WebFOCUS 8: Best Practices for Migration
John Calappi
Mark Nesson
Vashti Ragoonath
1
Agenda
Getting Started
 Migrating earlier releases to WebFOCUS 8
 Upgrade Path for WebFOCUS Product Components
 Migration Strategy
 Managing ongoing (in flight) development during upgrade
 Migration workflow
 Validating the migration – what to expect
 Post Migration Tasks
 Change Management
 A Migration In Motion
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Migrating earlier releases to WebFOCUS 8
 WebFOCUS 8 migration supports:
 Managed Reporting and Business Intelligence Dashboard (BID)
migration from Release 7.x to Release 8
 ReportCaster migration from Release 7.6.x to Release 8
 For those customers migrating from Release 4.x, 5.x or 7.1.x, it is
best to migrate to the latest 7.6.x release to minimize migration
steps.
 Special consideration for Unicode
 Unicode BI Dashboard Migration
 Needs to be performed at the
WebFOCUS 7.7.x
level prior to WebFOCUS 8 migration.
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Upgrade Path for WebFOCUS Product Components
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Planning the Upgrade
Upgrade path for WebFOCUS product components
Product
Component Used
Upgrade Path
Managed
Reporting
MR data and MR security rules can be migrated
and stored in the WebFOCUS 8 repository.
WebFOCUS 7 domain tree structure will be
preserved.
Reports should continue to run as they did in
WebFOCUS 7.
BI Dashboard
BID content can be migrated and will be stored on
the file system in WebFOCUS80/worp directory
structure.
Migrated BID Favorites/Mobile Favorites will be
stored in WebFOCUS 8 repository.
BI dashboards can be used “as is” with some
caveats. Certain WebFOCUS 7 BI dashboard
functionality is removed in WebFOCUS 8.
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Planning the Upgrade
Upgrade path for WebFOCUS product components
Product
Component
Used
Upgrade Path
ReportCaster
Fully integrated with new WebFOCUS 8
architecture and security.
All ReportCaster and Report Library content can
be migrated and stored in the WebFOCUS
repository.
Developer Studio
Can be installed on same machine as Developer
Studio 7. Developers will be able to switch
between two releases.
Leverage WebFOCUS 8 architecture and security
authentication and authorization model.
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Planning the Upgrade
Upgrade path for WebFOCUS product components
Product
Component
Used
Upgrade Path
Configuration
WebFOCUS 7 configurations are not migrated to
WebFOCUS 8.
Configurations will have to be re-applied to
WebFOCUS 8.
Parameters
Most WebFOCUS 7 parameters are available in
WebFOCUS 8 but some of them have been
removed as a result of the new architecture.
Customizations
All customizations will need to be evaluated to
determine if they are still needed in WebFOCUS
8 or have to be implemented differently.
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Planning the Upgrade
Upgrade path for WebFOCUS product components
Product
Component
Used
Upgrade Path
Custom Settings
(site.wfs)
All custom settings in site.wfs will need to be
evaluated to determine if they are still needed
in WebFOCUS 8 or have to be implemented
differently.
Connectivity to
Reporting Server
Similar to WebFOCUS 7 but implemented
differently in some product areas.
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Migration Strategy
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Planning the Upgrade
Migration Strategy
 Full Migration
 All applications migrate at the same time
 Single WebFOCUS system to maintain and administer
 Single set of training for development and end users
 All application users have the same experience
 Knowledge transfer and collaboration is shared
simultaneously by all users
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Planning the Upgrade
Migration Strategy
 Staggered Migration
 Applications migrate at different times
 Convenient for application development teams
 Does not impact global WebFOCUS 7 development
 Multiple WebFOCUS systems to maintain and administer
 Users may need access to multiple WebFOCUS instances
 Training must be repeated for developers and end users
 Application users share different experience
 Knowledge transfer and collaboration between users is
staggered
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Planning the Upgrade
Migration Strategy
Whether a customer elects to do a full or staggered migration,
consideration must be given to the following:
 If WebFOCUS 7 development is active during the upgrade, will need
to:
 Manage ongoing WebFOCUS 7 development
during upgrade
with an intermediate WebFOCUS 8 environment.
 Alternative is to lockdown new WebFOCUS development .
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Planning the Upgrade
Migration Strategy
 Migrate MR users and MR security rules
 Evaluate MR users/groups/roles/privileges
 Leave “as is” after migration
 Restructure security authorization using WebFOCUS 8
security authorization model.
 Group users according to their role
 Leverage groups and sub-groups to delegate
responsibilities
 Minimize user management and administration
 Leverage WebFOCUS groups to minimize or replace user
profiles on the Reporting Server.
 For LDAP shops, leverage LDAP groups with WebFOCUS
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Planning the Upgrade
Migration Strategy
 Use the WebFOCUS 8 upgrade as an opportunity to cleanse
inventory:
 Audit application and report usage
 Conduct an inventory of applications/report usage:
 Can run Resource Analyzer reports to identify reports that:
 Are never used and can be removed
 Can be consolidated
 Should be updated/improved to leverage WebFOCUS 8
features
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Planning the Upgrade
Migration Strategy
 WebFOCUS 8 production rollout
 Make a choice:
 Flip the switch on WebFOCUS 7
 Keep it active but disabled for a number of months as a
contingency plan
 Appropriate for full migration implementations
 Keep WebFOCUS systems running in parallel
 Appropriate for staggered migration
implementations
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Managing ongoing development during upgrade
 The WebFOCUS 8 migration tools are designed to migrate all data
from WebFOCUS 7.
 During the upgrade to WebFOCUS 8, considerations must be
given to:
 Managing ongoing (in flight) WebFOCUS 7 development
during upgrade
 Developers still creating new content in WebFOCUS 7
 Production users may be creating My Reports
 Ongoing WebFOCUS 7 development can be managed as follows:
 Set up an intermediate WebFOCUS 8 environment.
 Perform a full WebFOCUS 8 migration to intermediate
environment
 Use WebFOCUS 8 Change Management to move selected
content to targeted WebFOCUS 8 environment.
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Managing ongoing development during upgrade
Important note about WebFOCUS 8 Change Management
 WebFOCUS 8 Change Management is designed to move content
between WebFOCUS 8 releases.
 It is not designed to move content from WebFOCUS 7 to
WebFOCUS 8.
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Managing ongoing development during upgrade
 Full migration from WebFOCUS 7 to an intermediate version of
WebFOCUS 8
 Use WebFOCUS 8 Change Management from the intermediate
version of WebFOCUS 8 to the targeted WebFOCUS 8 environment
(Sandbox, Dev).
This workflow is illustrated below
• Existing
WebFOCUS 7
Production
WebFOCUS 8
migration
tools
WebFOCUS 8
Change
Management
• Intermediate
version of
WebFOCUS 8
• WebFOCUS 8
Sandbox/Dev
Use WebFOCUS
8 Change
Management to
promote to
QA/Prod
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Migration workflow
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Migration workflow
 Migration Utilities
 WebFOCUS 8 is packaged with a number of migration utilities
which migrate content from:
 Managed Reporting
 Deferred reports not migrated by default.
 Must change migration utility to YES if you want
deferred reports to be migrated.
 Business Intelligence Dashboard
 Business Intelligence Dashboard Favorites/Mobile Favorites
 ReportCaster
 Release 7.7.04 of the Reporting Server has a Migrate option in
the Web Console that migrates and merges a subset of
configurations.
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Migration workflow
 WebFOCUS 8 migration process consists of three steps:
 Export
 This step will extract WebFOCUS 7 data using WebFOCUS 8
migration using export utilities.
 Export migration logs are created and is useful for
capturing errors if they occur.
 Import
 This step will import WebFOCUS 7 data into WebFOCUS 8
using import utilities.
 Import migration logs are created and and is useful for
capturing errors if they occur.
 Validate
 This step is to validate the migrated data
 ..what should we expect after migration?
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Migration Utilities
 In summary, the WebFOCUS 8 migration process
entails the following
steps:
 Copying WebFOCUS 8 migration utilities to WebFOCUS 7
 Updating WebFOCUS 8 migration utilities as needed
 Running the WebFOCUS 8 migration utilities to extract WebFOCUS
7 data to XML files
 Importing WebFOCUS 7 XML files to WebFOCUS 8
The next slide shows a visual of these steps
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Migration workflow
1
In the WebFOCUS 7x environment
Stop WebFOCUS 7
Environment
Copy WebFOCUS 8
migration utilities
to the WebFOCUS
7 environment
Run the
WebFOCUS 8
MR/BID/RC export
utilities
In the WebFOCUS 8 environment
2
Copy extracted
WebFOCUS 7
content to
WebFOCUS 8
Run the
WebFOCUS 8
import utilities
Validate migrated
content
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Validating the migration – what to expect
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Managed Reporting
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Validating the migration – what to expect
Managed Reporting – MR security objects
 Managed Reporting security objects
 Users
Users
 Groups
Groups
 Roles and Privileges
User Default Roles (UDR)
 The concept of the role being attached to a user continues to
exist in WebFOCUS 8. It is called the User Default Role (UDR).
 Designed to simplify the migration process and provide
customers with an optional starting point in WebFOCUS 8.
 MR security authorization rules are maintained with UDR
 The migration utility is designed to use UDR to assign and
maintain user, group and role relationships established in
WebFOCUS 7.
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Validating the migration – What To Expect
Managed Reporting – MR security objects
 Here is a glimpse into the WebFOCUS 8 UDR and how it is designed
to maintain existing MR security relationships.
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Validating the migration – What To Expect
Managed Reporting – MR content
 Internal references (Internal HREFs)
 Different internal HREFs in WebFOCUS 8
 Migration resolves old internal HREFs to new internal references
MR content
WebFOCUS 8
Domains
Mapped to Folders
Sub-folders
Mapped to Sub-folders
Standard Reports
Maintains same tree structure
Reporting Objects
Maintains same tree structure
MyReports
Stored In a MyContent folder
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Validating the migration – What To Expect
Managed Reporting – MR content
MR content
WebFOCUS 8
Saved Parameter reports Should continue to run
URL Standard reports
Should continue to run
Shared Reports
Shared Content – Empty user folders do
not get migrated.
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Validating the migration – What To Expect
Managed Reporting – MR content
MR content
WebFOCUS 8
Deferred Reports
Migrated Deferred reports will continue
to run. Will need to ensure that deferred
output is available on Release 7.7.04
Reporting Servers.
Published reports
Migrated published reports will continue
to run. But this legacy Publish feature
has been removed from WebFOCUS 8.
Templates
Migrated templates will continue to be
used as is. But this legacy Template
feature has been removed from
WebFOCUS 8.
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Validating the migration – What To Expect
Managed Reporting – MR content

WebFOCUS 7 - legacy Publish feature
1
2
Published report was written to
ibi_html/publish/{,htm}
End users called the {.htm} directly
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Validating the migration – What To Expect
Managed Reporting – MR content
 WebFOCUS 7 legacy
Publish feature removed
BUT WAIT, what is
that Publish option
in WebFOCUS 8?
WebFOCUS 8 Publish
capability means
something different.
It is related to the
WebFOCUS security
authorization model
It is used when one
wants to create
security rules on a
WebFOCUS resource
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Validating the migration – What To Expect
Managed Reporting – MR content
WebFOCUS 7
WebFOCUS 8
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BI Dashboard
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Validating the migration – What To Expect
BI Dashboard
 BI Dashboard content

BI dashboards will continue to run in WebFOCUS 8 with some
caveats.
 Some BI dashboard features have been removed
 Some BI dashboard features have been implemented differently
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Validating the migration – what to expect
BI dashboards - Then and Now
WebFOCUS 7
WebFOCUS 8
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Validating the migration – What To Expect
BI dashboard content
 BID Features that are removed in WebFOCUS 8 and documented in the
WebFOCUS 8 Upgrade Considerations and Release Notes.
 Role tree
 WebFOCUS 8 security model will allow for similar functionality
 No migration of roletree.xml content
 Dashboard Editor
 Limited Functionality – some options removed
 Same editor used by BI Portal
 Personalize Options
 Customization of Tree and Content Block colors from View Builder
 BID parameters
 Moved from file web.xml to configuration file webconfig.xml
 Removed
 USER_MAX_INACTIVE , PUBLIC_MAX_INACTIVE
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Validating the migration – What To Expect
BI dashboard content
 BID Features that are implemented differently in WebFOCUS 8 and
documented in the WebFOCUS 8 Upgrade Considerations:
 BI dashboard Login Pages
 Different URL for BI dashboard Login page
 Customizations to login pages will need to review for
compatibility
 Managing public user ID
 Enabling WF_Public_Role
 Changing default public user ID
 Disabling public user
 Specifying Reporting Server credentials
 Replacement of scroll buttons by scroll bars for trees and blocks
 Search
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ReportCaster
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Validating the migration – What To Expect
ReportCaster – Security objects
 RC security authorization rules maintained after migration
RC security objects
WebFOCUS 8
ReportCaster user IDs
No longer separate. Unified architecture
means we have a WebFOCUS (MR) user.
Execution user IDs
Migrated and mapped to related
schedules.
IBIMR_RC_SVCUSER
Removed . No longer required due to
new architecture and security model.
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Validating the migration – What To Expect
ReportCaster - Content
 All migrated RC content are available from the Content tree
 Schedules
 Alert Schedules
 Group BlackOutDates
 Report Library reports
 Categories
 Domains
 Distribution Lists
 Access Lists
 Watch Lists
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Validating the migration – what to expect
ReportCaster – Content
WebFOCUS7
Call ReportCaster
RC
Administration UI
Create RC new content
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Validating the migration – what to expect
ReportCaster Content
Access Report Library
Report Library Content
Report Library Access List
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Validating the migration – what to expect
ReportCaster Content – Centralized in WebFOCUS 8
WebFOCUS 8
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Post Migration Tasks
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Post Migration Tasks
MR Security Authorization - Enable User Default Role
 From WebFOCUS Administration Console
 Navigate to Configuration => Other
 Set IBI_Enable_UDR to a value of TRUE
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Post Migration Tasks
MR Security Authorization - Configure Public user ID
 WebFOCUS 7
 Manage the public user ID from BI View Builder.
 Change the user ID from public to named user
 Set Reporting Server credentials for Reporting Server.
 WebFOCUS 8
 Manage the public user ID from Administration Console
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Post Migration Tasks
BI Dashboard –BI View Builder Admin permissions
BI View Builder Administrators
WebFOCUS 7
In BI View Builder, MR and Group
administrators were able to view and add BI
content to all group views.
 They were not required to be members of
groups to perform this function.
• Migrated MR or Group administrators are
•
WebFOCUS 8
•
not migrated into all groups.
In BI View Builder, a user that is assigned
“MR and Group administrator” permissions
cannot by default, view and add BI content
to all group views.
Can only create group views and add BI
content to Group Views for Groups they are
members of.
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Change Management
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Change Management
WebFOCUS 8 Change Management (CM)utilities will:
Create packages for moving content between WebFOCUS 8 releases
&/or WebFOCUS 8 environments.
GUI and batch utilities are planned for the GA release.
Maintain WebFOCUS 7 Change Management capabilities for:
Managed Reporting
ReportCaster
BI Dashboard
Provide additional enhancements for packaging:
Managed Reporting My Content (a.k.a. MyReports)
ReportCaster Report Library
BI portals
Copyright 2009, Information
Builders. Slide 50
A Migration In Motion
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A Migration In Motion
Use
Case
MR
Migration
Domains
Users,
Groups,
and Roles
A customer has a WebFOCUS 7.6.9
environment that he wishes to migrate
to WebFOCUS 8. It contains the
following security objects and content:
 Three Domains with content
 Several Users
 Several Groups
 Default and Custom Roles
52
A Migration In Motion
Use
Case
BI Dashboard
Migration
Make use of the existing BI dashboards
from WebFOCUS 7 into WebFOCUS 8.
 Migrate BID content to WebFOCUS 8
 Validate the BID migration
Group
Membership
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A Migration In Motion
Use
Case
ReportCaster
Migration
Group
Membership
Migrate RC content to WebFOCUS 8




Access Lists
Distribution Lists
Schedules
Report Library archives
54
A Migration In Motion
Use
Case
Favorites
Migrate BID Favorites and Mobile Favorites
 Validate the BID Favorites
Mobile
Favorites
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Thank you for attending our session
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