Key Takeaways: 

• Content Manager is now 100% aligned with OpenText standard support policy.
• Extended Support and Limited Extended Support are now available to purchase.
• A technical support extension window has been provided until Sept 2025 to allow customers an adaptation time
• All customers benefit from upgrading and staying current 

Update Details 

• Content Manager is now 100% aligned with OpenText standard support policy.

As of July 2024, Content Manager support policy now follows the OpenText standard. To summarize this for anyone unfamiliar with the standard support policy: 

When an OpenText product version is first released, its support level is that of Current Maintenance for that version. The release is published with an associated “current maintenance end date”, after which the product support level for that version will pass into Sustaining Maintenance. You can find the current maintenance end date for your version here: Product Support Lifecycle | Micro Focus

Typically, the current maintenance period lasts from 1 to 3 years, although this is not a hard rule and exceptions can be made for a variety of reasons. For Content Manager, the standard at this time is for .4 releases to have 3 year current maintenance, and for other releases to have 1 year current maintenance. 

With this system, all customers who pay for support thus end up receiving support regardless of their product version, however the level of support depends on how recently the version was released. The below details what level of support is included in each maintenance phase. 

Current Maintenance = Technical Support + Software Updates + Defect Support
All product versions for which Current Maintenance has ended are under Sustaining Maintenance.
Sustaining Maintenance = Online Support resources (no Technical Support) + Software Updates (no Defect Support)

You may note that the sustaining maintenance phase does not offer technical support nor does it offer defect support. Under OpenText, if a customer is on a product version that is no longer under “current maintenance”, but still wishes to receive technical support and/or defect support, two additional options (at extra cost) are available:

Extended Support = Technical Support + Software Updates + Defect Support for Sev 1
available for 2 years after end of Current Maintenance for an additional fee

Limited Extended Support = Technical Support + Software Updates (no Defect Support)
available after the end of Extended Support for an additional fee 

These definitions are also found on our product support lifecycle page: Product Support Lifecycle | Micro Focus. 

For more detail on standard OpenText Support including what is included in each component such as Technical Support or Defect Support for Sev 1, we highly recommend our lifecycle policy page which breaks it down into even further detail:

Product Support Lifecycle Policy- Support Page | Micro Focus 

• Extended Support and Limited Extended Support are now available to purchase

As part of the default support policy explained above, Extended Support and Limited Extended Support are obviously now available to be purchased. This marks a change from our previous statement that these would only be made available for customers on versions 23.4 or later.

In order to avoid confusion due to this past limitation, we wanted to clearly state:

Extended Support and Limited Extended Support are now available for all Content Manager customers regardless of version. The only limitation is the standard OpenText limitation, that Extended Support is available up to 2 years after end of Current Maintenance. 

• A technical support extension window has been provided until Sept 2025 to allow customers an adaptation time

There is one exception to the OpenText standard policy, but it’s a positive one. In order to give customers an adaptation window we have provided a slight extension for technical support, which is available at no extra cost until 1st Sept 2025.

Customers with an active support agreement will continue receiving technical support for Content Manager versions in Sustaining Maintenance until September 1, 2025.

Effective September 1,2025, an Extended Support / Limited Extended Support program will be required to receive technical support for versions in Sustaining Maintenance (as per standard policy). 

• All customers benefit from upgrading and staying current

Finally we wanted to take this opportunity to remind customers that staying on a current version (in current maintenance) is always the best option. Not only do you get the latest security fixes and innovative features, but in the case of support you obtain the highest level of support at no additional cost. Just another reason to keep yourself upgraded to the latest version!

This support policy also highlights the convenience of CM Cloud, where customers are always kept on the latest version, as well as CM Select (current version and support fees included in the license).

If you need motivation to upgrade, we encourage you to refer to the version comparison chart to see what new features an upgrade would provide you: Don't Miss The Version Comparison Chart (opentext.com) 

In Conclusion 

The alignment to standard OpenText support policy should bring welcome clarity to customers going forward. The changes have been summarized on our support lifecycle page as follows:

Content Manager will release four product updates a year as follows:

- Quarter 1, 2, and 3: Innovation releases. Innovation releases will be in Current Maintenance for 1 year, with full engineering support and technical support. These releases will be the YY.1, YY.2, and YY.3 versions.

- Quarter 4: Long-term Support release. Long-term Support releases will be in Current Maintenance for 3 years, with full engineering support and technical support. This release will be the YY.4 version.

We encourage customers to move to the Quarter 4 Long-term Support release when it becomes available, as it will be supported for a longer period of time.

When a release exits Current Maintenance and enters Sustaining Maintenance, Extended Support is available for 2 years for a fee for customers who need to contact technical support and would like to receive patches for critical issues. After the first 2 years of Sustaining Maintenance, Limited Extended Support is available for a fee for customers who would like continued access to technical support.

Customers with an active support agreement will continue receiving technical support for Content Manager versions in Sustaining Maintenance until September 1, 2025.

Effective September 1,2025, an Extended Support / Limited Extended Support program will be required to receive technical support for versions in Sustaining Maintenance. 

We believe this communication addresses the most commonly received customer questions on this topic, so we do encourage you to read it as well as attached links. If you still have any remaining questions do let us know.