ONBASE UPGRADE TOOLKIT – STARTING YOUR UPGRADE

JOURNEY
Upgrading OnBase requires knowledge and preparation. Whether you are performing your first upgrade or you
are a veteran who has been upgrading OnBase for years, there is always something new to learn. The Hyland
Upgrades Technical Community is a great place to look for information on upgrading your OnBase system.
However, with the wealth of information available, it can be hard to know where to start. The goal of this
OnBase Upgrade Toolkit is to point you to specific resources that will help you on your upgrade journey.

Deciding When to Upgrade

If you have not yet made the decision to upgrade, read the Why upgrade OnBase to the latest version?
document to learn the main reasons you should upgrade. You should also reference the OnBase Version
Support Lifecycle to find out when support or extended support ends for your current version of OnBase, which
may affect your decision to upgrade.

Understanding Your Solution

To perform a successful upgrade, you first need to understand your solution. You will have to put in the effort
to learn the business processes that your solution helps accomplish, the architecture of the system, the
platforms that it runs (such as Windows and IIS), and any integration points your solution consumes.
If you are not yet familiar with OnBase, you can start learning how OnBase works at training.hyland.com.
There you can find eLearning courses that cover many different areas of the software, as well as information
about the technical training classes available. Our training teams have also put together role-based paths that
will help guide you as you begin learning the software. Role-based paths are learning tracks based on your
role within your organization. You can build out your training as needed to help build on your education needs.

Choosing Your Upgrade Path

Once you know how your OnBase solution fits within your organization, the next step is to determine how you
would like to upgrade OnBase. There are different options available, from performing the upgrade yourself to
upgrading with the assistance of Hyland Global Services. The Pathways to Upgrading OnBase webinar video
will help you to make this decision.

Choosing Synchronous or Parallel

There are two upgrade methodologies to upgrade your OnBase system: a synchronous upgrade, or an
Incremental Parallel Upgrade Process (IPUP). A synchronous upgrade is a full system upgrade performed
during a single period of downtime, whereas the IPUP method allows you to upgrade your system piece by
piece over a longer period of time. Use the following resources to help you determine which method is right for
you:
- Synchronous upgrades vs. IPUP: Two paths, one destination
- The benefits of running in parallel during your upgrade process

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 - Upgrade Options for OnBase
Choosing which upgrade method you are going to use is just the first step. After choosing the upgrade method,
it is best to learn as much about that method as possible. Below are some resources to help you fine-tune your
knowledge on the two respective methods.
For information on the synchronous upgrade process, see (Re)Introducing the synchronous upgrade.
For information on the Incremental Parallel Upgrade Process, see Choose your own upgrade adventure.

Choosing a Version
Not all versions of the software are created equally. This is especially true in OnBase Foundation and higher
versions of the software that use the Enhancement Pack (EP)/Long Term Release (LTR) strategy. Customers
looking to take advantage of the newest features might prefer to download the latest EP, while customers who
are looking for longer-term support might prefer to download the latest LTR. You can learn more about
Hyland’s Foundation versioning strategy by viewing Bill Premier’s general session presentation at
CommunityLIVE 2019.
It is also important to verify that the version of the software you plan to implement supports all of the modules
you plan to use. You can determine this by checking the OnBase Module Support Lifecycle, which lists when a
module has entered into a Deprecated Phase (approaching obsolescence or has become obsolete) or has
reached End of Life.

Reading the Documentation

Regardless of which method you choose to upgrade, the basics of planning an upgrade will be the same.
Always start by reviewing the available documentation for the version of OnBase to which you are upgrading.
Important resources to review include the following:

 Technical Requirements Overview for New Installations and Upgrades

 Mitigating Risk in OnBase Upgrades
 Upgrade Guidelines
 Module Reference Guides
You can get a deeper look at the changes between the version of the software you are currently running and
the version to which you are upgrading by creating a report from the OnBase Release Notes (a.k.a. Delta
Reports or What’s New) page, which will list all of the changes between two different builds of the software.

Assembling a Team
After reading through the documentation for your upgrade, you need to assemble the team that will be
responsible for planning and implementing your upgrade. Plan an OnBase upgrade as a project for your
organization. This blog post discusses how to build your upgrade team.

Testing
Once you have a plan in place and a team to help you work through your upgrade, you need to think about
testing your solution. This is one of the most critical parts of a successful upgrade. You need to make sure that
you thoroughly test your solution not just for your users, but with your users. These resources describe
methodologies you can use when testing an upgrade:

 Testing an OnBase Solution: this Premium Subscription course discusses how to test any OnBase
solution, including OnBase upgrades.
 Testing an OnBase Solution White Paper: this white paper is intended to complement the Premium
Subscription course.
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End User Adoption
End user adoption is a crucial part of any successful upgrade. Hyland has created the Upgrade Adoption Kit to
help you improve end user adoption. The kit contains a collection of resources including communication
resources, posters, and flyers to win over your users.

Additional Resources
While this document is not intended to cover the nuanced details of upgrading all of the modules (for that we
have Module Reference Guides), there are a few additional resources you may find useful:

 Upgrade Checklist: this document provides a basic template you can use to track the details for an
upgrade. It does not cover everything, as all customers are unique in their upgrade needs, but you can
build on to it to for your specific needs.
 Moving on Up Resources: Tools and Best Practices for OnBase Upgrades: this presentation provides
tools and best practices you can use to ensure your upgrade is successful.
 Upgrade Best Practices for your OnBase Solution: this presentation provides best practices and other
tips for upgrading your OnBase solution.
 Third Party Compatibility: this page provides a list of supported third-party software by version.
Because OnBase does not exist in a bubble, you need to make sure that you account for third-party
products within your environment such as operating systems, browsers, and other line-of-business
applications.

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