JP7250192B1 - How to upgrade - Google Patents

Abstract

An upgrade method is provided that significantly reduces the time required to upgrade a software package.
A method includes a step S101 of generating a common verification environment capable of verifying a common function commonly used by a plurality of users in an upgraded package, and performing verification of the common function in the common verification environment. step S102 of performing necessary corrections; step S106 of storing the files necessary for the upgrade and correction contents of the common functions in the upgrade resource placement device; and a step S105 of applying the correction contents of the common functions to the customer system environment after performing the upgrade in the customer system environment.
[Selection drawing] Fig. 3

Description

The present invention relates to a software package upgrade method.

A new version of a software package such as an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) package is periodically released by a vendor to modify or add functions. Users are recommended to upgrade to the new version (version upgrade) before the support period for the old version expires.

JP 2013-228970 A

In order to upgrade a business application such as an ERP package, long hours of work including verification work and much cost are required. Also, in many cases, normal operations are forced to stop during upgrade work.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to significantly reduce the time required to upgrade software packages.

An upgrade method according to the present invention is a software package upgrade method, comprising the steps of: generating a common verification environment capable of verifying common functions commonly used by a plurality of users in the upgraded package; a step of verifying the common functions in the verification environment and performing necessary corrections; a step of storing the files necessary for upgrading and corrections of the common functions in the upgrade resource allocation device; , the step of automatically locating the files necessary for the upgrade stored in the upgrade resource allocation device, and the step of applying the correction contents of the common function to the customer system environment after performing the upgrade in the customer system environment. includes.

According to the present invention, the time required for upgrading software packages can be greatly reduced.

The figure explaining the outline|summary of the upgrade method of the software package by embodiment of this invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of the environment construction device 2 and the upgrade resource placement device 4 according to the embodiment of the present invention; 4 is a flow chart of a common function verification operation in the common verification environment 3 according to the embodiment of the present invention; 4 is a flowchart of upgrade implementation operations for customer system environment 1 according to embodiments of the present invention.

Embodiments for carrying out the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram explaining an overview of a software package upgrade method according to an embodiment of the present invention. A method of upgrading a business package P (software) introduced by a customer (company A and company B) will be described with reference to FIG. The customer system environments 1 of Company A and Company B each include a development environment 11, a verification environment 12, and a production environment 13, and a business package P is installed in the server of each environment.

The environment building device 2 creates a common verification environment 3 for verifying the new version of the business package P. FIG. The common verification environment 3 is an environment for verifying common functions and standard functions of the business package P used by each customer, and includes a server on which the business package P is installed.

The environment construction device 2 copies the template of the new version of the business package P acquired from the template environment 5 to the common verification environment 3, performs verification, and modifies the program or changes settings according to the verification result. . The template environment 5 is an environment for developing and verifying templates. A template is a business package P provided by a vendor that incorporates parameter settings and add-ons to implement the functions assumed to be necessary when the business package P is actually introduced into a company. .

Templates provided by the template environment 5 include a plurality of software modules required to perform any customer-facing function and a plurality of parameter settings used to determine the operation of the plurality of software modules. . Each customer company can set parameters and the like so that only the functions used by the company are activated among the functions included in the template, and the other functions are not activated. In addition, it is possible to customize according to each company by setting various parameters for standard functions.

The new version of the business package P verified in the common verification environment 3 and the content corrected in the common verification environment 3 are stored in the upgrade resource allocation device 4 . The upgrade resource allocation device 4 controls the upgrade of each customer's customer system environment 1 (development environment 11, verification environment 12, production environment 13). In the customer system environment 1, first, the development environment 11 and the verification environment 12 are upgraded, and the correction contents corrected in the common verification environment 3 are reflected. Further, in the verification environment 12, verification of functions unique to each company (functions that have not been verified in the common verification environment 3) is performed, and corrections are performed in the development environment 11 according to the verification results. After the verification and correction in the development environment 11 and the verification environment 12 are completed, the new version of the business package P is implemented in the production environment 13, and furthermore, the correction contents of the common functions corrected in the common verification environment 3 and the development environment 11 is reflected.

The environment construction device 2 and the upgrade resource allocation device 4 can be constructed by a general-purpose computer. The environment building device 2, the upgrade resource allocation device 4, and each customer system environment 1 are connected via a communication network. The communication network may be, for example, the Internet, LAN, leased line, telephone line, mobile communication network, Bluetooth (registered trademark), WiFi (Wireless Fidelity), other communication lines, combinations thereof, etc. It doesn't matter if it's wired or wireless.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of the environment building device 2 and the upgrade resource allocation device 4. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2 , the environment construction device 2 and the upgrade resource allocation device 4 are equipped with a processor 21 and a storage device 22 . The processor 21 includes a CPU, memories such as ROM and RAM, an input interface, an output interface, a communication interface, and a bus connecting these. The processor 21 implements various functions by executing a program stored in a ROM or the like by the CPU. The storage device 22 is a hard disk drive or the like.

Next, the details of the business package upgrade method will be described using a flowchart. FIG. 3 is a flow chart of the common function verification operation in the common verification environment 3 . First, the environment construction device 2 acquires a template corresponding to the new version of the business package P from the template environment 5, and copies it to the storage device of the server of the common verification environment 3 (step S101). Note that the server of the common verification environment 3 may be constructed in the same device as the environment construction device 2, or may be constructed in another device.

Next, the environment building device 2 adjusts the OS of the server of the common verification environment 3, the database, and the setting of the installed business package P to match the new version of the business package P (step S102). Furthermore, after acquiring a backup of the database, etc., the business package P is upgraded using the template acquired from the template environment 5 (step S103).

Next, in the common verification environment 3, the environment building device 2 adjusts the application that operates on the new version of the business package P, and then verifies the common functions that are commonly used by all customers (operation test). (step S104). Common functions include functions that all customers use with the same settings and standard functions. The environment construction device 2 corrects the program or changes the setting according to the verification result (step S105).

Next, after completing the verification and correction of the common functions, the environment construction device 2 stores the files necessary for upgrading the business package P and the correction contents of the common functions in the storage device 22 of the upgrade resource allocation device 4 (step S106). ).

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the upgrade implementation operation of the customer system environment 1 . First, in the customer system environment 1 of each company, preprocessing necessary for upgrading the business package P is performed (step S201).

The upgrade resource allocation device 4 distributes the files necessary for upgrading the business package P to the customer system environment 1 of each company (step S202).

Also, the upgrade resource allocation device 4 generates and distributes an upgrade procedure suitable for each company's environment (step S203). The upgrade procedure is a text file or tabular data that lists specific procedures such as parameter settings for each company required for the upgrade, and the file format and display format do not matter. The person in charge of each company will be able to complete the upgrade by following the steps described in this list. The upgrade resource placement device 4 can retrieve setting information (parameters, etc.) from the customer system environment 1 of each company and reflect it in the upgrade procedure.

The person in charge of each company upgrades the development environment 11 and the verification environment 12 according to the upgrade procedure generated by the upgrade resource allocation device 4 (step S204).

Further, the upgrade resource allocation device 4 distributes correction contents of common functions that need to be handled after the upgrade to the customer system environment 1 of each company (step S205).

In the customer system environment 1 of each company, the unique function of each company is verified in the verification environment 12 (step S206). Further, in the development environment 11, necessary correction of the unique function is performed according to the verification result (step S207). After the verification and correction in the development environment 11 and the verification environment 12 are completed, the version is upgraded in the production environment 13 to reflect the corrected contents of the common functions and unique functions (step S208).

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when upgrading a business package, the common functions used by all customers are verified in the common verification environment 3. After completing the verification of the common functions, the customer system environment 1 upgrade was performed. As a result, in the customer system environment 1, only customer-specific functions need to be verified, which greatly reduces the customer-side verification work associated with business package upgrades, and greatly reduces the time required for upgrades. be able to. This makes it possible to shorten the period during which normal operations are stopped, and for example, it is possible to complete all upgrade work in two days on a weekend.

Also, the upgrade resource allocation device 4 generates an upgrade procedure list corresponding to each customer system environment 1 and provides it to the customer. As a result, even if the customer does not have much knowledge of the business package, the upgrade work can be carried out efficiently and accurately.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and can be implemented in various other forms without departing from the gist of the present invention. Therefore, the above-described embodiment is merely an example in all respects, and should not be construed as limiting. For example, the processing steps described above can be arbitrarily changed in order or executed in parallel as long as the content of the processing is not inconsistent.

1...Customer system environment 2...Environment building device 3...Common verification environment 4...Upgrade resource allocation device 5...Template environment 11...Development environment 12...Verification environment 13...Production environment 21...Processor 22...Storage device

Claims (2)

A method for upgrading a software package, comprising:
A process in which the environment construction device generates a common verification environment capable of verifying common functions commonly used by a plurality of users in the upgraded package;
a step in which the environment construction device verifies the common function in the common verification environment and makes necessary corrections;
a step in which the environment construction device stores files necessary for upgrading and correction contents of the common functions in the upgrade resource allocation device;
a step of automatically deploying files required for upgrade stored in the upgrade resource placement device in a customer system environment by the upgrade resource placement device;
and a step of the upgrade resource allocation device delivering the modification of the common function to the customer system environment after performing the upgrade in the customer system environment. 2. The upgrade method of claim 1 , wherein the upgrade resource placement device includes the step of generating an upgrade procedure list corresponding to each customer system environment.

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