Thanks again! Jason. Really appreciate your help. You ROCK!!! Based on your response, I have few more questions if you don't mind: 1. So, I assume for the Customizations I recreated on ARS v7.6.04, I just have to document them thoroughly and then the only way to identify issues & moving forward is to test thoroughly after upgrading to ARS v8.1 and at the same time referring to the customizations doc to make sure they were carried over. 2. Converting to Custom - when I ran upgrade from ARS v5.1.2 to v7.6.04(5.1.2>6.3>7.1>7.6.04) - noticed that all the custom apps/features we had in v5.1.2 were carried over to v7.6.04. Now, they appear as Unmodified Objects and when I right click on them, it only gives me an option to "Convert to Overlay" but not to Custom. Or do I just leave them as it is as Unmodified and then run upgrade to v8.1?(hope I won't lose all these custom apps/features) 3. RAPP Service - Is there a way to identify if we are using RAPP Service in our environment, I tried to look for form for e - SHR:Rapp..., etc but didn't find any. Basically we have only HD5.6(ITSM 5.6) and ARS5.1.2, no other ITSM apps like SLA App, etc - we have our own Custom SLA App. 4. Macros - we do have lot of ALs using Run Macro actions, so I understand they will need to be converted to AL. I see the option is available in Admin Tool v5.1. When I convert Macros into ALs, it created a new AL - Run Macro action is replaced with Open Window, etc...so do I DISABLE the old AL which had macro? 5. Menu Bar- we do have lot of customizations around menu bar, so I understand I will need to create corresponding buttons and associate to them. 6. MidTier vs User Tool - Will be going through the doc to identify and note down the important points. BMC phased out User Tool after v7.6.04 but I have seen some posts - Susan, and other reported that User Tool(v7.6) is still functional. Do you think, I can use that after going to v8.1?
On Tue, Aug 27, 2013 at 3:10 PM, Jason Miller <jason.mil...@gmail.com>wrote: > ** > Hi everybody. Raj and I discussed off line a little more and I would like > to share that for the benefit of everybody on the List. > > ****************** > Glad I can help. It sounds like you are on the right track. > > 1. Your understanding is correct. The one caveat is if you have a > customization that is dependant on a something that changes in Base mode > then it could affect your customization in the Overlay. A few examples > > - If a field is deleted by the installer that your Overlay references. > Say the User form has field XYZ created by BMC and you have built custom > workflow that references that field. If BMC decides XYZ is no longer > needed and removes it then it would impact your Overlay. I have not > encountered this scenario yet so I am not sure exactly what would happen. > I assume your workflow would just have a broken field reference in it and > not work as expected. > - A permissions change in Base. Similar to the first bullet if BMC > changes the permission to (configuration) form where you have custom > workflow referencing it can impact how your Overlay/Custom workflow > behaves. > > 2. Correct. You never "have to" create an Overlay for anything. In the > case of an old version of HelpDesk you will not be installing any further > BMC supplied updates to it so at this point I would consider it a custom > app that your organization is solely responsible for. If your > organization's long-term path is to stay on HD 5.6 and continue to upgrade > ARS I recommend converting everything that was built in-house or that BMC > no longer supports to Custom. This will make sure you stay aligned with > BMC's direction regarding how ARS development is supposed to be done. > > One thing I know will break on a pre 6.0 HD app is the rapp service. The > rapp service will not be able to connect to an AR Server >= 6.0. In my > past experiences we have found this to be acceptable because we were not > actively using workflow that uses the rapp services. Pre 6.0 SLA app is > dependant on the rapp service as well as a few things in HD. If you find > you do not need the rapp service you can disable any workflow that calls it. > > 3. There is a white paper that explains the differences between the User > Tool and Mid Tier. I don't think there is an updated version of this > document for 8.x because that is when BMC dropped support for WUT. I think > for the most part our existing forms would work fine in MT. Some of our > form heavily use the Menu Bar (and the buttons that go with menus) on the > top of the form. We would have to update our designs and move those > buttons to navigation fields or individual buttons. This isn't too bad > because you can reassociate where/how the Menu Bar buttons are located. > Besides the Menu Bar we would just need to review each form to make sure > it looks ok in a browser and verify the core functionality of a form. I > occasionally open an old form in MT and it is minor things that don't work. > Some of the forms would just have to save/search buttons or the web > toolbar added, etc. > > Macros would be another thing you may have embedded in workflow that will > not work in MT. Since our Help Desk is version 6 (which had MT access in > mind) and we stopped using macros in our custom development many, many > years ago this isn't an issue for us. At one point there was a tool that > could convert Active Links that used macros into the appropriate actions. > > Similar to macros we have a number of scripts (.bat, / .vbs) to automate > things that are called within the User Tool. These will work differently > when called from a browser so we would probably have to make some changes > here. > > Do you mind if I post this response to the ARSList? I think there are > others that would find value in the answers? > > Jason > > On Thu, Aug 22, 2013 at 10:36 AM, Ravi <ravi6...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Hi Jason, >> Really, appreciate your response. >> Looks like your management is supporting well and is line with what >> you/your team intent to do. >> So in my case, we are still planning on upgrading ARS from v7.6.04 to >> v8.1 - in that case : >> 1. Best Practice Mode/Customization to Core forms - As you suggested and >> what I understood from other responses, I have created overlays and >> recreating customizations on overlays with the intent that these >> customizations will be carried over to v8.1 and I do not have to do the >> manual work of recreating Customizations again...is my understanding right? >> 2. HD 5.6 - We do have heavy customizations on HelpDesk, since we not >> planning on upgrading ITSM anytime soon(as most likely we might just >> introduce OOTB ITSM and customize later on). So while on v7.6.04 - do I >> have to create overlay for HPD 5.6, I don't - right ? (as basically we are >> not even sure if this older ITSM HD5.6 would even be compatible with v8.1 >> ARS and work but hoping that it will be functional, although we know that >> BMC is not going to support it). >> Also, if we were to customize HD 5.6 later after going to ARS v8.1 - do >> we just do it in Base Development Mode? >> 3. Midtier/Use Tool - I see you mentioned about changing older forms to >> be web-enable - where can I find more information on this?. I would like to >> identify potential issues and any extra work which I might have to do to >> make sure all our older features/functionalities(especially HD 5.6) are >> available and working in v8.1 on midtier as User Tool won't be there... >> >> Once again, thank you so much for your help and valuable information. >> Regards, >> Raj >> > > > On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 11:36 AM, Raj <ravi6...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Thanks Jason and Kiran. Your response clarified lot of things. >> >> >> _ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" and have been for 20 years_ > _______________________________________________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org "Where the Answers Are, and have been for 20 years"
