Oracle 11i changes include a new interface
with an attached toolbar. A tab feature replaces
alternative regions for easier access to underlying information.

Prep begins for Oracle upgrade

Beth Moore and David Werntz

Over the last two and a half years, the Administrative Technology Center (ATC), the Office of Financial Services, Human Resources, and many other departments at Caltech have worked to stabilize and enhance the Oracle applications and associated business processes. For the next six months, focus will shift to upgrading Oracle to a new version, 11i. This effort should culminate in the mid-August implementation of the upgrade.

According to David Werntz, director of ATC, regular upgrades were one of the key reasons for choosing Oracle for Caltech’s business system. “Upgrades can add functionality, eliminate bugs, and bring us up to date with newer technology. While this upgrade is not anticipated to have nearly the impact of the original implementation, we want the campus to be aware of our plans and potential impacts. It is also important to note that this upgrade is being performed within existing operating budgets,” says Werntz.

There are several reasons an upgrade is now being planned. By August, more than three years will have passed since the original implementation of the Oracle system. Three years is a typical life cycle for software (think of the time between Windows 95 and 98, or OS 9 and OS 10). Eventually, vendors eliminate support for older versions of their software; Caltech reaches that point with our current Oracle software at the end of 2002. Oracle version 10 is now more than five years old. As with any software upgrade, some improvements in the usability of the software are anticipated. The upgrade to 11i may enable Caltech to eventually take advantage of new features after the upgrade, such as workflow and additional Web-based capabilities.

In preparation for the upgrade, work is focused in three areas: testing, code remediation, and transition preparation. The testing effort will, over the coming months, exercise every key function of the system multiple times, involving more than 100 testers from various departments. The first of three cycles of testing has recently begun. However, this isn’t the first time that Caltech staff members have seen Oracle 11i. The pre-upgrade evaluation included a joint testing of the upgrade process with Oracle Corporation, during which the company hosted a “cleansed” copy of Caltech’s database. This “early-and-often” approach to the upgrade has given ATC confidence that it can move forward with an upgrade.

Code remediation is the process by which system enhancements and customizations that work under Oracle 10.7 are modified to work with Oracle 11i. Over a thousand code objects must be evaluated, modified, and tested prior to being delivered for integrated testing. Transition preparation includes many of the steps necessary for a successful and smooth upgrade, such as installing upgraded server hardware, training preparation, and communicating with the Caltech community.

What kind of changes and disruptions can you expect? Upgrades of such complex systems are not without risks and impacts, but mitigating those risks and planning for the impacts is at the core of the current work.

While much work remains to be done and there could be changes yet in our understanding of 11i, the overall user experience should not change much.

• No changes to Discoverer or Webster are required by the 11i upgrade; this should be good news to the largest population of users.

• For “base” Oracle applications users, changes appear to be relatively minor. This category includes most users in central administration, SOS buyers, labor distribution (LD) users, and users of Award and Project Status Inquiry. With the exception of requiring an upgrade to the browser “plug-in” (j-initiator for Windows and MRJ for Mac), changes center on improvements to the applications’ look and feel. Examples include an attached toolbar, eliminating the annoyances with the current floating toolbar; a tabbed interface in place of the “alternate regions” list; and yellow background to indicate required fields.

• For Web applications users, changes are mostly cosmetic, though some changes in site navigation are anticipated. Applications in this category include Web Internal Charges, EPAN, Parking Registration, and Web Requisitions.

• Mac users will be glad to know 11i is the first Oracle version in which the Macintosh is officially supported. The news is not all good, as some browser compatibility issues have surfaced for users of both Web and base applications. Tests will be performed with both OS 9 and OS 10.

• Most other administrative applications, such as P-Card, Famis, and Exeter, are not directly affected by this upgrade. However, an upgrade to the Kronos timekeeping application is anticipated to occur at approximately the same time as 11i. The Kronos upgrade should have minimal impact on users.

The primary impact of the transition to 11i will most likely be the need for a system outage, sometimes referred to as a “dark period.” This is a time during which Oracle and some other applications will be unavailable for either data entry or viewing. The implementation team is working to minimize the duration and impact of the outage, but the current estimate is five days—a weekend plus three working days, starting August 16. The Caltech community will be kept updated with information about the outage, affected applications, and transaction workarounds during the outage. “It is important to be up-front about this disruption,” says Werntz, “and we appreciate your understanding.”

Administrative departments will make every effort to maintain current service levels, though there is a possibility of occasional reductions in service during the months leading up to the 11i upgrade. The Caltech community should rest assured that such changes will be temporary and that critical services will not be impacted.

As the upgrade planning progresses through the next several months, the campus will be kept informed through articles, meetings, e-mail, and the ATC Web site at http://atc.caltech.edu. For more information about the upgrade, or if you would like to schedule a question-and-answer session with your department, please contact the CARE help desk at ext. 5555 or ATCCare@caltech.edu.
Beth Moore oversees the CARE help desk and is the ATC’s associate director for support services. David Werntz is director of the ATC and a Caltech alumnus (1986).
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