secondly, massive performance improvements are expected. Initial benchmarks indicate that read/write operations are 2 to 3 times faster than Dime.Scheduler 2023.1.0, and we expect that number to go up. Mind you, Dime.Scheduler remains a data-intensive and chatty application, so the ultimate perceived performance will partially depend on the computing power of the users' devices, and the way they use the software. With that in mind, we are spending a considerable amount of time and effort to ensure we can offer fast and scalable infrastructure. This wave would tick all the boxes required to do just that, and it will significantly lower the operating costs of running Dime.Scheduler.

A third initiative to maximize performance and scability involves optimizing the software's architecture itself. By introducing multi-tenancy, aggressive caching and reconciled database and transaction management, the number of moving parts is reduced to the bare minimum, as are expensive I/O and network calls. This too, will result in fewer bottlenecks and overall better performance.

Wave 2: Soft Launch

There are many elements and edge cases that ought to be considered before launching any product. And as anywhere, we too need to draw a line in the sand somewhere to go to market. While Dime.Scheduler is a mature product, and nothing will change to the scope of the product's capabilities, the cloud offering is new, and as such we will initiate a soft launch and onboard a limited number of customers.

The scope of the launch is yet to be determined, but it is likely that some of the plugins won't be available yet. At the very least, the cloud offering will come with the backoffice connector for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Online. Other plugins and connectors will follow suit and will be rock-solid before we enter the next stage.

Wave 3: GA

When Dime.Scheduler enters the General Availability (GA) phase, Dime.Scheduler 'as a service' is open for business. The software will have reached feature parity and customers can use all the features that we ship out of the box. At this point, we will resume working on new features that are high on the roadmap, such as project planning and scheduling optimization. On launch day, we will also go live with the updated Power Platform connector and mobile app.

At this point, new customers will only be able to sign up for the cloud version, so the price list will also be updated. We are yet to pull the trigger on the pricing, but one thing we can already tell you is that the perpetual license model will not be offered in the cloud model. This is why we highly recommend that all new customers that purchase Dime.Scheduler in 2023 select the subscription model, as to facilitate the process of upgrading to Dime.Scheduler in the cloud.

We will also provide upgrade tracks from on-premise solutions to Dime.Scheduler cloud. We will build the tools and procedures to move your customer's data securely to our cloud, convert perpetual licenses to subscriptions, and more.

And finally, we will add more capabilities to our partner zone so you can enroll your customer and get access to trial or a live environments in a mere few minutes.

What these changes mean for you

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Some arguments are made in the article on the partner zone.

Staying put

For those who decide to stay on-premise, be it forever or temporarily, it is business as usual. The software will still run on your data center and you'll still be responsible for the maintenance of your infrastructure. Dime Software will keep on supporting the on-premise version, albeit it'll be limited to bug fixes and security patches.

Move to the cloud

New customers will receive a plug and play experience. After you - our reseller - have placed the order, we'll provision your tenant for you, after which you can go ahead and set up the connection with your backoffice system. We'll take care of everything else.

For existing customers that upgrade to the cloud version, the process is roughly the same, but it must be preceded by a migration project to move the data to the cloud, convert the perpetual license to the new subscription model, and adjust the connections to point the backoffice systems to Dime.Scheduler in the cloud.

To prepare for this transition, we strongly recommend that all new customers select the subscription model. This will make it easier to make the move to the cloud. We remind you that we have a generous offer to help your customer make the move to the cloud.

Training

The cloud offering also forces us to revise the outline of the partner training program. We can swap out all things related to deployment, and focus more on integrating Dime.Scheduler with the supported backoffice systems. We are currently developing an online training course for you and your customers to lower the learning curve and get the most out of Dime.Scheduler.

We'll also schedule a series of webinars to get you up to speed with the new offering.

Your role as reseller

If we haven't made it clear enough, your position as reseller remains the same. We work with our network of resellers to bring Dime.Scheduler to market. With Dime.Scheduler 'as a Service', you may think that everybody can just sign up and get started right away without your assistance. That's not going to happen, because there's still the matter of linking Dime.Scheduler to the backoffice system, which requires in-depth knowledge of the backoffice system and Dime.Scheduler. Only you will be able to place orders for your customers, and guide them to properly use the software.

Deprecated features and breaking changes

Item	Comment
Authentication with on-premises Active Directory	On-premises Active Directory will not be supported directly anymore. Microsoft has capabilities to connect to Azure AD (Azure AD Connect), which is still supported.
Azure AD authentication	It is no longer necessary to create your own app registration to authenticate your users with Azure AD. Dime Software provides that functionality for you out of the box. This will be the recommended option to authenticate users.
CRM connector	The CRM connector has reached its end of life (EOL). The Power Platform connector can be used to link Microsoft Dynamics CRM to Dime.Scheduler.
Import procedures	Modifications to the standard import actions will no longer be possible. The alternative solution is to use custom actions, approved by Dime Software, or choose to implement the customizations in your backoffice. For example, by extending the BC extension for Dime.Scheduler, you can achieve the same results.
Dime.Scheduler Connect	Dime.Scheduler Connect was made to connect the Power Platform to your on-premise instance of Dime.Scheduler. We will fade out this service and replace it by a self-hosting alternative.
CLI and SDK	Version 1.x of the SDK and CLI will be maintained for the on-premise versions. Version 2.x and up will target the cloud version.
Mobile App	The mobile app will point to the cloud version by default. Through config, it'll be possible to link to your on-premise mobile backend service.