An organized list of questions and answers about Apptio’s Platform Upgrade process!

Defining Platform Upgrades

What is a Platform Upgrade?

A Platform Upgrade is a back-end system upgrade to ApptioOne, which fixes bugs and enables the use of new features and functionality. This process is performed by the Apptio Upgrade Team.

Platform Upgrades DO NOT change, modify, or update:

• … the content, components, and data of Apptio Cost projects.
• … other Apptio products (such as Apptio Plan or Cloudability).

Platform Upgrades may also be referred to as Server Upgrades.

What is a Content Upgrade? Is it the same as a Platform Upgrade?

No, a Content Upgrade is a separate process that modifies the definitions, reports, and configuration of your Apptio Product.

• Platform Upgrades are automated and managed by the Apptio Upgrade team. Content Upgrades are a manual task you and other users can perform.
• Platform Upgrades modify the product software itself. Content Upgrades modify your reports, models, datasets, etc.
• Platform Upgrades are performed on your product instance, which can have many projects. Content Upgrades are performed on a project/module/component basis.

What is the “Maintenance Window” for a Platform Upgrade?

The Maintenance Window refers to the duration of your Platform Upgrade: "from the start of the upgrade process until 8am Monday morning in your respective timezone." During this time, the Upgrade Team will execute and monitor the upgrade to your environment.

• If an issue occurs, the Upgrade team will create a support case on your behalf and your maintenance contact will be notified.
• You will be unable to access your instance during your scheduled Maintenance Window.

When is my Platform Upgrade “Maintenance Window” scheduled? Can I change or skip this?

All Maintenance Contacts will be notified of your scheduled Maintenance Window at least 15 days in advance. Unless otherwise notified, your Platform Upgrade will be complete by the end of the Maintenance Window (8am Monday morning in your respective timezone).

Platform Upgrades are automatically scheduled and performed every 3 months on a designated weekend. The Maintenance Window begins on Friday evening and completes on Monday morning. The exact time and time zones are dependent on your region - see the following list for approximate Maintenance Window times:

• AMERICAS: 6pm – 5am (Local Time)
• APAC: 10pm - 8am (AEST)
• EMEA: 6pm - 8am (Regional Timezone)

You may request to change your Maintenance Window to a specific date and time. Please speak with your Apptio Customer Success team if there is a specific concern or time conflict with your scheduled maintenance window. They can coordinate with the Upgrade Team to reschedule or investigate your situation as needed!

How are new versions validated for my instance? How do you ensure my data doesn’t change when I upgrade?

The Upgrade Team is bound by Apptio policy to perform a validation check before any upgrade. This policy ensures that your data is safe, and numbers will not change unless previously notified during an upgrade of your environment. Apptio uses 2 methods of validation:

• The Customer Data Compare tool (CDC) automatically performs a validation check for most use-cases and scenarios.
• For certain situations, Manual Validation allows an Apptio specialist to personally perform a comprehensive validation check.

How does the CDC tool perform validation checks?

The CDC (Customer Data Compare) Tool is an automated process that validates your instance data before an upgrade. Put simply, it compares your data in the new product version with your current environment, highlighting any unexpected differences and technical issues for review.

Any data concerns highlighted during a CDC run are investigated by an Apptio Specialist and manually resolved. Therefore, maintenance windows are primarily scheduled over weekends: to provide time for Apptio Specialists to review issues. All issues must be resolved before your upgrade is processed.

There are 3 possible conclusions of a CDC run:

• Run Failure: the CDC is unable to complete a data comparison, which can occur for many reasons (network issues, incomplete data, custom configuration). This conclusion does not mean there is a major issue! It simply means that validation must be completed manually by an Apptio Specialist from the Center of Excellence or Upgrade Teams.
• Differences Produced: the CDC finishes a comparison and finds differences in data. These differences are exported to a file that the Upgrade Team will investigate, to determine whether these differences are expected, or provide a detailed e-mail with solutions before approving the upgrade.
• Pass: the CDC finishes a comparison and finds no differences in models or data. This confirms that your environment will experience no changes in numerical data when upgrading between server versions.

Before Your Platform Upgrade

What are some best practices I should perform to prepare for an upgrade?

To minimize downtime and prevent issues, we recommend the following preparations within your instances: 

1. All 3 environments (Dev, Stage, and Prod) should be on the same build and in-sync with each other’s data. 
2. Have all work Checked-in or Reverted before your upgrade begins. This will close your workspace nodes and free up space for calculations. 
3. If you still require any Workspaces to be left open, please use the Update Workspace option to minimize any data left on older builds. 
4. Review and close any Branches where possible. 

Do Branches / Workspaces need to be closed before an Upgrade? 

As a best practice, we highly recommend closing any unnecessary Branches and Workspaces. However, it is not required. 

• Items Checked-out in Workspaces will remain Checked-out and reflect the same changes from the last point they were saved.
• However, each open Branch and Workspace adds calculation time to the upgrade process, so your Maintenance Window may be extended as a result. 

Can I Cancel an Upgrade? 

You may request a cancellation 24 hours before your scheduled upgrade time. Please send your request to your Apptio Customer Success team as soon as possible, so we can notify all parties and address your concerns. 

During Your Platform Upgrade

Is my data deleted during a Platform Upgrade? 

No, your data is not deleted. 

• All environment caches are cleared at the beginning of a Platform Upgrade
• Your Dev, Stage, and Product environments are recalculated as each instance is modified to the latest version 

Neither of these steps deletes your data or changes any of your reports and configurations.

What if my connectors run during a Platform Upgrade? 

Connectors that run during the Maintenance Window will simply fail to connect. This does not affect data on either side of the connection - just make sure that your connectors are scheduled or automated to run after the Platform Upgrade is complete!

What if an issue occurs during the Platform Upgrade Maintenance Window? 

The Upgrade Team is automatically alerted to any issues during your Maintenance Window. This issue is investigated immediately and tracked as a Critical-level Support Case under your account maintenance contact. 

After Your Platform Upgrade

What did I just upgrade to? What is in the latest release? 

Platform Upgrades modify your Apptio products to the most recent release version (at the time of your Maintenance Window). You can find a full list of Release Notes on the R12 Release Notes page! 

What if I encounter issues after a Platform Upgrade? 

Submit a new case in the Apptio Support Portal to report any issues or concerns!

Can I rollback or reverse an upgrade? 

Rollbacks are the process of reversing a Platform Upgrade on your environment.

If you encounter any issues after an upgrade, submit a Support Case first, to ensure that all other investigations, assistance, and troubleshooting have been attempted. Our Support and Upgrade Teams will verify when a rollback is necessary.

When a rollback is performed, your environment will be restored to a previous point in time prior to the upgrade, which will delete any post-upgrade data or configurations. Please note that your restore point could be up to 24 hours prior to the upgrade. As a result, rollback is only a last resort solution if all other troubleshooting fails.