Siebel Upgrade Best Practices A Web Seminar from
Siebel Upgrade Best Practices: A Web Seminar from Apex IT January 17, 2007 Copyright Apex IT. 2006 Slide 1
Apex IT Corporate: Who We Are § Apex IT is a Minneapolis-based systems integrator and consultancy with expertise in both Customer Relationship Management and Enterprise Resource Planning § An Oracle Certified Advantage Partner, Apex IT supports the core platforms of the Oracle Applications Family ü Those platforms include: Ø People. Soft Enterprise Ø Oracle E-Business Suite Ø Siebel Enterprise and Siebel On Demand § Apex IT is a full service consultancy – our service offering addresses the entire application implementation continuum everything from strategy development and implementation, to change management and post-implementation managed services ü Copyright Apex IT. 2006 Our service offering also includes custom development capabilities Slide 2
Apex IT Siebel Qualifications § Apex IT understands key Siebel Enterprise features and functionality – we know what to do to make a Siebel implementation successful, and more importantly, we know what not to do § Apex IT hires only the most skilled and competent Siebel consultants – a majority of our Siebel consultants have certifications in major releases like Siebel 99, 2000, 7 and 7. 7 § Apex IT is also a Siebel user – we are currently live on the newest release of Siebel On Demand Copyright Apex IT. 2006 ü We have built our most important sales and marketing processes around Siebel On Demand ü We rely on Siebel On Demand to provide the sales pipeline and sales forecast reports needed to plan for and allocate our consulting resources Slide 3
Today’s Presenter. . . Amy Mattes Copyright Apex IT. 2006 Slide 4
Today’s Objectives § To discuss Siebel upgrade planning best practices § To outline an tried and true upgrade flow and approach § To discuss Siebel upgrade execution best practices Copyright Apex IT. 2006 Slide 5
Agenda § § Upgrade Planning – Best Practices Upgrade Flow Upgrade Execution Best Practices Questions Copyright Apex IT. 2006 Slide 6
Justifying the Upgrade Decision § A decision TO UPGRADE should be based on: Copyright Apex IT. 2006 - New App vs. Old App Audit – Key stakeholders should conduct an analysis to ensure that the new Siebel release truly does contain clear feature/functionality advantages - A Clear Cost vs. Benefits Analysis – The costs of maintaining the legacy Siebel app should outweigh the costs of the upgrade OR the risk of not upgrading is greater than the cost of upgrading - A Clear New App ROI – The new Siebel app should deliver clear and measurable ROI - Support Agreements – Make sure to consider the time left before Oracle “sunsets” support services for legacy application Slide 7
Planning Your Upgrade Careful planning is required to be successful! § Determine your upgrade path § Evaluate the complexity of the upgrade ─ ─ Number of modules, integration point, and interfaces Total number of scripts § Assess the current Siebel environment! ─ ─ ─ § § Copyright Apex IT. 2006 Compare architecture and current implementation Identify areas of new functionality Assess scripts, integration, reports, business process, repository objects ─ Use the Upgrade Assessment Worksheet in bookshelf Estimate the level of effort to upgrade ─ Determine the metrics and cost associated with the upgrade ─ The assessment should help estimate resources, timelines and cost Establish a cross functional team Slide 8
Upgrade Versions and Paths: One-step vs. Two-steps § Most upgrades will be a one-step process § Two-step upgrade applies to: ─ 6. x version upgrading to 7. 8 § On your first upgrade go with the highest version i. e. 6. x would go to 7. 7; not 7. 5 § Don’t do any more work after the first upgrade than necessary ─ don’t compile a SRF, test application, etc § Resolve all conflict after each upgrade Copyright Apex IT. 2006 Slide 9
*How Long Will the Upgrade Take? § If you have performed an upgrade in the past, you can benchmark your time by: ─ Last upgrade was version 6 to 7, then this upgrade should require less time ─ Last upgrade was 7 to 7. 7, then this upgrade should require the same amount of time § If you have never done an upgrade, you can estimate your time by: ─ The length of time it took for the original implementation and take 25% to 50% since steps such as requirements and build much small if even needed *7. x upgrade from start to finish including testing and deployment will take 4 -5 months Copyright Apex IT. 2006 Slide 10
Typical Upgrade Project Plan 11 16 Weeks Phase 1 - Upgrade Plan Analyze Upgrade Dev and QA Plan Overview § § § Test Plan Analyze ─ Perform a trial run ─ Inventory all applets, views and screens Upgrade Development/QA ─ Follow the upgrade flow ─ Upgrading the QA environments a good benchmark for Production Test ─ Training and change management activities Upgrade Production ─ Follow the upgrade flow Deploy ─ Planning for phase 2 can begin Copyright Apex IT. 2006 Production Phase 2 - Enhancements Slide 11
Agenda § § Upgrade Planning – Best Practices Upgrade Flow Upgrade Execution Best Practices Questions Copyright Apex IT. 2006 Slide 12
Upgrade Flow Copyright Apex IT. 2006 Slide 13
Upgrade Infrastructure § Make sure your hardware and software up to required § § specification for the upgrade Review Support Platforms Guide Review all Alerts, Tech Notes, FAQ’s, etc. Consider new or changed functionality Complete all upgrade assessments Copyright Apex IT. 2006 Slide 14
Pre-Upgrade Tasks § Prepare the Siebel database for the upgrade ─ Close all database connections ─ Clear all pending workflow tasks ─ Disable triggers § Workflow Process Migration ─ Make sure workflow in development are the same as production if ─ not, otherwise; when production is upgraded workflows will be lost Best practice: All production workflows should be in development § Delete all old repositories Copyright Apex IT. 2006 Slide 15
Upgrade Tasks § Run the database server configuration utility (upgrep) to perform a basic upgrade of the database schema and loads repository in prep for merge § Merge repository using Siebel Tools* § Run postmerge utilities to analyze your customizations and apply changes to them as needed to conform to the new user interface* § Run the database server configuration utility (upgphys) this will further upgrade the database with the changes resulting form the repository merge *Development Environment Only Copyright Apex IT. 2006 Slide 16
Post-Upgrade Tasks § Set up environment ─ Compile latest SRF ─ Extract developer’s databases § Application Administration ─ Verify user access and visibly of views and screens § Application configuration ─ Prepare QA environment for testing ─ Validate application data: LOV, views, responsibilities, etc. § Test the system ─ Unit test the development environment ─ Full regression and stress test QA ─ User Acceptance Copyright Apex IT. 2006 Slide 17
Agenda § § Upgrade Planning – Best Practices Upgrade Flow Upgrade Execution Best Practices Questions Copyright Apex IT. 2006 Slide 18
Upgrep Best Practices Upgrep: The Utility that upgrades the database schema and loads the repository for the new version of Siebel § Performance Problems? ─ Verify preparation activities were done ─ Assume the same problem will happen in QA/Prod § Use the logparse utility to check for errors ─ Compare to errors. rtf § Understand the steps upgrep is performing § Remember upgrep is restartable § Do take all recommended backups between steps § Failures are common: usually due to missed steps § Other common problems: ─ Not enough table or index space ─ Network timeouts Copyright Apex IT. 2006 Slide 19
Merge Repository Best Practices § Run the repository merge on a Windows app server with fast processors, fast disk and lots of memory if available § Search merge 0. txt for string “!!ERROR” § If errors occur, this will be noted in the status field on the application upgrade applet ─ Screens->Application Upgrader § Use Support Web’s Troubleshooting Steps. Explanations of most errors can be found here § Focus on fixing non-UI conflicts § Only “Upgrade Ancestor” type errors are considered acceptable § Search for deleted objects that have been added back § Search for obsolete object that you are using ─ Document these during the assessment Copyright Apex IT. 2006 Slide 20
General Upgrade Best Practices § Copyright Apex IT. 2006 Upgrade Ancestors (Inheritance) ─ Should have been set as objects were cloned; if upgrading from a release that didn’t allow this, do it after UPGREP and before the repository merge ─ You can always use object comparison after the upgrade to synchronize copied objects with OOTB objects § Incorporate Custom Layout (ICL) can save time when upgrading 7. x to 7. 8 if you extensively modified OOTB applets instead of making copies ─ Provides SOME consistency in UI by maintaining the controls and their locations form previous release ─ Due to changes in view navigation (aggregates&categories), view groups are not completely preserved § 6. x version may need to visit each form and list applet ─ Form: controls, labels, vertical spacing, group boxes ─ List: max# of columns per applet § 6. x version should run script analyzer to determine which script features are not compatible wit 7. 8 ─ Applet script will need to be moved to applet server script ─ Replace Msg. Box with Raise. Error. Text § § Siebel has a utility that can help convert VB code to e. Script Don’t assume 7. 0 and 7. 5 scripts will upgrade smoothly to 7. 8 ─ Only fields displayed on applet can have their values “gotten” Slide 21
Testing Upgrade Best Practices § Plan to upgrade test environment at least twice; maybe more ─ ─ Restore test with a copy of production First time upgrade in parallel to development to determine if performance will be an issue § Do not underestimate testing for the upgrade § Allow the same amount of testing time as it took in our initial implementation § Consider performance and stress testing § Test new 7. 8 load balancing § Test data as well as the application § Test data migration if migration scripts changed Copyright Apex IT. 2006 Slide 22
Production Upgrade Best Practices § Do at least one practice run of your production upgrade ─ Allows you to configure application servers ahead of time outside the upgrade window ─ Put together a project plan with estimates based on your practice run to help with calculating final upgrade window § There is more to the production upgrade than running upgrep and upgphys so don’t under estimate the amount of time your production upgrade will take § Put together a detail document of your upgrade steps using the upgrade guide but adding detail specific to your upgrade ─ ─ Copyright Apex IT. 2006 How to QA each step in the production upgrade Names and location of all scripts/utilities to be run Slide 23
6 Questions & Answers Copyright Apex IT. 2006 Slide 24
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