Planning the Upgrade Process

The Planning & Initiation phase establishes the overall project environment. If this is your first upgrade, it could be a challenging task at the beginning.As you go along the process, you would learn quite a bit and it would be very good learning experience. I believe this blog should help prepare those inital stages and help you get going. In this phase, most of the planning is completed, the team identified and supporting project processes documented. Usually a “road map” is defined for completing the work with deliverables like Project Plan, Project Budget or an Estimation, Resource Requirement, and Technical Assessment of the PeopleSoft Environment.

When you develop a Project Charter, you would have to present to the Management as to show the Benefits of this process, summary and background of the upgrade project, its objectives and the scoping and its risks.

Also, a detailed project plan should be developed that has the entire roadmap that defines each and every tasks, deliverables, milestones, work hours, resource allocations and timing. The plan should include all appropriate tasks and resources accountable for on-time completion. Please check the attached Sample Project Plan that can be used for your project. Also, please leave comments on what other things that can be included in the plan. The Sample project plan is for PeopleSoft HRMS Upgrade from 8.3 to 8.9 that includes initial pass and test move to production



The most important task during the Planning Phase is to do an assessment on your hardware and software environment. This would address the technical infrastructure required for the new PeopleSoft Release. This is critical for a smooth and successful upgrade process. Check the hardware and software requirement from the PS CC website and also platforms supported. Also, you would look into the customization level of your production environment to categorize them as easy, medium or complex level.

The length of the PeopleSoft Upgrade project depends on many factors. Some of the most common factors are: The level of cutomizations (easy , medium , complex), the number of resources available, your environment, the number of modules implemented, if you are considering the implement new functionality, your budget etc.

PeopleSoft provides an upgrade home page for each release (each major releases, product updates and service pack releases). Each home page contains the certified upgrade path for that release, the upgrade instructions, and the paths to fixes that are required for upgrade.

The navigation for this home page in PeopleSoft Customer Connection is:

• Implement, Optimize, and Upgrade
  
• Upgrade Guide
  
• Upgrade Documentation and Scripts
  
• Release
  
• Enterprise
  
• HRMS
  
• PeopleSoft 9.0
  

Make sure that you are on the supported PeopleSoft release for the upgrade to PeopleSoft new version as listed on the Upgrade Documentation Page.

Identifying Project Team Members:

An important part of your upgrade process involves having key resource personnel. They can be either dedicated or partially dedicated. The following are the important upgrade roles that should be considered during the project:

Upgrade Project Manager: This member must be familiar with the upgrade process.This individual must be able to make management decisions and resolve issues that impact the progress of the upgrade project.

Upgrade Specialist or Technical Upgrade Resource: This individual must be familiar with PeopleSoft upgrades, RDBMS, SQL, PeopleTools, Change Assistant Tool, Data Management Tool, Application Engine and PeopleSoft Configuration and Administration. This member will execute and manage all technical upgrade tasks and will log all upgrade steps. Resolves issues with DBA or System Admin. Oversees all necessary checklists to ensure completion of the upgrade.

Database Administrator:The DBA must be a dedicated upgrade resource and will help in reviewing the scripts and to modify them if necessary. Monitor closely the database and provide support, perform back-ups and recoveries. Also help in troubleshooting and tuning the database.

Network/System Administrator: A part time member, will help in managing the network security and connectivity, troubleshoot network issues, Manage logins, passwords and system security etc

Developers: PeopleSoft Developers must be familiar with the customizations, they would need to have good amount of experience in SQR, COBOL, PeopleTools, Application Engine, PeopleCode, Crystal etc. They would help in Retrofit Customizations, Unit, System and Interface Test the change and document all the changes.

Functional Resource: These key members must be familiar with your business process and customizations. This member must be familiar with new release functionality as well. This key individual must review Release notes, identify customizations, create and execute test plans, document all issues etc