Definition of Upgrade/Migration

[cognostechie]

I was talking to a big consulting company regarding a migration/upgrade project from ver 7.x to 10.2 and wanted to share their understanding of Cognos because I found it to be too hilarious.

Their BI Manager said that when the version changes before the dot then it is a migration and when the version changes after the dot then it is an upgrade. I asked him what that means and he clarified with an example:

1> If the existing version is 7.3 and the new version would be 10.1 then it is a migration because what is before the dot is 7 and 10
2> If the existing version is 7.3 and the new version would be 7.4 then it is an upgrade because before the dot both are 7.

So I told him that this is not always true because with this definition, 8.4 to 10.1 would also be a migration and he said that it true. 8.4  to 10.1 would actually be a migration !!

I tried to make him understand that when the tools change then it is a migration and when the tools remain the same then it is an upgrade but he was not interested. Currently, they are interviewing candidates for a project with this understanding  ;D

The name of the company is Cognizant !

Though to share it as it is too funny !  ;D ;D

[MFGF]

Oh dear. That is a little simplistic, to say the least. Generally it holds true, but not in every circumstance.

The overall architecture between 8 and 10 is the same, so in that respect moving from 8 to 10 is an upgrade - no doubt at all. However, if you're looking to introduce some of the new features in 10 (such as DQM) then some may see this as more of a migration project than a straightforward upgrade, as some reports may need to be rewitten to conform to the stricter OLAP adherance DQM introduces.

Every version change should be assessed based on the real facts of what's involved to determine whether an upgrade or migration is the most appropriate project plan. To dictate a hard-and-fast rule with no exceptions (as in the Cognizant case you cite) is rather short-sighted.

Cheers!

MF.