PeopleSoft 9.1 Upgrade Insights: Top Ten Technical Items
There is not enough room here to list in detail all the technical tasks required for a successful upgrade. Nevertheless, getting the large things right can make it a lot easier to get the small things right. So here goes. I have reviewed all the technical checklists from my prior upgrade experiences and gleaned my top ten items. I will try to be short and sweet.
Being as yet an imperfect human being I may have left some items out or included some items with which you may take issue. Feel free to suggest additional items or critisize those I have listed:
- Chart your production environment- I am a big believer in working backwards. If you don’t know what the final result is supposed to look like it makes it very difficult to achieve that result. Where is your new 9.1 application going to reside? (Remember Oracle has only certified 64-bit OS’s) How much space will be required? How many websites will be needed?
- Design your upgrade environment- Where are you going to install, re-develop, and test your upgraded 9.1 applications?
- Prepare to create many new databases- PeopleSoft upgrades require a lot of new databases. Most of these databases will be, it is sad to say, full sized versions of your production database. Here is a typical list.
- Installed 9.1 demo
- Updated 9.1 demo (PeopleTools fixes, Application packs, Tax releases, and more)
- Upgrade database (Upgrade copy target)
- Development and Testing database (Copy of Upgrade)
- System testing Database (Product of 1st/2nd Move to Production process)
- UAT/Parallel Database (Product of 3rd Move to Production process)
- Production Database (Product of Final Move to Production process)
- Get the horses- You have charted your production environment. You have designed your upgrade and testing environment. You have determined the number and type databases needed. Now you have to ask yourself. Do I have the horsepower to get the job done? If not, it may be time to pony up (just a little bit sorry for the bad pun) the capital and get the hardware and software required for a successful upgrade.
- Create new web addresses- Let’s stay that your current HCM power user web address is http://psft.mycompany.com. There is a lot of technical infrastructure, procedures, and user productivity built around that web address. It is best not to disrupt your production systems until the very last moment possible. I have always pressed for new web addresses as the safest and easiest way to cutover to the new release. It may be useful to try something like this: http://psft91.mycompany.com.
- Respect the new Integration Broker- Get the new SOA IB up and working as soon as you can. The IB is a technically complex entity and may require some significant effort to master. Also, there is lot of important functionality dependent on the IB (e.g.HCM applicant hires) that should be put to bed sooner rather than later.
- Fire up the Change Agent- The Change Agent (CA) is the primary tool for upgrading your system to the new release. It is imperative that someone on your team become an expert in setting up, operating, and validating the CA.
- Consider user security early- A long time ago in a far off land there was an upgrade project team that left security on the back burner until just prior to cutover weekend. It was at that point that they discovered that userids and passwords are part of the PeopleTools upgrade (done months before in the intial upgrade) and not included in the final move to production.
- Roles, Permission Lists, and the like- Beware. Your security roles and permission lists will probably not transfer well to the new release. You may need to manually re-do much of your security structure. You know. The security structure designed by that guy look ago whose name nobody remembers but who everyone remembers constantly complained about being the one responsible for this despicable job. If so, perhaps, your current security structure is not so good. The good news is that this may be a very good time start anew and implement the better security struture for your organization.
- Setup system communications- One of the things that PeopleSoft systems love to do most is communicate. Most often these communications take the form of eMail messages, lots of eMail messages. Most organizations have one and only one email system so it is important to ensure that your upgraded test systems do not get in the habit of sending action messages to everyday workers. It may be a career limiting move (CLM) if one of your high level managers were to lose access to medical benefits because the “deceased” workflow processes were being tested.
In upcoming postings, PeopleSoft Upgrade Insights, I will discuss how a variety of time tested techniques can be employed to jumpstart, monitor, and control the upgrade process. Stay tuned.
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