Migration Process Tasks

The upgrade and migration process encompasses the following tasks.

  1. Understanding the reasons for migrating.

    The starting consideration point for migrating content from WebFOCUS Version 7 to WebFOCUS Version 8 can be for any of the following reasons:

    The reasons for migrating should always be in focus, so you can concentrate on meeting those requirements.

  2. Assessing user requirements. Establish business requirements by existing user community. The WebFOCUS Version 8 security model is a role-based system where you define rules on resources based on users, groups, and their roles. For more information, see the WebFOCUS Security and Administration documentation.
  3. Understanding WebFOCUS Version 8. User community (end users, developers, administrators) must be granted access to WebFOCUS Version 8 documentation and must be trained on WebFOCUS Version 8 usage to be able to evaluate its capabilities against those of WebFOCUS Version 7 to determine how it can meet their needs.
  4. Assessing WebFOCUS Version 7 applications. Perform a thorough assessment of what WebFOCUS Version 7 content really needs to be migrated and then discard unused content before migrating.
  5. Auditing WebFOCUS Version 7 applications. Run reports to identify reports that are unused or rarely used, so they can be discarded before migrating to WebFOCUS Version 8.
  6. Understanding what happens after migration. It is important to understand what happens to migrated content and security authorization information, so you can evaluate what migration and modernization approach meets business requirements.
  7. Evaluating resources.

    Software. Identify new or updated software that is required with WebFOCUS Version 8. Changes in software and new software required by WebFOCUS Version 8 is documented in the WebFOCUS Installation and Configuration manual for your platform.

  8. Preparing the environment for WebFOCUS Version 8.
    • Install third-party software.
    • Install JDBC drivers for the WebFOCUS Version 8 repository.
  9. Choosing a migration approach. There are several migration and modernization approaches you can take when migrating content to WebFOCUS Version 8. These approaches are detailed in Migration Approaches.
  10. Choosing sample applications to migrate. It is important to choose a sample set of applications for evaluation that is representative of all applications to establish the time it takes to modernize, as needed. The time it takes to migrate and modernize these sample applications will be used in scheduling, so it has to be as accurate as possible to avoid rollout delays.
  11. Scheduling performance testing. Benchmarks must be conducted on migrated content to determine additional resources required by WebFOCUS Version 8.
  12. Planning the WebFOCUS Version 8 environments.
  13. Assessing the migration effort.

    Staffing for the migration effort can be from your organization or Information Builders Professional Services. You can contact your local branch representative for information on the Professional Services WebFOCUS 8 Modernization Assessments offering.

  14. Installing WebFOCUS Version 8. WebFOCUS Version 8 will need to be installed on all of the environments planned for the upgrade.
  15. Migrating applications.
  16. Modernizing applications.
  17. Moving applications across environments.
  18. Testing.
  19. Creating user documentation.
  20. Training users.
  21. Choosing a cutover approach. One of the decisions you will need to make as part of the upgrade is when to cutover from WebFOCUS Version 7 production to WebFOCUS Version 8.
  22. Building and implementing a migration plan. Detailing how each step in the upgrade and migration process will be accomplished.
  23. Creating a rollout schedule. The schedule should be reflective of how much time the migration will take based on the level of complexity and business needs. Create milestones for each step in the process from the initial WebFOCUS Version 8 evaluation to the production rollout.

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