General ALF information

Before you can install the HSO modules several actions have to be performed. These are the steps to take:

A partner/customer must have a Lifecycle Services (LCS) project in place (lcs.dynamics.com) and we need to receive the  Azure active directory account (email address) of the person, that has access to the 'asset library' and will do the import of our solution(s) into their project.

Please send this information to innovationsupport@hso.com.

In case the import is done by the partner on a customer LCS project, we also need the Azure active directory account (email address) of the contact of the customer. These users will be added to our solutions and as of that moment you will be able to import the solution into the 'asset library' of your project and you will be informed by email when a new version is published:

When the solution is imported the software (models and deployable packages) are automatically imported into the 'asset library'. After this is done there are 2 options:

1. The partner/customer can have the need to make adjustments to our modules. In that case, it is possible to download the modules and connected them to Visual Studio Online (VSO) to perform adjustments. When the adjustments are done it is possible to deploy the package into the environment.
2. If the partner/customer doesn’t need to make any adjustments, it is possible to directly deploy the package from LCS via the “maintain” option on the LCS project overview or via a Power Shell script on the environment itself.

3. After the HSO software has been installed onto the environment, the licensing steps need to be performed which is explained in the Activate the ALF license topic.
4. When the license request has been completed, for each module the license status indicates whether the customer is entitile to it or not. Based on this information, customers need to enable or disable the configuration key for each module accordingly.

The ALF model is integrated in the products of Hso and will be installed automatically with the deployable package in LCS.

The steps below will explain what needs to be done to fully and correctly activate the Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations license for the HSO models.

Activate the ALF license framework

Loading certificates

A certification file is required for the Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations License Framework to work. Perform the following steps:

• Logon to Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations
• Go to System administration > Setup > ALF Licenses > Software vendor certificates
• Click on Import default to import the vendor certificate (*.CTF file). If you don't have this button and need a vendor certificate for an older version of our solutions, please send an email to:  hsonnlicenses@hso.com
• A record for the certificate is automatically created.

Online ALF License Requests

To make the license process easier, we've started an opt-in program allowing customers and partners to get their licenses through a web service.

New customers

On clicking the 'Request license button in the ALF form, a dialog will show. Clicking 'ok' will trigger a web call to our license server. It informs us which of our solutions the customer has running and which tenant the environment is connected to. We will use that information to configure a temporary license for the  customer. As a user you'll get an initial warning to contact our Sales Department. You only need to do that if you want to be informed by email, when your license it ready to be retrieved. If you are not in a rush, you can click the button again a couple of hours later and will usually get your license.

In Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations , all environments of a customer or partner use the same tenant-id, allowing all these environments to connect.

From of the 2025Q1 release all configuration keys of products part which are also part of the Advanced Supply Chain Management suite, will be turned off by default for new installations of our solutions. After execution of the Request License function check for which modules have a valid exipration date and turn on the configuration keys for those features that are going to be used. In order to be able to turn on the configuration keys, the system has to be in maintenance mode (Maintenance mode - Finance & Operations | Dynamics 365 | Microsoft Learn).

In case the system does not populate the expiration date, activation code and quantity, please reach out to hsonnlicenses@hso.com provide them with the Serial number and the name of the module so they can verify whether a valid license agreement has been setup for the environment. The Serial number can be found in the ? > About > Licenses tab of the Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations environment (right top corner).

Extending a license

If you already are a customer of HSO (and all is current in our administration according to the license agreement), retrieving an updated license in the system can also be done via the 'Request license online' button.  It will load the up-to-date license. This includes extensions of dates and/or additional modules, provided HSO Innovation has them registered.

Back-up licensing system

If for some reason the online ALF license request as described above does not work, there is a back-up system in place that allows the license to be loaded manually. Follow the steps below to first generate and then load the license file manually.

Create request file

Note that the licensee name and serial number are used in the licensing. A Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations license is bound to your licensee name and serial number and will only work with this combination.

• Logon to Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations
• Go to System administration > Setup > ALF Licenses > ALF Licenses
• Click on File > Create request file File
• In the dialog select HSO Innovation HSO - 1.0 and click on OK to start the download.
• Send the requested file that has just been created to hsonnlicenses@hso.com. Within several hours you will receive a ALF license file in return.

Import license file

When you receive the ALF license file back, perform the following steps:

• Logon to Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations
• Go to System administration > Setup > ALF Licenses > ALF Licenses
• Click on File > Import file and select the file that was sent to you.
       

ALF Errors

1. The certificate is used to verify licensor name against its public key. If the check fails with an error (Error message: Certificate check failed) then check the certificate status like in the screenshot below and if that is “valid” then check the “public key class” that must exist in the AOT.
   
   Path: System administration > Setup > ALF Licenses > Software vendor certificates
   
2. A request file is needed to validate the software vendor modules and therefor there are some prerequisites that must be OK before proceeding:
   1. Software vendor HSO Innovation” is valid.
   2. Valid Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations license file.
3. If the newly created license file is imported the system should be OK with the new dates. If the import fails:
   1. Check the certificate status.
   2. If the certificate status is valid, then please check the content of the license file. You can open it with Notepad and check the software vendor and dates:
      1. ALF License model version
      2. Vendor software model(s) with expiration date and followed by a private string generated by the license generator of the vendor.
      3. The number of users. Can be various depending of the model you have but normally it should be the same as the Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations users.
          
   3. If the information in the license file is as expected and the certificate is valid, then potentially there are some modifications made to the ALF license framework. Please contact your implementation partner or HSO.

FAQ

Cancellation 

There may come a time when you wish to say goodbye to (one of) our solutions. There are 3 aspects to cancelling one of our solutions:

1. Data availability

It is important to consider whether or not any of the data from the solution needs to be preserved. Once the solution is expired and uninstalled, the data will no longer be accessible, so if preservation is important, steps will need to be taken to save the data (before continuing with the cancellation).

2. Commercial cancellation

Please cancel your subscription by sending an e-mail to hsonnlicenses@hso.com with your cancellation. Access will expire per the current licence expiration date. The solution functionality will no longer be accessible after this date and the ALF license notification will appear.

3. Technical cancellation

To uninstall the solution, please consult the following Microsoft documentation: Uninstall a package. Please make sure to test the uninstall on a DEV environment first, before performing it on UAT and Production. Once the uninstall is complete, all relevant functionality and data is erased and the ALF license notification will no longer appear.