The following checklist of activities should be considered and included in your upgrade planning. Additional planning activities can apply and should be added based on individual circumstances.

The PTC eSupport Portal provides important technical information and access to materials that will be helpful in all stages noted in this planning guide. It is important to navigate and become familiar with the resources that exist on this site and learn how to use them effectively. Many of the materials to which this technical brief links can be accessed from this site, including the PTC Customer Service Guide, which provides an overview of PTC technical support services and communications channels.

The Read This First Guide contains useful information for all customers moving to the newest release of the software. It includes an overview of changes that have been implemented in the latest release, download links to all files necessary for the complete installation procedure, and links to installation and reference documentation. It also includes several common troubleshooting topics that can potentially arise during the process. PTC strongly recommends reviewing this guide in preparation for the upgrade procedure.

Installation will require knowledge of Windows-based user permissions, firewall settings, and database access. Having the correct teams involved in the installation will help in achieving a successful upgrade. Installing successfully potentially requires collaboration between multiple groups at your company. This can include, but is not limited to, the following resources:

After identifying the stakeholders necessary for a successful installation, PTC recommends re-evaluating your system and network specifications. Many factors can play a role in determining if architecture changes are needed, such as an increase in the Windchill Risk and Reliability user population since the previous release or higher hardware recommendations for the server and client machines that will be running the software. As a starting point to this discussion, PTC recommends reviewing the hardware sizing guidelines within the Installation Overview section of the Windchill Risk and Reliability Enterprise Installation Guide.

The upgrade process will involve the setup and configuration of the following main components:

For complete details on the installation and configuration of the above components, please refer to the available installation and reference materials on the PTC Reference Documents page.

Care should be taken when upgrading to the latest release. After any internal testing has been performed based on your company’s requirements, a hard date should be set to perform the upgrade within a production environment. Note that when the upgrade takes place, the previously installed version of Windchill Quality Solutions should be taken offline so that no new data can be added to its database during the conversion process. Any users of the current version should be made aware of this outage date so that they can prepare accordingly. To minimize any downtime associated with the upgrade process, PTC recommends performing the upgrade process during off-hours or overnight.

After approval, proceed with the installation, licensing, and configuration of the software based on the finalized roll-out plan.