ibm smart cloud controle desck

© 2013 IBM Corp.

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk 7.5.1 STE Daniel Wiegand, Edward Whitehead March 15, 2013

IBM Software Group | Tivoli Software © 2013 IBM Corp. 2

Agenda

Solution Overview

End User Experience

Ticket Resolution


Focus areas for SCCD enhancements in 7.5.1

Make it easier and friendlier for end-users to request

services and have it fulfilled through full ITIL-compliant

process automation

Get more social ! Improved social media integration

Make it easy to build an Internal Enterprise App Store

with out-of-the-box SCCD-TEM integration

Provide Service Management for the cloud-enabled data

center

Improve the productivity and responsiveness of the IT

staff with many new features and improved usability.

Improved smarter infrastructure management inside and

outside the data center

Break the silos with improved Dev-Ops integration

Mobile friendly ! For the workforce on the move!


SCCD 7.5.1 – Exciting & Compelling new release!

New app headers – understand ticket in 5 seconds

Simplified and re-designed apps

Live Chat

support

AppStore look-and-feel for

service catalog

Improved user experience

New styling leveraging IBM OneUI guidelines


View information about resources inside and outside the data center. • New in SCCD only – Multiple related CIs on a map based on business service topology.

Analyze the geographic distribution of incidents (either manually created or from monitoring and event management tools). • New in SCCD only – Multiple Events / Incidents / Problems / Changes / Assets / CIs on map, Advanced search and filter capability for

map overlays.

• Drill down into details from map markers.

Perform “what-if” impact analysis (new in 7.5.1)

New features for Smarter Infrastructure Management

Get a full 360 on a resource

View logical topology with incident & status overlay

Perform “What-if” impact analysis & view results on topology view

View geographical topology of business services with status overlays


Upgrade

No additional middleware pre-requisites

Same minimum middleware as SCCD 7.5.0.x

Automated upgrade accomplished by running the 7.5.1 installer

7.5.1 contains a number of UI enhancements and changes

Two types of UI changes and their impact on Upgrade

New features such as New skin, Application Header Updates, and so on

By default, these new UI features are disabled for upgrade scenarios and enabled for

fresh installs

Each feature is typically individually controlled through a system property

Specific Application UI changes / restructuring such as introduction of new tab

These changes are always applied during upgrade via updatedb

Some of these could conflict with customer’s Application UI modifications

The installation program creates a backup file of all the application presentations


End User Experience

UI Layout and Navigator Changes

Solutions Enhancements – Browse, eMail, and Print

Offering Dialog Enhancements

• Pricing

• User Comments

Request Tracking – Approvals and Progress Map

Live Chat Overview

Enterprise App Store / Tivoli Endpoint Manager integration

Incidents Pod


UI Layout and Navigation Changes


Self Service Center New Features

New ability to browse

solutions (search still

available)

Live Chat to contact the

help desk for support


Improved Navigation Experience (7.5.1)

Tree view allows for

easy navigation

Tree view can be

toggled to go to

classic navigation

Configurable icons for

meaningful navigation

Expand Navigator

to Full Screen

Folder icons are configured by adding an image to classifications

Tree view used for Request a New Service, Report an Issue, and Browse Solutions


Enhanced Dialog Features and Aesthetics

• Improved dialog look and feel

Improved button focus

Optional estimated

pricing using price books

User’s can optionally

rate and provide comments


Solution Enhancements


Self Service Center Search Solution Type-ahead

If search solutions is still enabled, a type-ahead feature has been added

to assist users


Self Service Center Browse Solutions

Browse Solutions – allows you to browse all active solutions configured for Self

Service Center access.

Users are able to discover solutions to their issues without having to search


Email and Print Solutions

A way to email and print a Solution directly from the Self Service Center application

Email uses existing communication templates and Print uses existing Solution reports; no need to generate new content for this feature

Consistent look, feel and administration for those familiar with templates and reports

Configuration for Email / Print

• To change the communication template used by Email solution:

mxe.app.solution.selfsrv.email.templateid Default value: PMSOLNTFY

• To change the report used by Print and Quick Print: mxe.app.solution.selfsrv.print.reportname Default value: solutionprint.rptdesign

Email Solution

Print Solution


Pricing and User Comments


Offering Pricing - History

Pricing of Offerings has historically been static

In TSRM 7.2 and 7.2.1, Offerings exposed the list price field in Item Master that was added by Service Provider • This was just a number and had no associated currency

• Customers needed to add configuration to leverage this field in Offering dialogs and requests

In upgrading to SmartCloud Control Desk 7.5, the data that was stored in the list price was moved to a Price Book, an application from Service Provider • List Price was removed - instructions were provided to re-add it in the upgrade

guide)

• This release lacked integration with the Price Book application.

• Displaying Price could only be done by configuring the environment to read price book data or to add a new static field(s)

NEW: SmartCloud Control Desk 7.5.1 support for Price Books • Offerings display pricing information that is found in a corresponding Price Book

• Price Book data for Offerings is used to convey estimated price to the end user

• Price is fully calculated based on actual parts and labor costs as well as any discounts that may apply

• Price Information is stored and retained on the Service request


Pricing - UI Results

Pricing views across Offering Dialog, Cart, and Service Request


Offering Comments - Use

Overview: • You can now create Offerings so that your users can provide feedback about

their experience with an offering and view other users' feedback.

• Users can rate an offering, provide comments and view others' ratings and comments.

• Available when requesting an Offering and reviewing the a previous request

• The Offering designer can also view the comments and ratings that have been created so far.

Benefits • Increase social media focus by allowing users to record and share their

experiences with Offerings.

• Provide offering designers with valuable user feedback to analyze and improve Offerings.


User Comments and Ratings

An administrator can

hide inappropriate or

inaccurate feedback

• Offering designer can monitor comments that have been created so far. • Offering designer can control which comments are active by checking the Inactive? checkbox. • Inactive comments and ratings

• Will not be shown to the end user on offering dialog • Will not be included in the average rating calculation for the offering


Request Tracking


Progress Map - Overview

What is it? • A visual indicator of an object's status in the context of its complete life cycle

• Allows users to quickly see status and get an idea of overall progress

• Dynamic and configurable – different progress maps can be displayed based on object, application, object state or custom condition

Available in the following applications by default:

• Incident, Service Request, Problem, Release, Change, Self Service Center (View Service Request and View Incident dialogs)

System Properties are used to define the nodes and node sequence displayed in the Progress Map • Example:

pmgui.progressmap.incident.ticket.seq


View Service Request Dialog

View Pending Approvals

View Fulfillment Progress

Completed Approvals

• New View Service Request with enhanced look and feel


Live Chat

IBM Software Group | Tivoli Software © 2013 IBM Corp. 25 25

Live Chat Overview

Provides a new mechanism for an end user to contact the help desk

• This feature is becoming more and more prevalent for providing support

Not an integration, chat server runs as part of the application

• Not related to existing Instant Messaging integration (Agent > User)

Multi-purpose Contact Us Pod can be used with or without live chat

• Rich text field can be used to announce service desk availability

o the title “Contact Us” is configurable via UI presentation changes

o Text is configured in the Person Groups application -> Configure Chat Settings

• The message can be displayed in multiple languages, depending on user’s

locale

o The customer must translate it to each of the languages

Chat Queues (Person Group) determine agent availability

Chat topics (Ticket Template) determine topics / ticket routing


Live Chat – Initiating A Chat

1. The user chooses to chat with an agent from the Self Service Center (left) or from

viewing a Solution (right)

2. The user can optionally choose an existing request – if none is chosen a new request is

opened.

If a system is configured (advanced) with multiple chat topics (right), the user can select

a topic for routing the proper agent group.


Live Chat – Acknowledging a Chat Request

When the agent logs in, they have an extra control on their Maximo UI

header – referred to as Chat Control

When there are no pending chat requests in their queue(s):

When there are pending chat requests this will blink:

To accept the next chat request, they click on the bubble icon

• The agent will be connected with the oldest request from all queues in which

they belong


User and Agent View of the Chat

• Agent View (Left) • Link to the current Service Request • Automatic initial message to user • Agent can have 10 simultaneous chat (UI) sessions by default

• User View (Right)

• No link to the Service Request • User can only have 1 chat window open

• Chat windows do not support (this release)

• Emoticons • Rich Text • Pictures / Screen Capture


History Saved on the Service Request

Chat transcript is saved in Communication Log of SR

When chat is ended, Any pending changes to the service request will be lost. If the agent has service

request opened in another window, they should save the changes before ending the chat


Chat Queue - A special type of Person Group New Chat Queue tab available in Person Groups application

Make any person group a chat queue by clicking the Is Chat Queue? checkbox

You must turn it on by clicking on Available to Chat?

• This flag is available to turn off a chat queue, end users will get a message saying chat

services are not available at the moment

Person Group Application Shows

• Summary of in progress and waiting

chats including agent activity

• Chats that are in progress

(Start time, user, Service Request)

• Chats that are waiting

• Chat topics routed to this queue


Enterprise App Store / Tivoli Endpont Manager


Enterprise App Store

Users can browse available software in their enterprise app store

Software can be automatically deployed using Tivoli Endpoint Manager


Request Fulfillment Runbook Workflow executes in SCCD

End User

1.) End User Requests Software 2.) Workflow Initiated. Checks License Entitlement. 3.) Automatic or manual approvals based on policy. 4.) Runbook calls TEM to deploy Software 5.) Software deployed to target. 6.) Status & inventory information provided by TEM. 7.) TEM Software Usage Analysis is loaded into SCCD for license audit

SmartCloud Control Desk

Runbooks

1 2 3

4

TEM Server

7

5 6

Asset & CMDB


Incidents Pod


Incidents Pod Overview

Overview

• A pod in the Self Service Center that allows a user to see Incidents opened on their behalf – useful for customers that don’t rely solely on Service Requests

• Self Service users can quickly see the status/details of Incidents they've reported without leaving the Self Service Center

• No extra security configuration, saves time and avoids complexity

Enable Incidents Pod

• The Incidents Pod is disabled by default; it must be enabled through a system property

System Configuration → Platform Configuration → System Properties Set pmcom.ticket.enable.myIncidentsInSelfService equal to 1

• When enabled, you will see the pod in the Self Service Center application (under the My Requests Pod)


Ticket Resolution

At-a-glance Application Headers

Automatic Assignment of Tickets

Service Bulletin

Solution Enhancements

CI Topology Enhancements

Map Features

Changing Ticket Template


At-a-glance Application Headers

IBM Software Group | Tivoli Software © 2013 IBM Corp.

Understand a ticket in 5 seconds!

Visual header representing key information for different types of records • Service Request, Incident, Problem, Change, Release

• Unique progress map per record type

• What is it about?

• Where is it at? (progress)

• Who owns it?

• When is it due?


At-a-glance Headers

39

Image indicates the classification

This is a global

Incident Current status and it’s relative position in the overall process flow There are no

service bulletins for this Incident


Hover Dialogs

Hover dialogs added to reduce launching applications


Automatic Incident Owner Assignment


Automatic Assignment of Tickets - Overview

Automatically find an owner for new incidents

Re-assign to another owner if work does not begin on the Incident in a timely fashion

Business Value

Reduces Incident resolution time by automatically assigning owners who are available to work on the ticket

Keeps your incidents from getting stuck, keeps your process operating efficiently


Escalation assigns

owner based on

calendar availability Current owner is not working

on the ticket, so Escalation

assigns next available owner

New Incident

Created

1

3

4

2 Assign an owner group based on

customer’s business rules

(e.g. NetworkSupport gets network issues) Time

Interval

Automatic Ticket Assignment Overview


Select the next owner from within the incident’s owner group

method specified on the group

Person’s calendar availability considered

Algorithms provided

Workload – Starts with the member with the fewest tickets (Left)

Sequential – Starts with the member with the lowest sequence number (Middle)

Rotation - Uses a round robin assignment mechanism (Right)

Group only – Assigns to an entire group (no owner)

Assigning the Next Owner from Owner Group

Workload Sequential Rotation


Move to next group after trying all the members of this group

New “next group” field in person group

1st Person Group 2nd Person Group 3rd Person Group

Assigning the Next Owner Group


Auto Assign tab in Person Groups


Group Availability tab in Person Groups

Visualize group member calendar availability

Identify gaps in coverage


Automatic Assignment of Tickets – agent experience

To identify tickets that are ready to be assigned automatically, a flag, 'Automatic Assignment' is introduced to Ticket Templates and Incidents applications.

Ticket automatically assigned when Queued state Automatic Assignment flag is checked Has Owner Group set

Ready for owner to be assigned?


Owner & Owner Group can both have a Value

Owner and Owner Group fields can now be simultaneously set on tickets

Incident, Service Request, Problem, Process Request applications

New System Property: pmcom.ticket.simultaneous.ownerandownergroup

Value of 0 – Owner / Owner Group are Mutually Exclusive (value on upgrade)

Value of 1 – Owner / Owner Group can both be set (value for fresh install)


Service Bulletins


Service Bulletins are specialized bulletin board messages displayed to agents when they

are creating a ticket

• Specific to information the agent just entered in the ticket

Service Bulletins allow the agent to resolve the ticket more quickly

Agent may take a different action after viewing the information,

• Agent may not open the ticket due to planned outage, not supported, etc

• Agent might immediately link this ticket to a known global issue without needing to

investigate

Service Bulletins can be configured to be globally displayed - OR -

Service Bulletins can be tied to 1 or more sets of Configuration Item, Asset, Location,

Customer, and Classification

Service Bulletins - Overview

This CI is offline due to scheduled maintenance.

Expected service restoration is Wed 9am


Messages can be shown in tickets, start center, or both

Network down at

Denver

AIX Server upgrades

this weekend

This CI is offline for

scheduled

maintenance

Log-on Bulletin

Service Bulletin


Service Bulletins – Creating a Bulletin

Messages can be configured to be Bulletin Board Messages, Service Bulletins or Both


Service Bulletins – Incident Result

Once the Asset is set to EMAILSERV, the Bulletin Appears as a System Message

More Details


Knowledge Base Usability Improvements


Incident & SR Solution Usability Enhancements

New Solution status added to Service Request and Incidents application allows an agent to denote a Solution is being attempted

Under Consideration

Solution Failed

Solution Successful

If a solution does not work and is marked failed, the solution is cleared and maintained in the Failed Solutions table.


Ticket Solution Search Usability Enhancements


Solution Application Enhancements

New layout makes it easier to view solution details including rating, effectiveness, keywords,

etc

Tabs are used to easily segregate information like user feedback, related solutions, and

priority / status history

New Effectiveness Score illustrates how often the solution was successful Calculated by existing PmRankingSolutionCron Cron Task

Viewing details of Effectiveness Score shows tickets this solution was applied to (below)


Effectiveness and Priority in Search

59

New Priority field allows an administrator to denote a solution is important

Priority and Effectiveness push solutions to the top

Allows agent to more quickly resolve tickets

Ineffective Solutions can be modified and updated to improve usage


CI Topology Improvements


Additional Decorators added to Topology Views

Change Implementation

In Progress on this CI

An incident

is open on

this CI

Status is:

Operating

Accelerate incident resolution by quickly understanding

the status of related data center components


CI What-if Impact Analysis

Impacted CI’s

If this CI went offline, what else would be affected?


Map Integration


Map Overview

Map views now integrated into the product

Map Enabled Applications

Service Address, Assets, Locations, Work Order Tracking, Activites and Tasks, Change, Release, Service Request, Incident, Problem


Use map integration to see geographic distribution of Incidents

Search and Analyze by Incident Priority or Zip Code


See driving directions, traffic, satellite view

Also works from mobile device – will use mobile device GPS to calculate route from current location

For advanced use cases in scheduling the field workforce, purchase the “Maximo Scheduler” add-on.


Re-applying Ticket Templates

You can now override a Ticket Template once it has been assigned to the ticket, as long as you haven’t Started or Approved the Activities of the Ticket.

Previously, once a ticket template was assigned to a ticket (even the wrong one was accidentally applied) it couldn’t be changed.

If a template is reapplied, a warning message (left) is shown prior to opening the dialog (right) • The dialog has been updated to include the previously applied template

The previously applied Ticket Specification Attributes and Ticket Activities are replaced by the Specification Attributes and Activities of the second Ticket Template

The other ticket fields that the previous ticket template specified will only be replaced by the second ticket template if they’re not left null in the second ticket template.

• For example, if the first ticket template has an Owner, and the second ticket template you apply does not have an Owner, the ticket will still show the Owner after the second ticket template is applied-it will not clear the Owner field.

• It is recommended that you use this feature with ticket templates that have the same fields filled out.


Questions?


Backup


Configure Solution Print

Permission for the user's group to run the report in the Solution application (REPORTAPPAUTH)

1. Administration → Reporting → Report Administration

2. Find and open the report (default 'Solutionprint.rptdesign')

3. Click 'Set Application Security'

4. In the Set Application Security dialog,

filter the application list to show only

the Solution application

5. Click 'New Row' and add the user group

6. Check 'BIRT Reports' checkbox

In Security Groups, Read Access and Run Reports must be granted to the group for the Solution Application


Self Service Center Configuration File Changes

SSCenter configuration is stored in config.properties (formerly config75.properties)

• Format documented in the file and in InfoCenter

New link keyword ‘BrowseSolution’ added for Browse Solutions: (e.g. link5=BrowseSolution)

When upgrading to 7.5.1 we perform an upgrade of the user's existing config.properties or config75.properties . It will be transparent to the user. The end result will be an upgraded config.properties with the latest configuration data.

When upgrading to 7.5.1, the following files are used:

• configMaster.properties – contains master 7.5.1 configuration files

• config751Delta.properties – contains deltas for 7.5.1

o linkx=id:BrowseSolution

o navigatorView=tree

During install the following occurs:

• If config.properties exists, merge changes in config7510Delta.properties into it

• else if config75.properties exists, merge changes into it and save to config.properties

• else copy configMaster.properties to config.properties


Pricing - Offering Configuration

If Pricing is enabled via the Global System Property, individual Offerings

can be configured to display / not display price information

• Found in the Offering Application -> Specifications and Presentation tab

Default Dialogs obey the Display Price check box

Custom Dialogs can be created to obey the same checkbox, or they can

remove the pricing information from the dialog entirely

• Best Practice is to model after the default dialog and use the property,

especially if the dialog can be re-used


Price Books in the Offering

The Price Book that contains the price information for the Offering is

shown as well as cost information if a Job Plan has been specified

• Offering -> Price and Cost Tab


Pricing - Global Configuration / Install / Upgrade

For customers that do not wish to leverage pricing in Offerings, there is a

global setting that controls pricing enablement

• Global System Property – pmsc.catalog.displayprice

• The value is set to 1 (pricing enabled) for fresh installs

• The value is set to 0 (pricing disabled) for upgrade installs


Offering Comments - Configuration

On upgrade, the rate an offering capability is turned off on all existing

offerings.

Configure the rate an offering capability on a per offering basis

• In Offerings application, check “Allow Comments and Ratings”

checkbox to enable.

Newly created offerings will have the rate an offering capability enabled.

• Uncheck “Allow Comments and Ratings” if you want to disable comments


Ending a Chat

A chat can be ended by either the user or an agent

When a user ends a chat

• The chat transcript closes

• The agent gets a message (left) that the user left the chat

Ending a chat by agent is special because chat transcript will be saved at that time

• NOTE: Any pending changes to the service request will be lost. If the agent has

service request opened in another window, they should save the changes before

ending the chat

• A warning message for the agent (right)

76


Chat Topic – A special type of ticket template

Class of the template must be SR

Mark as “Chat Topic Only”

Set the Owner Group (Chat Queue)

The chat topic description is displayed to the end user

Only active chat topics are available to be used.

77


Single Chat Topic Mode – Out of the box

Out of the box configuration is set to single chat topic mode

Chat Queue CHAT_Q is created and maxadmin user is added as an

agent

Chat Topic CHAT_TOPIC is created with CHAT_Q as the owner group

System Property for single chat topic is set to CHAT_TOPIC

• sccd.livechat.singlechattopictemplate

To enable multiple chat topics:

• Go to System Configuration > Platform Configuration > System Properties

application

• Find the sccd.livechat.singlechattopictemplate property

• Remove the value

• Save and do Live Refresh

• Add additional Chat Topics and Chat Queues

78


What-if Impact Analysis

79


“Map – Side by Side” and “Map – Below” tab

Under the List view – leverage the table to control the map display.

There are 2 flavors: Map-Side by Side and Map-Below. Currently

shown below is Map -Side by Side.

Route can be calculated between selected records


Incidents Pod – View Incident

Quick glance to see top 5 recent Incidents and overall status of all Incidents pertaining to the logged in user

Click the summary link to view the Incident details


Unauthenticated Guest Access

Provides a way for kiosk and guest users to use SmartCloud Control Desk without requiring a personal account or credentials

• Users can browse solutions, view alerts / events, chat with the help desk, report issues, etc

WARNING: This is an advanced configuration topic. DO NOT enable this feature unless you completely understand the configuration and security risks of doing so.

(Recommended) Create a restricted guest account for guest / kiosk access

• Be sure to limit access to applications and data using security groups application

• For the Self Service Center, remove links to start center, go to menu, unused pods, etc

• A sample guest user and group (group: sccdguests and user: sccdguest) have been provided; don't use them in production

The following system properties are used for guest access

• mxe.webclient.guestLoginEnabled

• mxe.system.guestuser

• mxe.system.guestpassword

• mxe.webclient.guestLoginURL


Automatic Assignment of Tickets - Overview

An Escalation, ONCALLASSIGN by default runs every 10 minutes to perform the reassignment. Reassignment is done with the automation script ONCALLASSIGN using the following configuration parameters:

activeTicketStatus: Used to determine active tickets, default values INPROG and QUEUED.

useModAvailRecordWorkTime: This script parameter is used by the script to determine if the modification available entry is used to record the working time if there is no calendar. By default, it is set to zero which means, the person is considered as available if there is no calendar entry. If set to 1, the person is available only if there is a work period entry in the Person record if the person has no calendar.

endOfShiftBuffer: This script parameter denotes the buffer in minutes that the new assignments cannot be made before the end of the shift. The default value is set to 0.

An email notification is sent when the automatic assignment happens using ONCALLASGNOWNINC for owner or ONCALLASGNGRPINC for owner group

A Communication log entry is also created


Person Group – Configuration The 'Next Person Group' field in the Person Groups application is used to specify the next

Owner Group that should be assigned if no one in the current Owner Group is available to

respond to the ticket.

The Next Person Group attribute allows to link groups, to create person group hierarchies

for escalation. The table at the bottom of the Auto Assign tab shows the group hierarchy.

Actual re-assignment time is based on the person group value and how often the escalation

is run to perform the re-assignment


Person Availability

Tickets are assigned to members who are available based on the calendar and modification available entries

Shifts / work periods (left) and non working (right) time are defined using the Calendar application

Exceptions (Sick time, vacation, overtime, etc) are stored on the users person record


Details – Person Availability - Logic

Logic to determine if a person is available:

1) If there is a modification available non-work entry

if alternates defined, check alternates availability

if no alternates, go to next primary in the group

2) If there is a modification available work entry, return available

3) If there is no calendar associated, return available

4) Look in nonworktime table to see if it is a global non-work day

If so, return not available

5) Look in workperiod table to see if it is a normal work time (check shift

break, end of shift buffer)

If so, return available

If not, return not available


Overview - What is/not upgraded

What is upgraded

• Admin WS is recognized and upgraded automatically by the installer

• Database is updated in place. Maximo Database contents (Configurations,

Workflows, etc) brought over to 7.5.1

o Database configuration such as additional columns to tables, additional tables, etc. are also

brought forward

o Most UI changes such as new fields done through Application Designer are brought forward

Those likely to be impacted will be documented

What is not upgraded

• Customizations are not upgraded.

o JAVA, JSP, XML, HTML, CSS, Java Script or other customizations performed through manual

editing or non-Maximo tooling are not brought forward. They would have to be upgraded manually.


Upgrading from SCCD 7.5.0.x

No additional middleware pre-requisites

• Same minimum middleware as SCCD 7.5.0.x

Automated upgrade accomplished by running the 7.5.1 installer

Two options:

a) Run installer to upgrade Admin WS, database and application automatically at the same time

Suitable for environments where duration of downtime is not critical

OR

b) Use installer defer options to upgrade Admin WS separately from the database and application

Suitable for production and like environments to reduce maintenance downtime

Process


Planning Considerations

Customers typically have multiple environments to upgrade – Sandbox, Dev,

QA/Acceptance, Prod

• STRONGLY recommended to perform trial upgrades with “like production”

environments. That means, with:

o Exactly the same software versions and fixpack levels as production

o Copy of Production database

o Similar number of clusters and JVMs as Production

• This helps in several ways:

o Identifying fixes to likely issues prior to working on production, thereby avoiding surprises

during production upgrade (this has happened before!)

o Planning for production maintenance downtime by getting reasonable downtime estimates

If there are customizations:

• Evaluate whether these are still needed after you upgrade

• Any Java-based customizations would need to be ported and recompiled using JDK

1.6


User Interface Improvements in 7.5.1

7.5.1 contains a number of UI enhancements and changes

Two types of UI changes and their impact on Upgrade

1. New features such as New skin, Application Header Updates, and so on

o By default, these new UI features are disabled for upgrade scenarios and enabled for

fresh installs

o Each feature is typically individually controlled through a system property

Customers can choose to enable these features by setting the system properties at their time of

choosing

2. Specific Application UI changes / restructuring such as introduction of new tab

o These changes are always applied during upgrade via updatedb

o Some of these could conflict with customer’s Application UI modifications

These conflicts would require manual reconciliation post-upgrade

A list of these potential conflicts are published in the 7.5.1 Upgrade Guide


Prior to Upgrade – Assess potential UI conflicts

7.5.1 Upgrade Guide includes a list of all removed UI containers (Tabs, Sections, etc) from Application UIs

• See Technote published for SCCD 7.5.0: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21620440

• If Customers have modified these containers (for example: added a field), those modifications will be lost during the upgrade

Customers should use the information to assess how their deployment would be affected

• For 7.5.1, we’ve done a much better job of reusing UI containers likely to have been modified by customers

The installation program creates a backup file of all the application presentations.

• Stored on the administrative workstation in the logs subdirectory under the install directory (example ibm/smp/logs).

• The name of the file includes a timestamp indicating when it was created, for example, PresentationXML_201108120908.xml.

Updatedb applies presentation changes specified in the MXS files

• All presentation changes from current customer release onwards through the target release are applied

• For example: o If customer is at 7.2.1.0 and is upgrading to 7.5.1.0, all presentation changes from 7.2.1.1, 7.2.1.2…, 7.5.0.1,

7.5.0.2,… through 7.5.1 are applied

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21620440




Post Upgrade - Migrate Conflicting UI Customizations

Customer must review affected application screens

• Customer added fields may have been dropped or moved

• Layout of the screen may not look good due to the ‘merge’ of customer modifications and

7.5.1 product changes

Customer must use the Application Designer in version 7.5.1 to reinstate their

modifications by making additions or adjustments to the upgraded screens.

• Do this in the first environment (DEV or Sandbox) and then simply export/import the

rectified application presentation XMLs to the other environments

Alternatively, they could edit the presentation XML file, and modify it using backup

PresentationXML_<timestamp>.xml file taken automatically by the installer.

ibm smart cloud controle desck

Documents

new ui features

upgrade new features

new skin

impact analysis new

new app headers

sccd enhancements

introduction of new

ibm smartcloud control