OpenText Exstream is a powerful, efficient and robust multichannel customer communications solution that allows users to create a variety of simple and complex customer-facing documents with dynamic content for interactive, on-demand or batch environments.
Release after release, Exstream brings a lot of new exciting features mainstream, while ensuring backward compatibility for Exstream applications developed through older releases. You may be wondering if it is difficult to upgrade to the latest major release- release 16 – it’s not. There are just a few steps to execute, and that’s it!
As a certified OpenText Support Partner, that gained significant experience over almost 2 decades, Ecodocx provides a wide range of services (including upgrade to OpenText Exstream) based on OpenText solutions mainly for utilities, telecom provider, financial institutions, oil and gas providers, insurers, and manufacturers.
Know before you go!
Information on upgrading to OpenText Exstream can be found in the OpenText User Guides in the Knowledge Center. It will help you to better assess what needs to be done during the upgrade process.
There are several ways to make the upgrade process easier. Following are a few modules you might have installed that can assist with the upgrade process:
- Test Data Capture – Optimizes your test data for the upgrade
- Rule Analyzer – Checks whether your business rules were triggered or not
- Output Compare – Compare PDF, PostScript and AFP generated by the old version and the new version, in the Workstation
- Output Batch Compare – Does the same as Output Compare but with larger files, in the server
If you do not have these modules installed, please reach out to your OpenText Exstream account executive for more information.
Collect test data
What you need to know is that a complete test data coverage is the key to a successful upgrade. But don’t try to use an entire data set from a production run as it can be too cumbersome and time-consuming to manage.
As mentioned above, we recommend using Test Data Capture in order to decrease the number of records in the Test Data file.
Preparing for the upgrade
In order to prepare the upgrade, some key activities are necessary:
- Duplicate the Database Instance and work on this duplicated database to perform the preparation
- Delete any unused objects you see and empty the Trash Can of Design Manager
- Execute Database Maintenance before upgrading the Database
Choosing the right methodology to upgrade OpenText Exstream
Engine only upgrade
- No need to perform the Database migration to the latest version
- Useful to fix a defect that only occurs with the engine
- It does not allow you to use the latest features of Exstream
Design and Engine upgrade
- Install the new Exstream Design and Production on a targeted workstation
- Simply use DBAdmin_DBCS.exe to migrate the duplicated instance of the database
- This will allow you to use the latest feature of Exstream
- For a full upgrade, you can repackage all the applications (manually or through Batch packaging). It is then recommended to test the output with the one generated with the older version
- You can still use the engine with the old packages and only repackage once a modification is done in the application
Additionally, you can use a step-by-step migration using XOB that will need more time to achieve the upgrade and require two engines in the same environment. This method is typically suited for:
- Allowing you to continue developing with a minimal business impact
- Revamping the applications in the new version in order to better control which new features can be applied
The upgrade is fully supported by OpenText. You can also rely on the Exstream Professional Services team to ensure best practices are applied and to accelerate the process thanks to the experience of our consultants.
If you would like to know more about upgrading OpenText Exstream to version 16, or would like to know if all of your document templates are going to be supported in the new version, feel free to contact us for a free consultation.
Source: www.blogs.opentext.com