Question

How do you manage improvement requests?

  • 20 May 2020
  • 3 replies
  • 156 views

Userlevel 6
Badge +11

We are running Apps 9 and have a number of improvements requested by the business, most simple things like referenced fields and events but am aware with the need to move to Apps10 that these little tweaks may not work as expected in the latest version.


How do you guys manage your improvements? - Is it a free-for-all or do you follow a process?


3 replies

Userlevel 2
Badge +4

Hi Bruce,

 

Application Configuration Packages offer a good way of managing custom objects in IFS, you can package related items and lift and drop them between environments, an apps10 ACP loaded into apps9 for me recently so i assume it will work the other way. you can add commentary and version control to them, storing the source code is then your next choice, it could be as simple as a shared network drive, a sharepoint, or you could go for a code management platform like GitHub, but is probably overkill for this. getting good naming and descriptions of the ACP’s is key to whatever you do.

 

Cheers

 

John

Userlevel 6
Badge +11

Thanks John, that makes sense! I will look to take that advice on-board. I only move items from DEV into LIVE using ACP so will improve on that to perhaps keep the ACP associated to a change request number or perhaps by logical unit.

Am new to IFS and not used to such a flexible platform.

Am finding myself being guardian of 100+ changes requested and always wondering if these modifications will hurt us in the long run. Either through the functionality no-longer working in future versions, or major changes being needed further down the line to not upset the business.

Do you have any hard and fast rules for deciding what is and isn't allowed on the customisation front.

 


 

Userlevel 5
Badge +9

We take an approach of trying to work out what the system can do natively, and adapt our process where possible to suit the system. The more Configurations and Customisations/Mods, the harder it is to install Updates and move to new versions.

Where we do make changes though, changes come into a Service Desk, then go through a simple Change Request and Approval process. Part of the Change and Approval process usually involves asking someone like an IFS partner or IFS directly, as well as talking to the business area owners to understand the impact of the proposed change.

We then deploy the change into the Test environment and once we’ve verified it, it gets migrated to Prod via an App Config Package.

So then we have Service Desk + CRQ + App Config package as different ways to track changes.

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