We are on an older Epicor software that is not support and there is a Migration path to Epicor ERP 10, We are considering the differences between SAAS and on-prem. I have asked the Epicor Migration Manager, but he did not answer the questions with the most honesty. Our question is how accessible is our data to us? Can we look at the databases? Is there any restrictions to going SAAS versus on-prem?
Depends on the flavor of SaaS
Queue @Mark_Wonsil 
But on summary
SaaS MT (Multi tenant, no DB access, no Advanced BPM, no love for anyone don’t go here unless you hate yourself)
SaaS DT Queue @Mark_Wonsil again (Better than above, but still no direct DB Access)
SaaS ST (Really just a hosted solution you can get access if you beg and borrow and steal)
On Prem All yours no limits, but also all the headache of maintaining your own environment.
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All the things Jose said. Also, DT is also called Public Cloud in case you hear that phrase.
You’ll be hosted in Azure. So there may be some benefits in the future over going cloud on your own.
Mark W.
Correct on the name change. That’s due to mt not being offered anymore last I heard. Public cloud (old dt) is only deployment model atm
We are on MT right now… I hope that means we will get a free upgrade soon
Public Cloud is a much better fit for you @Evan_Purdy, especially as a Configurator user. Although, Public Cloud users still don’t have access to XML elements (input values) in the standard toolset…hopefully that changes soon.
Mark W.
What about a sandbox/test server. Do you only get one?
I know they can be obtained. Ask your CAM for details.
By default, you get Live and Pilot. You also have access to Education DB but that is more like MT and not Public Cloud. Like Bart said, you can spin up as many extras as you need for longer term projects for an additional fee. All are subject to the upgrade cadence. Normally Pilot is upgraded a month before .000 upgrade. The Pilot will get the monthly patch around the middle of the month on Tuesday/Wednesday and the patched over that weekend.
Mark W.
Back to the original question now that I am at a full PC 
Our question is how accessible is our data to us?
Very but not absolute. Since it is the cloud, most connecting between Internet systems these days are not a database integration but rather an Https one. A few years ago REST endpoints with OData were released. While not perfect, they are the start to accessing data via the services as opposed to the raw data. Our cloud integration product - JitterBit uses these for example.
We have lots of information up here concerning REST and OData so when you are ready for that step, ask and we can dig into those details.
Can we look at the databases?
Directly, no. This policy started in the MultiTenant days when the data from different tenants was intermingled into the same (LARGE) db and segmented via different security mechanisms. Since a DT like approach is the go forward platform, some discussions have occurred around these kinds of features. There is some concern about how much to expose. There are many things coming in the next couple of years in the cloud that may effect integration’s if you relied upon a db approach. Since cloud is all about quickly migrating and not breaking integration, that use case is probably not going to happen. There are questions about what could be done for non integration scenarios. We are still discussing that one and have no time table or announcements.
Is there any restrictions to going SAAS versus on-prem?
The same restrictions renting a car from a rental car agency versus buying one. For a rental car, you don’t have to do much more than put gas in it. Buying a car, you need to do the maintenance yourself, change the oil, license it, etc.
On premises is the same thing - more maintenance at some flexibility.
If you have the data center and staff or business needs to support the product yourself, that is a completely valid approach. Cloud is for the folks who want to outsource the hardware maintenance and much of the application maintenance. At some disadvantages in flexibility.
My personal point of view is always do what your business needs. Do you have the hardware and staff to make on premises hosting a differentiator for you? If you are not using it for a business reason, then why are you?
All of our live servers are on Azure, our development servers are on site. We do have a few other on-prem applications and require integration between our AR Software that fits our business. We do have network staff to support our Azure servers, we outsource the maintenance piece of the Azure servers.
The more I find out about SAAS, I suspect on-prem is our best choice as we will need to have multiple development environments.
Well you can have multiple environments even if you are a MT customer. I used to work for a company that was a MT customer.
I was the ERP System Admin and other than the pain of having a consultant code the BPM and then sending the file to me and then having the cloud team help you it was not that bad.
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