In the Spotlight | Migration Manager

Getting the appropriate changes in screens, domains, workflows, and database from one system to the next one is still a nightmare for many Maximo administrators. That is a shame, because IBM provides the out-of-the-box Migration Manager module to migrate functionality across environments. Migration Manager targets at seeding a new Maximo environment with all the configurations created for a roll-out package and is part of all supported Maximo and Control Desk 7.5 and 7.6 releases. Using Migration Manager compared to traditional manual migration has innumerable advantages: It offers lower implementation costs because of standardized processes to promote configurations, reuse of existing Maximo technology and the automation of many manual tasks. In addition, it is a key factor in adhering to common IT policies and regulations, as it allows the administrator to effectively plan for and controlling migration tasks and to track and report on those tasks. At MACS, we have seen how roll-outs have become more configuration oriented over the past years. This is partly because of the increased options in Maximo to configure the system instead of having to resort to customizations. Moreover, organizations have become keener on avoiding costly customizations. Another trend is the increasing role of user acceptance testing (UAT). UAT unmistakably leads to a more solid end-product in the production environment, yet it also results in having more roll-outs (with amended or revised configurations) from the development to the test environment.     Configurations are transported in so-called packages. A package is a container for product configuration content and has a lifecycle of its own: it is defined, created, distributed, and deployed. The Migration Manager application helps users in getting the steps in the lifecycle right. A common best practice is to work several times with Migration Manager between development and test environment to get the iterations in the configuration exactly right and to distribute one so-called “golden package” from the test/acceptance system to the production environment(s).   Migration Manager also improves traceability and audit-readiness. Several tables store historical information for a package and show package status changes and distributions. Just as important, history information is carried forward from source to target, thus showing cumulative history information at the target. Governance and compliance is also facilitated by the availability of two outo-of-the-box reports. MACS has built up vast experience in roll-outs using Migration Manager and also offers target training sessions for IBM Maximo and IBM Control Desk administrators to help in adopting this way of working. So why don’t you get yourself a nice little Christmas package and start using the Maximo/Control Desk Migration Manager to get your package across.