finPOWER Connect Version 6.00.00

Wednesday, 16 April 2025 by Alex McAndrew

Intersoft Launches finPOWER Connect Version 6 – A leap into the future with .NET 9.

April 2025 marks a major milestone for Intersoft with the release of finPOWER Connect Version 6.00.00. This significant upgrade transitions the platform from Microsoft’s legacy .NET Framework to the cutting-edge .NET 9. This move not only modernises the technology stack but also positions finPOWER Connect to harness the full potential of emerging innovations—including Artificial Intelligence—as we look to the future.

Version 6 has been the largest development since the move from finPOWER 5 to finPOWER Connect.

As this is more than a typical version update, we strongly recommend that any site considering the upgrade reviews this blog beforehand. There are important technical and planning considerations to be aware of before beginning the transition.

Version 6 Installation & Configuration Guides

What is the Version 6 upgrade all about?

The .NET Framework was first released in the early 2000s and was adopted by Intersoft for the launch of finPOWER Connect in 2010. In the years since, Microsoft has introduced .NET Core as the modern replacement for the .NET Framework. This has since evolved into the unified .NET platform, which is currently at Version 9 and will be the foundation for finPOWER Connect Version 6.00.00.

Although Microsoft has no immediate plans to discontinue support for the .NET Framework, it is no longer under active development—the final version, 4.8.1, was released in 2022. Microsoft now recommends that all new development be done using .NET 8 or later. For more information, see:

.NET Framework:

.NET 9 (and newer, as it becomes available):

Some other key advantages .NET 9 has over the .NET Framework:

  • .NET 9 is significantly faster and more efficient than .NET Framework.
  • Each new version of .NET (especially 6, 7, 8, and 9) has brought major performance improvements, especially for cloud-native and high-throughput applications.
  • .NET 9 unifies desktop, mobile, web, cloud, and IoT development under one platform.
  • Regular updates and security patches.
  • Smaller runtime footprint and faster cold starts in cloud environments.

We anticipate that migrating finPOWER Connect to future versions of .NET—such as the upcoming Version 10—should generally be straightforward and included as part of a standard finPOWER Connect version update. However, this will ultimately depend on the changes Microsoft introduces with each new release.

What are the risks with upgrading to Version 6?

There are some extremely important considerations to think about prior to upgrading to version 6; effective and complete UAT testing prior to upgrade is essential.

It is recommended that upgrades to Version 6 are done so in close collaboration with your Dealer.

Installing

Initial installations will require .NET 9 to be installed alongside finPOWER Connect (if not already installed on the machine). Please refer to the installation guides at the top of this Blog for more details on this.

Scripting

It is imperative that any customer considering an upgrade ensures that their existing Scripting compiles and runs as expected. The Script Compilation Errors Report (Tools, Utilities) is a good starting point for this.

During internal testing, we found that most issues stemmed from implicit references that were allowed in older versions. In .NET 9, these references must be explicitly defined. To assist with this, a References tool has been added to Global Settings (under Developer) to automatically apply specific references across all Scripts in the database.

Running a test compile and switching references on will, for the most part, sort out compile issues. However depending on the Scripting code changes may be required.

It is critical to ensure that Scripts not only compile, but also run as expected.

Limitations with MS Access

From Version 6, Intersoft can no longer recommend MS Access as a reliable method of storing data in a production environment. This is not due to MS Access itself, but rather the Microsoft requirement to run the 32bit version of the application to open Access databases.

With the move to .NET 9, the way that Scripts are compiled and run (including Summary Pages and HTML Widgets) has been migrated to Microsoft's Roslyn compiler. Whilst there is a number of advantages over the previous Framework compiler, it is not optimised with 32bit applications. Microsoft has significantly reduced its support for 32bit applications in recent years and fewer and fewer applications continue to support it.

There are 64bit MS Access database engines available, such as ACE, however these do not enforce Security to a sufficient level for an application such as finPOWER Connect, so are not suitable replacements. Therefore, the recommendation is to no longer run MS Access production databases due to the likelihood of running out of memory somewhat randomly.

Recommendations for customers currently running MS Access databases in production (including address databases):

  • SQL Express.
    • Provided free from Microsoft.
    • Has limitations, e.g. Microsoft limit the size of a SQL Express database to 10GB.
    • Will allow for an easy upgrade to full SQL Server once the database becomes too large.
  • SQL Server
    • Requires Microsoft subscription.
    • No limitations.
  • If MS Access must be used (not recommended), it cannot be recommended that the database is upgraded past 4.01.03.

VBA Documents are no longer supported

In Version 6 and later, VBA Documents will no longer function. Any customers still using these types of documents should plan to replace them using Gembox alternatives prior to upgrading to Version 6.

The Documents Administration library has been updated to highlight this with warnings, should a VBA-type Document be selected.

Similar to MS Access, VBA has been progressively de-prioritised by Microsoft and many applications are moving away from it. In addition, VBA Documents are not (and never have been) compatible with finPOWER Connect Cloud.

For more information, see: Word Document and Excel Workbook Processing or speak to your Dealer.

There is no database upgrade required between versions 4.01.XX and 6.00.00. This provides the ability to roll back if the upgrade doesn't perform as expected, particularly in environments with customised databases.

Is finPOWER Connect Version 6 a different product?

Simple answer: No.

The User Interfaces for both Desktop and Cloud will feel immediately familiar to existing users. The most noticeable changes are in the Cloud version, where enhancements have been gradually introduced since v4.01.00 (when enabled via Device Settings). See: Device option to allow 'NEW User Interface' to be trialled. The new User Interface is now enabled by default and the existing option to switch it on has been removed.

For a full list of changes added to Version 6.00.00; see the following Knowledge Base links:

Where can I try Version 6?

Our online demo lets you check out the latest build of finPOWER Connect Cloud.

NOTE: This is regularly updated to show new features and may not match screenshots shown in this article.

Alternatively, speak to your Intersoft Account Manager or Dealer.