This is a common question that is asked by our clients “why should we stay current with our software?” Here is an article written by one of our consultnats, Jim Love.
Issues that arise when clients do not stay in the normal upgrade cycle
We are in the process of upgrading a client that is eight versions back. That is, eight new versions of Accpac have been released since the version that this client is using. Nine, if you count 5.3B as a separate version from 5.3A.
Due to the changes in Accpac over the years, particularly three significant changes to the database structure, three separate upgrades must be performed to convert the data from the running version to the current version. An upgrade has to be done in each of two intermediate versions, prior to upgrading to the current version. Each of these upgrades is akin to doing a full, typical upgrade.
In order to accomplish this, three separate (virtual) machines had to be set up from scratch, each with a different version of Accpac. We typically maintain computers running the current and last prior version of Accpac to better serve our clients. And when a new version is released, we will, as a rule, have three versions of Accpac running for a time. But that is about it.
Setting up a new computer, even just a virtual machine, is very time consuming. The operating system has to be installed, all of the patches/product updates/services packs for that OS must be installed, generally requiring several reboots in the process, a database engine must be installed and configured, Microsoft Office (or at least Excel) must be installed, and then all of the patches/product updates/ services packs for that must be installed and applied, often requiring, again, multiple reboots in the process.
Old Accpac patches no longer readily available had to be located and installed. As a stated policy, Sage only supports the current and last two prior versions of Accpac, and until recently, they only supported one prior version. Because of this, considerable time and effort was required to hunt down and obtain old product updates that were required for this upgrade.
In addition, this client uses an Accpac application that no longer exists in the same form. The Sales Analysis program developed by Sage Accpac was abandoned subsequent to the purchase by Accpac of the developer company of a competing (and superior) Sales Analysis program. And since that prior program was shelved four versions back, a considerable amount of research and testing was involved in order to migrate that data. Again, this was research in an area where materials are no longer readily available from Sage.
Another application used by this client, Lot Tracking, has undergone such significant changes through the years that it is essentially no longer the same program, either. Again, considerable time was required for testing, research, and the obtaining of required but no longer readily available patches.
And, on top of everything else, the client is (wisely) choosing to move Accpac from a Pervasive database engine to a Microsoft SQL Server database engine. Again, due to changes over the years, the running version of Accpac supports features that are incompatible between the two database formats. Fixing this actually required hiring an outside specialist firm to “repair” the data, to make it compatible with SQL Server.
At this point, the data has been repaired and a test upgrade has been successfully completed. But it is appropriate to note that, even before the live upgrade has been started, approximately one hundred twenty (120) hours of service time has already gone into this upgrade. We seldom need that much time to complete an upgrade, from start to finish, and when we do, it is for clients who have extensive customization and most often multiple companies. The client in question, in this case, has no customization from us whatsoever, at least not at this point. And only one Accpac company to upgrade. And the live upgrade has yet to be started. The time that we have spent so far, again, just getting to the point that we are ready to do the live upgrade, is probably more time than would have been spent, in total, doing four regular full upgrades, skipping every other version. And the cost to the client of this upgrade is coming all at once, rather than in small chunks spread out over eight to ten years.
Tags: Accounting Software Upgrade, Annual Accounting Software Maintenance