The World Is Our Office 11i Upgrade Versus Install 10 Questions to Consider

Agenda -Historical Requirements -Up-time Requirements -Enhancements -Bolt-ons -New Functionality -Current state / future state -Infrastructure -Configuration, operational, transaction data -Overall timing -Resources -Conclusion

Historical Requirements What are the transaction or historical requirements If all transaction or historical data is required, the most likely recommendation is to perform an upgrade. This would eliminate the development and testing of extraction and load scripts for this type of data. If transaction or historical data is not required to be on the new release, (ie: you have a data warehouse), a fresh install maybe the best solution If your company can absorb the “draining” of te old system and the initiation of the new, as fresh install is a possibility. Data would stay on the current release of the system or data warehouse for reporting purposes only. Some of the decisions will depend on manpower, skill level and time. These will be discussed later in this presentation.

Up-time requirements What are your up-time requirements? Some down time will be incurred. Minimizing that down time is the objective A fresh install allows manual input of configuration data with extracts of operational and transaction data being performed over some time period during the install process. The goal is to only perform migration of “delta” at time of conversion. With an upgrade, a copy of production is laid down and upgrade process started. All tuning will be performed on this instance. When optimally tuned the upgrade will be performed. With an upgrade no extract are required. However, an upgrade may require more downtime. Now we have a task and resource issue. Do we to utilize our people to perform extracts or do we wish to utilize them in another fashion.

Enhancements How many enhancements does the current system have? A minimum number of enhancements may suggest an upgrade path. This would eliminate the requirements for extracts A large number of enhancements that will be kept in the future may be best supported by a fresh install. Most if not all of the enhancements will have to be modified or at least compiled if they are to be kept. I would consider the enhancements, depending on the number, to be the bottlenect. A large number of enhancements that will be removed with new Oracle functionality is best supported with an upgrade.

Bolt-ons How many bolt-on subsystems does the current environment support? If the bolt-on subsystems are 11i compatible, are they upgradeable or must they be a fresh install? Most should be compatible and hopefully upgradeable. If there is 11i functionality to replace a bolt-on this should be considered. Example is, Warehouse Management. If this is true with most of the enhancements then an upgrade should be considered. Bolt-on subsystems should be evaluated to see if they can be upgraded prior to performing the upgrade or new install. If they use some of the older API’s these may not have changed allowing the bolt-on to be upgraded prior to the Oracle Applications upgrade. An overall strategy must be developed. Does the organization wish to perform a “big bang” approach or execute to a phased solution. The first provides an opportunity for one disruption to the business where the latter provides multiple opportunities for disruption.

New Functionality Will you be adding new modules or functionality? If new modules or functionality is occurring and this is new for the business the decision between a fresh install or upgrade requires the same amount of effort just different skill sets. If on the other hand this function is something the business is performing on a legacy or non-Oracle system, once again a fresh install or upgrade requires the same amount of effort and different skill sets. Obviously, adding new modules or functionality does not, by itself, provide a clear course of direction. Other factors should be considered.

Current State / Future State Will future state look like current state? If the future state will be a copy of the current state an upgrade will probably be the best course of action If they will be different, then a fresh install is recommended Historical information should be considered when making this decision. They represent and contain data relevant to the old structure. It must be understood how we wish historical data to be represented in the future.

Infrastructure How do you plan to upgrade the infrastructure? 11i may require many upgrades, forms and database just to mention two. It is recommended to perform as many upgrades prior to the cut over as is possible. More opportunities for exposure better focus on resolving issues. Fewer opportunities for problems during application cut over.

Configuration, operational and transaction data How do you wish to manage configuration, operational and transaction data? If a complete new configuration is required a fresh install is recommended. This means extracts will have to be created for operational and transaction data. Manual entry of configuration is required. If the configuration remains the same, upgrades are recommended. This requires no extract scripts for operational and transaction data.

Overall timing How much time do you have for the overall process? An upgrade is probably the most rapid process of getting to 11i. Although some excessive run times have been identified most have been corrected and released on patch sets for and higher. A fresh install requires configuration data to be manually entered. Operational and transaction data to be extracted and loaded. Testing and training are involved in both scenarios so the question here is how fast can I get the new environment ready for testing and training?

Resources What type and amount of resources are available? If more developers are available than DBA’s than a fresh install may be the recommended course of action. If DBA’s are plentiful than the upgrade may be the way to proceed. If both are in short supply, usually developers are less expensive and more readily available to perform a fresh install.

Conclusion When strategizing as to the direction of how to proceed from current state to future state, it should be obvious many factors must be considered. As stated above, factors to be considered are, future business processes, staffing and skill sets, enhancements, bolt-ons and data requirements. Some individual factors may dictate the direction, never the less all of them should be considered in the decision making process.