E1 8.10 to 8.12

Has anyone any experience of this. We have been live on 810 for about 2 years. We are looking at moving to 8.12 as a way of helping to solve performance problems by upgrading hardware, moving to SQL2005 and configuring SQL better. I'm looking to see if anyone can tell me the realistic cost ($$ and Consultancy Time). Would I be better off just going to 8.97 Tools and putting in a second Web Server and batch Server? How easy is it to simply migrate my system to new hardware? We are taking the long view with JDE and expect to go to 9 or Fusion down the road. There is no direct path from 8.10 to Fusion but I read about a "Technical Foundation" upgrade that would allow me to go from 8.10 to 8.11/12 to 9.0. I have plenty of SQL expertise here but little CNC as yet.

No. You should stick with 8.10 and upgrade your service pack to do what you want.

8.12 is a functional change - so unless you absolutely need the functional differences between 8.10 and 8.12 - then you should stick with 8.10. Now, Oracle have stated there are some performance improvements with some of the applications with 8.12 - so maybe your performance issue is related to those functional changes - but if this is the case, then these performance improvements SHOULD be available to 8.10 customers in ESU's.

Converting from SQL2000 to SQL2005 is not a difficult proposition. There is certainly some downtime - but its not going to be major. A long weekend should certainly ensure that you convert the database and change the datasource definitions to match.

Whether you go with 8.97 - which is VERY new - or just stick with 8.96.2.2 - which is the latest service pack update - is up to you. I would stick with 8.96.2.2 right now and wait to see what issues 8.97 brings to the table (it already has some issues out there - there are some very large changes). Maybe you should plan for 8.97 within the next month or so.

The service pack will give you all the technical functionality you need. Sometimes this is referred to as a "technical foundation".

Upgrading a service pack is usually 1 days work, maybe 2 - with testing over a couple of weeks (multi-foundation in a production environment). Upgrading from 8.10 to 8.12 is a major proposition and will take many weeks of consulting time, depending on the functionality changes and development work that you already have in the product. Again, if you don't need to upgrade to 8.12 - then you'll still be on the right track for Oracle Vaporware - sorry - fusion in the future, and certainly will be ok for JDE E1 9.0 - if that is again a route you want to go.

If, however, you have serious performance problems - then your best bet is to hire in a consultant/architect who knows the product and will be able to identify exactly what to do to get over your performance issues through a technical audit and stress/load test.

Hope that helps.

Thank you, I was beginning to suspect this. The only real functionality I'm looking for comes in the Demand Flow Manufacturing Module. But a good "Retail" Fulfillment package from a third party might do as well. Is there any documentation available anywhere on performing a SQL2000 to SQL2005 upgrade on a live System? Although my background is Technical I'm not a JDE Expert. The concept of a "Service PAck" on JDE is not familiar to me. How do I know what I'm on and where to go? I'm on Too.s 8.96i I think - we went to that with a consultants help in order to use the JDBC SQL2005 driver - which we hoped would fix perfromance. It helped, but not as much as I'd hoped. At OpenWorld 8.97 was lauded as a huge solution due to its rendering techniques.

We are also running 8.10 and looking to upgrade our tools release. Has anyone been able to confirm that tools 8.97 will run will application release 8.10? And if so if it will work with Vista? Thanks and sorry if I am hijacking this thread.

Not sure about Vista.

Yes, 8.97 will run on 8.10 - BUT you need to install the latest planner update. Take a good look at the documentation available on the knowledge garden.

Now. Heres the 6 million dollar reason why you're a member of JDEList. Don't install 8.97 for about another 4-6 weeks. 8.97 is a HUGE difference technically from 8.96 - and 8.96 has got a ton of "one-off" updates for it. To be honest, 8.96 wasn't really "production ready" until 8.96D1 - which is very usual. Right now its very stable.

I stick my neck out each time I hear the same question - and, to be honest, after about 30 service packs, its always the same answer. Don't implement a newly released service pack version in your production environment unless you want to be fired. Simple as that. JDE/ORCL cannot test every configuration that is out there - and, to be honest, they seem to fail to test the simplest configurations given the fact that many service packs just don't plain work in the past. It might BE oracles' fault that the service pack doesn't work correctly - but the fact that your companies financial data is horribly corrupted isn't going to make that little nugget of information any more comfortable !

Sit and wait. I know of a couple of issues with 8.97 I've heard on the grapevine, and I know that I'll be implementing 8.97 along with a number of other techies and, as usual, the results of these "test" servers will be available. Once the service pack is "generally accepted" (usually around the 3rd release - and this is usually within the next couple of weeks) - then it'll be time to implement it onto your production servers.

Remember, 8.97 is a huge release change. Don't be a guinea pig !

Thanks for the information. I completely agree that installing 8.97 right out of the gate would be a mistake. It is always better to let things settle a bit and not be on the "bleeding edge"

Also as an FYI I had heard from an Oracle rep. a couple of months back that there were no plans to make vista work with 8.10 but I have seen nothing definitively confirming or denying that but I did see the following on Oracle's site: http://www.peoplesoft.com/psp/portprd/CUSTOMER/CRM/c/C1C_MENU.C1_SOLN_SUMMARY.GBL?page=C1_SOLN_SUMMARY&SETID=SHARE&SOLUTION_ID=201032735

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...I had heard from an Oracle rep. a couple of months back that there were no plans to make vista work with 8.10...

[/ QUOTE ]

You see, now this is why I never meet Oracle reps.

I mean, come on now - with a statement like that - the obvious question to ask is "so what desktop operating system ARE you going to be supporting in the future"

I'd then ask the rep if he could then kindly direct me to a hardware manufacturer that will sell me a client with an operating system that Oracle supports (all major hardware manufacturers only provide Vista with their equipment).

Now - I'm not a big fan of Vista myself. I don't recommend anyone to EVER buy a copy of that crappy OS. Microsoft even announced that it won't shut down systems with pirated versions of Vista on them. But for a huge corporate software vendor like Oracle to turn around and state categorically they won't support Vista ? I don't think thats a good idea when they're still #2 against SAP !

Hmmm. Who on earth would even WANT to pirate a copy of Vista ?

Just some smart asinine comments...!

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Just some "smart asinine" comments...!

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isn't that an oxymoron?

Hey

What did you call me ?!

I take offense to that !!!!!

Hi Everyone...
I've heard so much about this new EnterpriseOne 8.12... The thing is, I'm pretty confused. I've heard tables will change if you upgrade from 8.10, tables will disappear and reports need to be create from scratch. Can I get some feedback from someone who already went through this? A list maybe, with all things changed on the database (tables), reports and other objects?

Any help/thought/doc will be appreciated...

Sidetracking this thread....

Please fill out the Quest survey asking about Vista plans - this is going to be used to convince Oracle to certify E1 with Vista. It will take you less than a minute to fill in.

http://vovici.com/wsb.dll/s/2420g2e022

8.97 is supposed certify E1 (all of it - web, admin, developers) for Vista.
For Xe/ERP8, SP23R1 sorts out the web client except for the extension for excel exports (SAR 8550867). The big issue is the thick clients which we don't have a target date for.

Please fill out the survey - link above. Thanks!

Sue Shaw
Quest EnterpriseOne Advocacy Director

Thanks for the Survey. I will definitely pass it on.

With any upgrade to a new version, there will be new tables added, and some objects obsoleted. You shouldn't worry too much about losing stuff from 8.10 because the conversion routines will always try to bring your custom stuff over, and I don't think we've lost any major tables since the change to Customer Master (F0301 to F03012) back in the B73.3 days (1998-9).

The Knowledge Garden does have net change documents, so I won't reproduce that here. For E812, the net change document is called a "release note" and can be found here: http://www4.peoplesoft.com/contdoc.nsf/PPLs?ReadForm&Start=1.1.1.56&Count=30&Expand=1.1.1

You won't see a whole lot of change in the way that web clients work. You will have to prepare for the loss of the fat client, since only developers can use them now. (There are ways around this, but they're not pretty.)

On the technical side, I believe JDETips had an excellent article on what to expect last year. The biggest change you'll notice is the loss of the DDB and XDB spec files, which have morphed into an MSDE database. This in turn leads to changes in the way package builds are handled behind the scenes (mechanically, you still go through pretty much the same steps), and a big change in serialized object generation for the web client (you don't have to anymore).

Hope this helps.

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I've heard tables will change if you upgrade from 8.10, tables will disappear and reports need to be create from scratch. Can I get some feedback from someone who already went through this? A list maybe, with all things changed on the database (tables), reports and other objects?

[/ QUOTE ]

As Ken stated earlier - there is net change documentation that Oracle can provide that will show the key differences. However, please understand that 8.10 and 8.12 are different product versions - and any difference in the product functional version will constitute data changes.

Before anyone ever decides to upgrade from one version to another, they really really need to evaluate whether the new functionality is either

a. not needed
b. obtainable through a service pack
c. obtainable through ESU's
d. obtainable through ASU's (Update Packs)
e. obtainable through a 3rd party addon

If you can answer "yes" to any of the above - then why upgrade ? If, on the other hand, the answer is "no" - then you really ought to answer the following questions

1. Where did the new functional requirement came from - did you acquire a new company ?
2. Is your business changing to such a degree that this new functionality is now critical
3. Why was this new functionality not critical when you made your initial product selection ?
4. Are you going to need additional new functionality into the future that is not addressed by your current solution ?

This might sound a little righteous - but your company ought to always ask these sort of questions prior to making a jump to a new system.

Take into consideration the following alternatives.

Service Packs provide all the technical functionality that is available under a new version - and rarely require modifications to data structures - and then usually only for technical tables. A service pack is a "minor" thing to implement - requiring some testing time and a couple of days of technical work and package builds - but if it is implemented incorrectly and without testing, it can cause major outages in the system

ESU's fix bugs in your product. You should be implementing all the ESU's you can to become "fix current" prior to a CRP - and thereafter only implement what you need (including "baseline ESU's") if you run into issues. ESU's take some time to implement and can have some impact on specific functionality.

ASU's or Updates move your release level up and sometimes incorporates new functionality. Usually JDE/ORCL only provides updates if your product is no more than 2 versions behind the current version. These aren't as painful as an upgrade - but they can have quite a significant impact on functionality.

Upgrades take you from one level - usually far behind - and moves you up to a new standard. Often an upgrade will have severe impact on your implementation - significant testing is required to minimize significant downtime. Often an upgrade will require re-architecture of the technology infrastructure, as well as additional training. Between 8.10 and 8.12, for example, there are significant differences in the way that clients are used (Citrix is no longer an option starting with 8.11).

Lastly - if you have custom reports, then those can usually be brought across to the new version. It is very rare that a custom report fails to work in a new system - though it might need "touching up". Boomerang from www.everestsoftint.com will move any object from older versions to newer versions of OneWorld - including reports. Of course, this doesn't include third party reporting tools outside of the oneworld toolset.