Support for SQL 2000 may cost more than upgrading

Enprise encourages customers running SQL 2000 to measure the cost of continued Microsoft support against the cost of upgrading – and to factor in the value of new Exo features available only with SQL 2005 and above.

Many customers have older versions of Microsoft SQL Server chugging away in the background. They would be wise to keep a close eye on Microsoft support costs and also on the ability of their business to access new features in Exo version 8.0 and above, says Support Team Manager Julie Latu.

“Microsoft no longer supports customers using SQL 2000 unless a support agreement is directly negotiated with them,” she says.

“This may be more costly than working through the upgrade or ensuring new systems are developed with SQL Server 2008. Some customers are still on SQL 2000, which will become a problem if they want to keep up to date with other software packages they use. The latest version of MYOB Exo Business requires SQL Server 2005 or above to operate.”

Exo version 8.0 and above makes use of SQL language that is only available in the newer versions of SQL. Here are some examples of features available only with SQL 2005 and above: 

• Exo Analytics and the new dashboards all make use of complex new SQL commands
• Performance Optimisation - searching for records such as debtor transactions, stock transactions and End of Period rolling performance is greatly improved
• Support for 64-bit environments and compatibility with Microsoft Windows 7
• New reporting views that can be used by third party business intelligence applications to reduce data warehouse costs
• Large note fields previously limited to 1000 characters (such as in Job Costing) are now unlimited in size

“It’s also important to note that the database will not install or upgrade on SQL 2000,” Julie Latu says.

“Please contact Enprise Support if you require any further information, or want to discuss the best path for your business.”