Migrating from Create!printv5.5 AS/400 to Create!form v6

Hello List –

Looking for feedback, ideas and experience. I’m faced with getting all Create!form modules upgraded to current versions. This is what’s used in production;

- Cprint AS/400 v5.5g
- Create!form server/print v2.7
- Create!stream v3
- Create!fax
- Create!email
- Create!archive

The bulk of the work goes through Cprint AS/400. Form projects were migrated to Cform v2.7 that needed to fax, email and archive. So there are spool files that run through Cprint AS/00 for printing and Cform v2.7 for fax/email/archive.

I believe that all form projects will need to be re-designed in order for things to work smoothly when moved to Create!form v6. What I’m looking for is real-life advice from anyone that’s gone through this type of upgrade/migration process.


Thanks much –

Karen.

Karen,

We did the Create!form Upgrade two-step when we upgraded to E811. We are on a Sun box and don't use Create!fax or Create!archive, but aper from that:

- Create!form server/print v2.7 => Create!form server 3 (and new designer)
- Create!stream v3 => Create!form server 6 (and new designer called Create!director)
- Create!email => no change

As for every upgrade Create!form recommends you revisit every project. This doubly important for this upgrade as a number of things have changed. We got Create!form staff to do the bulk of the work redesigning both form and director/stream. I went in after and fine tuned everything and taught myself at least some of the changes (with Create!form staff on the phone).

Peter,

Thanks for your feedback.

It will be no small task to get everything up to current Create!form versions. But the functionality and features available in the current software should make it well worth the effort.


Karen.

Hi Karen. You likely realize this already, but on Peter's post the upgrade from 2.7 is to Server 6 (6.2 is most recent) ... the 3 release is for JDE EnterpriseOne users. Fax and email will remain unchanged (still the 2.5 release of Email and 2.7 of Fax). The absolute latest release of Archive is 6.2, but is just came out (and there are upgrade charges for it unless you are also running Create!Archive Web Agent).

Create!Stream has now become Create!form Director. There are no conversion programs from Stream to Director. However, you can run both on the server simultaneously.

Similarly, you can run in "co-existence" mode with 2.7 and 6.2. The 6 release will support projects created from both release levels. This could allow you to migrate "gracefully" instead of in a "bull dozer" manner. Upgrade the forms as you go, and eventually you are totally on 6.

I'd highly recommend creating the version 6 projects afresh. You can "import" the 2.7 into V6 designer ... but I would use this just for copying elements like boxes and labels. Data mapping is totally different and much more flexible, as is the ability to assign variables. Starting from fresh and copying what you can is the simplest and fastest (and cleanest) way to go.

Do you have a Back up / Disaster Recovery licence? If so, you can do a lot of this on your DR server. If not, you should look into it .. it only costs $50 a year for all of your licenced products. We've done this with several clients who were migrating ... done the work and testing on the DR box, and then put it into production.

I would also recommend that you sit with your business users and take the upgrade as an opportunity to review the business processes and the forms design and layout. Much has changed in terms of what you can do and it would be an ideal time to get these processes / forms up to what is possible.

Hope this helps.

Michael,

Thanks for your input! I really appreciate you sharing your thoughts and experience.

You make a good point about reviewing the business processes. This will be a prime opportunity to work with the user community and engineer a Create!form document management solution that meets their needs.


Karen.