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Upgrade Best Practices
September 2014
© 2013 IBM Corporation
Upgrading is a Best Practice…
Compelling Reasons to Maintain Version Currency

Simplify!
 Leave customizations behind by taking advantage of new standard OOTB
functionality.
 Manage internal user customization requests by creating an internal
governance process and review board and require business case justification
for all customization.
 Consolidate your Maximo footprint into a centralized, single global instance
based on standards that ensure consistent value across your enterprise.
 Streamline tailoring and ensure OOTB functionality is used to safeguard against
overly expensive and complex upgrade cycles.

Maintain IT currency.
Supporting and relying on old technologies is costly. Outdated systems and
technologies cancel out the quality and operational improvements Maximo
customers work so hard to achieve. Maintain currency of your entire
supporting IT infrastructure to ensure Maximo is performing optimally and
your company is benefitting from the newest fixes and efficiencies.

Take advantage of new
functionality that automates
business processes.
Actively review internal business processes to ensure your organization is
leveraging new Maximo features that streamline complex processes and
contribute to higher levels of adoption and productivity.

Expand into other asset
classes.
The Maximo footprint continues to expand and includes asset management
capabilities for classes such as IT and facilities. Any and all high value assets
that support important business processes in your organization, can be
managed with Maximo, bringing safety and environmental oversight to your
operations.
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© 2013 IBM Corporation
Upgrading is a Best Practice…
Compelling Reasons to Maintain Version Currency

Leverage the relationship
between services delivered
and assets managed.
By understanding the relationship between services delivered and assets managed,
clients can increase focus on the right assets – thereby reducing failures that
have the biggest impact on business. Maximo’s service management
functionality improves ones’ understanding of the impact of asset failures and
provides reliable operational risk data.

Industry solutions are
already tailored to meet your
needs.
Many of the industry-specific Maximo customizations you may have
implemented can be left behind. Instead, Maximo’s ready-made Industry
Solutions are designed by experts from your line of work, immediately deployable,
and fully supported by IBM.

EOS
End of support means you will not be able to open new PMRs or speak to a Support
representative about issues with your back-level version of Maximo. After EOS goes
into effect, bug fixes, fixpacks, or upgrades will not be available. Maintaining
version currency will keep the IBM Support team and software fixes and
updates accessible to you.

Make sure your users’
experience optimal
productivity thru improved
navigation and functionality.
•Navigation is more intuitive and constantly being improved.
•Additional Start Center configuration flexibility is available to support
individual productivity and accountability requirements.
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Analytical insights through Reporting, KPI’s and Dashboards improve
performance, increase user access and provide better tools to monitor the health of
your business.
© 2013 IBM Corporation
Evaluating Upgrade Scope
L4L
Like-for-like (L4L)
Moving to the new platform but only adopting capabilities in use today
• Focusing on existing footprint and capabilities
• Staying whole and business-as-usual, but on the new platform
• Customer has undertaken a relatively recent review of business
processes and procedures and all are still relevant
• Customer is interested in new Maximo features, but does not wish to
substantially modify existing configuration
• L4L requires thorough evaluation of new capabilities in a sandbox
fashion to fully understand new platform to make informed upgrade
decisions
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© 2013 IBM Corporation
Evaluating Upgrade Scope
L4L
BT
Business Transformation
Takes advantage of an upgrade to seize the opportunity for evaluating the entire
solution and infrastructure to see where new functionality can be adopted and
efficiencies gained.
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Ideal for large organizations with multiple, unique deployments
The best choice when an implementation has not been evaluated or documented
against core business processes and requirements in the recent past
The best choice when Maximo has undergone significant tailoring and
customization to accommodate business requirements
Numerous custom reports have been written and could benefit from an audit
cycle
Multiple integrations to external systems have been developed with custom code
Customer wants to take advantage of combining distinct Maximo deployments
into a single global instance, using multi-org/site capabilities and/or multi-tenancy
© 2013 IBM Corporation
Benefits of each approach
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L4L
Business Transformation
 Smaller scope
Opportunity to synchronize functionality
with business processes
 Shorter timeframe involved
Value add of new capabilities in core
product
 For budget constrained scenarios
Industry Solution and asset class
expansion
 Manageability of new platform, vs
expanded footprint; use only what
you need
Potential for leaving behind
customizations, reducing TCO
 Opportunity cost/value of simplicity,
not becoming over engineered for
size of organization
Enhances customer’s cost & business
efficiency and potentially a competitive
advantage
© 2013 IBM Corporation
Choosing a method – Upgrade vs migration
An upgrade is the process of moving a Maximo implementation through various subsequent
release levels, until the target Maximo version is reached, typically using the IBM provided
scripts/utilities.
• A best practice between two point releases, i.e. Maximo 7.1 and Maximo 7.5 OR between
Fixpack levels, i.e. Maximo 7.5.1 and 7.5.2
• Scripts are provided by IBM
• Assumption is that customer is relatively up-to-date on fixpacks
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© 2013 IBM Corporation
Choosing an upgrade method: “upgrade” vs “migration”
An upgrade is the process of moving a Maximo implementation through various subsequent
release levels, until the target Maximo version is reached, typically using the IBM provided
scripts/utilities.
• A best practice between two point releases, i.e. Maximo 7.1 and Maximo 7.5 OR between
Fixpack levels, i.e. Maximo 7.5 and 7.6.
• Scripts are provided by IBM
• Assumption is that customer is relatively up-to-date on fixpacks
A migration is a reimplementation exercise, where the target version is the starting point, and
data is moved to it (after proper validation).
• Usually performed when multiple release generations exist between current and target
version, i.e. Maximo 6 to Maximo 7
• Is more efficient than multiple upgrade cycles strung together that would normally require
multiple data validation processes, etc.
• Assumes old functionality and technology is better left behind and customer is embracing
new technology and capabilities
• Benefits include
• TCO reduced, as unnecessary customizations are left behind, core functionality covers
requirements, and little/no investment in recreating them on the new platform
• Fewer customizations for customer to manage, test, support in future upgrade cycles.
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© 2013 IBM Corporation
Version Currency Philosophy
•
•
Version currency is the most important objective for all customers
Staying current is the most cost efficient way to maintain Maximo;
• It is costly to fall behind, requiring more time, $, and resources to upgrade after a version
is considered back level
• Users are more productive when able to access the most recent enhancements as well
as fixpacks.
• EOS announcements are made 12-18 mos before a version is sunset; sign up at the link
below to ensure you are aware of important Maximo notifications and alerts
Why Upgrade? Webinar link to recording for TUC members
http://tivoli-ug.org/content-library/m/mediagallery/3943.aspx
What’s New in Maximo 7.6? Webinar link to recording for TUC members
http://tivoli-ug.org/content-library/m/mediagallery/4160.aspx
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© 2013 IBM Corporation