Why a Little Patience with Upgrades Pays Dividends!

Upgrades can be excellent for getting the most bang for your hosted software service buck. But should you adopt upgrades as soon as they arrive – or should you let the latest and greatest features age a little first?

It’s clear that you have to be satisfied with a decision you make to move to a newer version. To make sure that is the case, we have a proven process in place. Here’s how it works.

1. A client (you, for instance) submits a request for an upgrade
2. We determine the timeframe needed for this request to be met correctly.
3. Initial/performance testing is done by the client. The client’s production environment is backed up for User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
   1. Client checks all previous functions and advantages are still available
   2. Results are entered into our overall vetting information for this software
   3. If issues arise, we can refer to this vetting document to find root causes
4. A new server is set up with this copy of the current environment for UAT. Physical software upgrade is performed in the UAT test environment
   1. This is a task that goes unnoticed by many clients, but that is the most important and time consuming part of all
   2. It allows us to initially install the software without any impact on your current environment
5. Icons are created for SpringBoard interface, and users from client’s organization are granted access
6. Client performance testing done again for the new version in this environment
7. UAT client signoff
8. Production cutover (steps 4-7 repeated, but this time for the client’s real production environment.)

With this process, we can ensure all of our T’s are crossed and I’s are dotted.

LoadSpring also validates the latest versions of software independently. We want to know for sure if a new release is a valid update, or if there are any major bugs to contend with. This can take 4 – 6 months. In addition, vendors often make a fix pack available shortly after a major release, which we then validate as well.

So while we want all our clients to have what they want and gratify requests for upgrades, a little patience while new versions are checked correctly can give you an excellent return in quality and productivity afterwards.