E1 Tools release upgrade

We are currently on E1 9.0 with tools release of 8.98.42. One issue we have had is in regards to internet browsers. Anything over IE8 has problems so we are in part looking to upgrade to allow more recent versions of IE.

My questions are really two. One is what kinds are the reasons people would upgrade from our release of 8.98.42 to a higher release. Besides things like browser support, what kind of things would drive that decision.

Second question would be, what all is involved in a tools release upgrade. Is this a small, medium, or large scale project and would it be within the capabilities of a person with basic CNC skills, or if we are without a real CNC expert is this is kind of project that would be best outsourced to someone with CNC skills and experience in tools upgrades.

Thanks.

Hello,

Tools release projects are far easier now than in the past due to Server Manager. But with that being said, if you have never done a tools upgrade, doing it properly is complex enough that it probably make sense to have a partner walk you though the first one. To get the maximum benefit I would recommend that you have your team shadow all the project management and hands on work during the project. That way you understand what this specific type of project looks like from a planning and execution perspective so you will be doing it "right" when you try it yourself next time.

That would be my advice, but to be upfront I'm a JDE business partner, so I'm speaking from my perspective…. take that for what it's worth.

I hope this helps. Please reach out to our team if you'd like to discuss this project and all the specific benefits of moving up to a 9.x tools level from 8.98.4.2. (far too many to clog up a post with….)

Take care,
David McIlmoyl
ERP-One Consulting
[email protected]

jimmymac,

We also used to be on TR 8.98.4.2 with E1 9.0, and upgraded our TR to 9.1.0.2 over a year ago. We implemented E1 Pages, which I think has done a lot to improve access of daily-used programs -- and they aren't really that hard to create. There have been numerous improvements to grids, including being able to resize and hide/unhide grid columns on the fly, adding in a freeze column feature (like we used to have on the fat client), advanced query capabilities, and many other nice new features.
Favorites have been improved, so you can now re-order them and organize them.
There is easier access to View Submitted Jobs.
Browser support has come along with the updates, although at a pace slower than most companies would like to see. The latest TR includes support for IE10. With TR 9.1.3+, there is now also an iPad app to access JDE.
If you look on Oracle's upgradejde.com site, there is an electronic upgrade value proposition (eUVP) tool to compare releases.

For your second question, I'd say that if you haven't done a tools release upgrade in over a year, engage a technical consultant to help you through the process -- especially since you're jumping from the 8.98.x to 9.1.x tools release (a major jump).

"what kind of things would drive that decision?"

Well ... you kinda have to. Software decays / decomposes. You will be forced to upgrade eventually so you might as well plan for periodic upgrades rather than getting into a spot where any upgrade is a major undertaking.

Jimmymac,

There are a large number of improvements with tools 9.1

Obviously browser support is updated
The user interface is majorly changed and improved. Huge improvement
E1 Pages are a new feature that is starting to get decent traction.
And more.

As for the effort, hire a business partner for this one. There are several big step changes between 8.98.x and 9.1.x. In 9.1, you switch over to Oracle Universal Installer from the old JDE installer. The actual upgrade mechanism takes a slightly different twist than a normal tools upgrade (hard to explain in an internet post).

Your webserver and Java will most likely need to be upgraded. If you are using OAS, that is retired in favor of weblogic or websphere. If one of the latter, that will need to be upgraded to the latest greatest.

Your users will need some time to test out and be retrained. The interface is different than what you are used to. If you have developed any documentation or UPKs, they will need to be updated to match the new screen shots.

It is well worth the jump, but it does not fall in to the do it yourself category for someone with basic CNC skills.

- Gregg