E-Business on Solid Ground

Lawson Release 8.0Technical Aspects

Preparing to upgrade, etc.

Rocky Mountain Lawson User GroupDecember 6, 2001

Brian Beckman

What’s new in 8.0?

• MA system completely re-written

• PB split out of AC

• PR requires BSI TaxFactory

• Collaborative Commerce consolidated with core application engines

What’s new in 8.0?

• 8.0 Applications require a new install tool (lasetup)

• This tool requires Perl version 5.0 or greater

• Provides version management and more automated patch application.

What’s new in 8.0

• 8.0 Applications will initially run in the 7.3 environment.

• Later releases will require the 8.0 environment

8.0 Environment

• Significant upgrade to environment

• Many changes to how Lawson works with databases– New dictionary format– New index formats (filters, etc.)– Support for NULLs and varchars

8.0 Environment

• Dbreorg– Fast option to alter tables rather than unloading,

dropping, and re-loading– Should speed up cyclical updates

8.0 Environment

• Support for dynamic upgrades– Initial upgrade pass flags records that have been

upgraded.– As processing continues, new/changed records

are un-flagged– Additional upgrade passes only process un-

flagged records– Targeted for upgrades from 8.0 apps.

Upgrades to 8.0 Apps

• Process is similar to upgrade to 7.2, but– uses dbcopy if possible– improved GUI menu– single location for all workfiles (doesn’t need to

be in $LAWDIR)– Majority of processing done in unloads rather

than loads

Upgrades to 8.0 Apps

• Setup Impact– Major for MA, AC (billing)– Moderate for IA, HR, PO, BL, FR– Minor for AP, PR, BN– None for most other modules

• Expect significant database changes in most modules

Preparing for 8.0 upgrade

What can you do to get ready to upgrade applications to 8.0?

STARTSTART

Project Strategy Meeting

Initial Upgrade Planning

Project Team

Training

Application

Exploration

Business Procedur

es Review

Detailed Upgrade Planning

Test Upgrade

Business Strategy Session

System Test

End User Training

Readiness Assessmen

t

Production

Upgrade

Post Upgrade Review

Recycle as often as necessary(2-3 test runs typically)

Business Needs

Analysis

Upgrading your Lawson Upgrading your Lawson Apps… a methodology for Apps… a methodology for

success.success.

Preparing for 8.0 upgrade

• Get to 7.3.3 environment and stay current on ESPs

• Get to current cyclical of 7.2 apps– 7.2.3 for upgrade to 8.0.1– 7.2.4 for upgrade to 8.0.2

Preparing for 8.0 upgrade

• Get to current version of database

• Get to current version of operating system

• Contact Client Account Managers for info on supported versions

Preparing for 8.0 upgrade

• Consider future hardware needs– upgrade will require two full copies of

production data• static 7.2 source

• 8.0 target (expect database growth)

– consider development/test system needs– consider future plans for applications, users, etc.

Preparing for 8.0 upgrade

• Consider future database needs– More apps?– More users?– More data?

Preparing for 8.0 upgrade

• Consider moving to BSI TaxFactory now– works with 7.2 apps

• Get Perl installed

• When 8.0 environment is released, consider upgrading environment ahead of apps.

Preparing for 8.0 upgrade

• Consider move to e-Console

• Get users info about new apps to generate interest in upgrade

Preparing for 8.0 upgrade

• Develop purging/data archiving plan.

• The less data you have, the easier it is to upgrade!

Additional Info

• For additional info - support.lawson.com– release notes– info about upgrades

Questions?

• Questions and answers?