Upgrade Problem from 4.0SP1 to 5.0SP1

davidec

Hello!
I was trying to upgrade our current localized installation of NAV from 4.0SP1. I wanted to pass directly to version 5.0 SP1, so I downloaded the whole pack (not just the migration toolkit) and installed the new version.

As a test, I installed everything on my local machine, with a single-user installation, in another directory than the 4.0SP1's. I then tried to open the old DB and, as expected, I was asked whether to convert it to the new version. I chose to convert and I managed to access the data, but I can't see any of the modifications made in version 5: I mean, all the objects are as in version 4, no DB upgrades were made during the conversion!

Of course I did something wrong, so can anyone please tell me:
1. What I need to download
2. The steps I have to take during installation (by now just a single user one)
3. The steps I have to make to convert my old DB (preserving the data)
4. What I need to do to upgrade the few customizations made in the current installation (I supposed I would have found a DB without these customizations, so I would've had to import the FOBs into the new version...)

Thank you very much in advance for your help!

DenSter

Opening a NAV database with a new version of the executables only converts it so that the database can be opened, and so that the database can be developed on using new keywords and such. What you have done is what we call a 'technical upgrade'.

To have new functionality in your old database, you will need to have your database objects upgraded. This step involves integrating any custom work that you have in your version of the system into the new objects, and a step to convert the data from your version to the new version.

This is not something that can be done automatically, there is quite a bit of manual work involved, which you will not be able to do with a customer license. Get in touch with your partner and discuss what your options are.

davidec

Thanks for the quick reply. Anyway, thing is I have a developer license, I work for a "partner" and, as I wrote at the end of my point 4, I know I have to upgrade some things manually. Unfortunately, my employer's partnership is young, so we're all still learning and this is our first experience in migration.
Do you have any suggestions as to what I need to do? Even the first steps would suffice (what do I have to download: all service packs between 4.0SP1 and 5.0SP1, or just an upgrade toolkit, or... ?)
Thank you very much for your help! Anybody else's is appreciated as well!!!

Alex_Chow

Did you know that there are now Upgrade Centers that will do your upgrade for a flat fee? If you're new at this and the client's business is on the line, I would highly recommend that you outsource to these guys. They will walk you through on what you need to do.

Using these guys are more economical than doing it yourself, IMHO.

DenSter

I absolutely agree, do yourself a favor and get the experts involved. You can get them involved and be part of the whole process and learn as you go. It is much MUCH better to see the experts at work and learn how to do it right than mess around without really knowing how to do it.

ara3n

If you decide to do it. Download the upgrade toolkit. Read the PDF document and it will give a detail description on what you need to do.


The steps are like this.

1. Identify the customization in 4.0.
2. Apply them to to a 5.0 sp1 database.
3. Follow the upgrade toolkit manual
4. it will ask in the process to load the objects from step 2.
5. finalize and test the db.


Of course this all very simplified.

davidec

Thank you very much, ara3n, I'll give it a try!

David_Singleton

davidec wrote:

Thanks for the quick reply. Anyway, thing is I have a developer license, I work for a "partner" and, as I wrote at the end of my point 4, I know I have to upgrade some things manually. Unfortunately, my employer's partnership is young, so we're all still learning and this is our first experience in migration.
Do you have any suggestions as to what I need to do? Even the first steps would suffice (what do I have to download: all service packs between 4.0SP1 and 5.0SP1, or just an upgrade toolkit, or... ?)
Thank you very much for your help! Anybody else's is appreciated as well!!!

I think this is the best answer :>>

Alex Chow wrote:

Did you know that there are now Upgrade Centers that will do your upgrade for a flat fee? If you're new at this and the client's business is on the line, I would highly recommend that you outsource to these guys. They will walk you through on what you need to do.

Using these guys are more economical than doing it yourself, IMHO.

davmac1

Doing an upgrade is not rocket science. The biggest problem is migrating customizations where the functionality has changed which may require redesigning the customization (jobs changed dramatically from 4 to 5) or dropping it where standard Navision has introduced the same functionality (like prepayments, document links, etc.)
And sometimes Navision upgrades break their own functionality - like copy documents is more prone to fail because mistimed validations they introduced.

daves

Our firm, Liberty Grove Software, specializes in doing Upgrades on an outsource basis. When the Upgrade is from a relatively recent version, Davidec is right, it's not rocket science. However, when you don't do Upgrades frequently, it does require learning the tools (they change somewhat for every version) and learning the process, typically through trial and error. In addition to porting the customizations forward (after accurately identifying those that have to be redesigned), you often must also modify the Data Conversion Toolkit to port forward your customized data. Of course, sometimes you also get to debug the Data Conversion Toolkit. When the Upgrade is from V2.x or V3.x, the process is much more complicated.

If you don't have anything else to do that will generate income, then by all means you should do your own Upgrades. But if you have other service requests in the queue from clients, we believe that both the Partner and the client will be much better served by having the Upgrade done by specialists. The rationale is basically the same as the reason you sell an off-the-shelf product rather than developing a new system from scratch for each client. It's more cost effective, more profitable and, in the end, has fewer problems for all concerned.