Chapter 16: Service Life Cycle in Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 is an evergreen product, meaning it's continuously under development and being updated. New features are constantly being developed, tested, and released. As such, Microsoft 365 has a different life cycle than traditional software.

In a standard on-premises software life cycle, products typically go through pre-release stages where they're made available internally or to select customers for testing and then are eventually Released To Manufacturing (RTM). After a product's release, it goes through a succession of product updates (typically, for 3 years) that can address features or security improvements. Each stage of a product's life cycle has defined support phases (standard support, extended support, and end-of-life), and each of these development and release milestones comes with different support terms.

With cloud products such as Microsoft 365, there are also several phases to the development...

Release stages

In the Microsoft 365 and Azure clouds, Microsoft services generally go through the following stages of availability:

• Private preview
• Public preview
• General availability

Let's look at each availability stage in more detail.

Private preview

Private previews are the very earliest stage of availability, where the capability and stability of a product may be fluid and undergoing a lot of change. Private previews are typically handled as an invitation-only option, though sometimes you can register to be part of a private preview or, if you're an enterprise customer, you also may be nominated by your account team. Services that are in private preview should never be considered production ready. If you are participating in a private preview, you may have the ability to give developer feedback directly. Products in private preview may not be fully compliant or suitable for users in highly regulated industries, such as the financial or public...

Support policies

Support policies govern how and when Microsoft will offer assistance for a particular product or service. From the support perspective, both public and private previews typically do not have to abide by the standard Service-Level Agreement (SLA) terms for the service. Public and private previews may have their own limited SLAs, may have no SLA defined, or may explicitly inform you that there is no expectation of any particular responsiveness or availability. And, as stated earlier, previews can be ended or discontinued at any time with no or limited warning.

Unless the preview's specific terms and conditions stipulate differently, preview products are excluded from all SLAs and warranty claims, and the unavailability of products in preview will not constitute an SLA breach that would result in service credit. An example set of preview terms is shown in the following screenshot:

Figure 16.1 – Preview terms

Products in general...

Microsoft 365 Roadmap portal

To provide clarity in terms of what's being worked on and expected to be released as part of product and service improvements, customers can access the Microsoft 365 Roadmap portal, where, for each of the available services, feature items, along with details, can be reviewed and can also be kept track of through RSS feeds. Features available in the Microsoft 365 Roadmap portal, from a stage perspective, can be in one of the following stages:

• In development: The engineering team is working through each of the release stages to bring a feature to general availability.
• Rolling out: The feature is typically already available in general availability and is being deployed in phases for each of the tenants and regions.
• Launched: The feature is expected to be available across all tenants in regions according to the scope of the feature.

In the Microsoft 365 Roadmap portal, customers can search for a specific feature or product or even...

Summary

In this chapter, we covered the different development and release stages of Microsoft 365 products, including both private and public previews as well as general availability. Preview products are subject to change or cancelation and have no SLAs associated with them, whereas generally available products are fully supported for all customers with valid subscriptions.

This concludes the exam preparation guide for MS-900: Microsoft 365 Fundamentals. In the final chapter, you will find the answers to the end-of-chapter assessments scattered throughout the book.

Questions

Use the following questions to test your knowledge of this chapter. You can find the answers in Chapter 18, Assessments:

1. Identify the SLA that generally applies to preview services:
   1. No SLA unless otherwise specified
   2. Standard Microsoft Online Services Agreement for individual products
   3. Azure Services Agreement
   4. Supplemental Online Services Agreement
2. Identify the SLA that generally applies to products in general availability:
   1. No SLA unless otherwise specified
   2. Standard Microsoft Online Services Agreement for individual products
   3. Azure Services Agreement
   4. Supplemental Online Services Agreement
3. Which release stage of a product is generally invitation-only?
   1. Private preview
   2. Public preview
   3. General availability
   4. Insider ring
4. At which release stage is a product fully documented and supported by a standard SLA?
   1. Private preview
   2. Public preview
   3. General availability
   4. Insider ring
5. The _____________________ provides details about upcoming service and feature releases for Microsoft 365.
   1. Admin...