Data migration from Alloy Navigator 7 to Alloy Navigator 2023

Alloy Navigator object records (Tickets, Computers, Persons, etc.)

All Alloy Navigator object records are imported.

HTML Fields

The new version supports HTML in these fields:

• The Description field for Tickets (Change Requests, Incidents, Problems, Service Requests, and Work Orders)
• The Activity.Details field for all object classes.

In previous versions of Alloy Navigator, these were Memo (plain text) fields. In order to support HTML input and pass HTML values to other workflow components, the new version introduces a new HTML type for virtual fields, parameters, and variables.

Install the default workflow:

New workflow items and components uses HTML virtual fields, parameters, and variables to support HTML for the Description and Activity.Details fields.

Keep the existing workflow:

If your imported workflow items and components continue to treat the Description and the Activity.Details fields as Memo fields.

If you want to enable HTML format in Ticket descriptions and Activity details, now you should review your imported workflow and change the Memo type to HTML type in all virtual fields, parameters, and variables that supply data to the Description and Activity.Details fields.

For details, see Administration Guide: Workflow Management.

Person Pager numbers

The Pager field has been removed from Person records as obsolete. The contents of that field are imported into the user-defined field UDF_Pager, and the business logic involving this field is updated correspondingly.

Knowledge Base Articles, Library Items, Announcements

Previously, the user access to Knowledge Base Articles, Library Items or Announcements objects was controlled by the Sharing option. To provide access to the object to the users of a particular organization, you specified this organization on the Sharing tab of the object record.

In the new version, the user access is controlled at the Service level. The Sharing option has been removed as obsolete. Now, if you want to limit access to a Knowledge Base Article, Library Item or Announcement, you associate it with a service. The object will be available to the service receivers: users, groups and organizations listed on the Receivers tab. You can edit the list of service receivers on the Receivers tab of the associated SLA record

When Knowledge Base Article, Library Item or Announcement objects with limited access are migrated, system creates Service and SLA records and associates the services with the objects. The organizations listed on the Sharing tab are automatically transferred to the Receivers tab.

If the migrated objects are accessible to everyone, SLA and Service records are not created.

You should review created items and components and adjust the new settings to your existing business logic.

Summary reports

Summary reports are imported.

For details, see Help: Summary Reports.

Detail reports

Detail reports are imported.

For details, see Help: Detail Reports.

Object Identifiers

Object Identifiers are imported.

For new object classes, new object identifiers are added.

For details, see Administration Guide: Configuring Object Identifiers.

Object Relationship Map

Object Relationship Map is imported.

For new object classes, new relationship types are added.

For details, see Administration Guide: Configuring Object Relationship

Work Calendars

Work Calendars are imported.

For details, see Administration Guide: Setting Up Work Calendars.

User Macros

Install the default workflow:

All existing macros are replaced with new ones.

Keep the existing workflow:

All macros are imported.

TIP: All user macros have a new location: Workflow and Business Logic > Macros. Alternatively, you can still use the Workflow and Business Logic > [Module] > [Object Class] > Macros section to access user macros for a particular object class.

System Macros

System macros are imported.

Regardless of the workflow upgrade option you chose, the migration converts these two user macros into system macros:

Self Service Portal Link:

• In AN7: %[USR Self Service Portal Link]%
  
• In AN8: %[SYS Self Service Portal Link]%

Web App Link:

• In AN7: %[USR Web App Link]%
  
• In AN8: %[SYS Web App Link]%

The migration keeps both macros and replaces old user-defined macros with new system macros in all workflow items and components. Normally, you do no need to change them after migration. However, note that now Self Service Portal Link or Web App Link system macros are configured using the Web Configuration tool.

For details, see:

• Customizing the Self Service Portal Link Macro
• Customizing the Web Portal Link Macro
• Help: Web Configuration tool - Workflow Integration page.

System Performance settings

System Performance settings are imported.

For details, see:

• Administration Guide: Full-Text Search
• Administration Guide: Limiting Attachment Size
• Administration Guide: Controlling the Action Bar Options

Dashboards

Install the default workflow:

All existing default dashboards are replaced with the latest ones. If you created custom dashboards in AN7, they are imported into AN8, along with their role assignments.

Keep the existing workflow:

All existing dashboards are imported with their role assignments. You should review these assignments and include new and imported security roles as needed.

You should review dashboards, customize them if needed, and modify their security role assignments.

For details, see Administration Guide: Setting Up Dashboards.

CSS Styles

All CSS Styles are imported.

For details, see Administration Guide: Customizing Style Sheets.

TIP: The new version adds the ability to customize the content of the Preview Pane. For details, see Administration Guide: Customizing the Content of the Preview Pane.

Field Customization

Custom labels for system fields and user-defined fields.

Field settings are imported.

For details, see Administration Guide: Field Customization.

TIP: The new version supports user-defined fields of "Encrypted" type. This enables you to store sensitive information in the database in an encrypted form. For details, see Administration Guide: User Defined Field Types.

Shared Views

Install the default workflow:

All default AN7 shared views are replaced with the latest ones. If you created custom shared views in AN7, they are imported into AN7, along with their role assignments.

Keep the existing workflow:

All existing dashboards are imported with their role assignments. You should review these assignments and include new and imported security roles as needed.

For details, see Administration Guide: Setting Up Shared Views.

NOTE: If you have Quick Filter conditions in AN7 shared views, the migration converts them into Advanced Filter conditions. For details, see Help: Using the Advanced Filter.

Accounts and Roles

Accounts and Roles are imported; new permissions may be granted to existing roles during the migration (see New permissions).

Settings for auto-termination of idle session are imported.

For details, see Administration Guide: Account Administration.

Classification Lists

Install the default workflow:

All AN7 classification list items are removed and the latest ones are added. However, if you created custom classification list items in AN7 and they were used in AN7 business processes, those items are retained.

Keep the existing workflow:

All classification settings are imported, and new classification lists for new functionality and objects are added. For example, now you will have lists of Activity Categories for all objects.

Review your classification lists and customize them, as needed.

For details, see Administration Guide: Setting Up Lookup Lists.

Workflow Items and Components

• Actions
• Triggers
• System Actions
• Components (Templates, Forms, Functions, E-mail Notifications)
• Validation Rules

Install the default workflow:

All AN7 workflow Actions, Triggers, Templates, Forms, Functions, E-mail Notifications, and Validation Rules are removed and the latest workflow Actions, Triggers, Templates, and Forms are installed. Note that the new version uses "On Created/Modified" Triggers instead of Validation Rules.

IMPORTANT: For example, if you changed any parameters or texts of your default AN7’s E-mail Notifications, all your customizations will be removed.

The migration preserves only these workflow settings:

• Service Actions used in AN7 — all Service Actions used by AN7 services are imported to the new database. In addition, new Service Actions for new object classes and the related functionality appear.
• Related CI Template
• Full Name Template
• Address Template

Keep the existing workflow:

All Actions, Triggers, Templates, Forms, Functions, E-mail Notifications are imported from AN7 to AN8. Validation Rules are converted into "On Created/Modified" Triggers.

In addition to imported items and components, the migration procedure creates new items and components for new object classes and the related functionality introduced in version 2023.

The migration affects only the following workflow settings:

• Service Actions used in AN7’s synchronization jobs for creating and updating Persons — Those Service Actions are replaced with new Service Actions. New Actions have (New 8.x.x) in their names.
Creating Organizations and Locations during the synchronization no longer needs individual Service Actions but is triggered by special "Create Organizations" and "Create Locations" processing options, available in new jobs. You must review your Alloy Discovery Synchronization jobs and Active Directory Synchronization jobs and reconfigure them, if needed. For details, see Review and reconfigure Synchronization jobs.

Now you should review both imported and new items and components and adjust the new settings to your existing business logic.

For details, see Administration Guide: Workflow Management.

About ICO Icons for Workflow Actions
Instead of the ICO format, version 2023 comes with icons for workflow actions in the PNG format.

Workflow Configuration Parameters

The new version introduces Workflow Configuration Parameters— workflow configuration settings that help you tailor the business logic to the specifics of your business processes.

Install the default workflow:

Default workflow configuration parameters are added.

Go to Workflow and Business Logic > Workflow Configuration, review your parameters, and customize them as needed. Configuration parameters are organized in sections by processes. For details, see Administration Guide: Adjusting Workflow Configuration.

Keep the existing workflow:

No workflow configuration parameters exist.

You can create workflow parameters and specify their values. For details, see Administration Guide: How to Create and Customize Workflow Parameters. However, you can skip this step and proceed without configuration parameters, since they just help you manage the workflow and do not affect your business logic.

Recurrent Tickets

Install the default workflow:

All default Actions for creating Recurrent Tickets and all existing custom Recurrent Ticket jobs are removed. Instead, a new Action for creating Recurrent Tickets (specifically, Work Orders) is installed.

Keep the existing workflow:

All default Actions for creating Recurrent Tickets and all existing custom Recurrent Ticket jobs are imported. You should review these Actions and Recurrent Tickets and modify them as needed.

For details, see Administration Guide: Adding Interactive Create Actions and Help: Managing Recurrent Tickets.

NOTE: In order to prevent data loss in your production system, the Recurrent Tickets Agent in the pilot AN 2023 database is disabled.

Outgoing Notifications

All outgoing notifications settings are imported.

HTML E-mail Notifications
The new version generates all e-mail notifications in HTML format. However, if your organization prohibits the use of HTML in e-mail messages, you can select the Send all e-mail messages in plain text format check box, available in Notifications > E-mail Notifications > Settings, under Message options. This will convert all outgoing HTML messages to the plain text format.

NOTE: In order to prevent duplicate or unnecessary notifications, the Notification Queue is paused.

For details, see Administration Guide: Configuring and Controlling Outgoing Notifications.

Processing Incoming E-Mail

Mail Connector jobs are imported. Service Actions used by these jobs are imported, regardless of the workflow upgrade option you chose.

For details, see Administration Guide: Processing Incoming E-mail.

Preprocessing Rules
In order to prevent the Mail Connector from creating duplicate records, the new version introduces preprocessing rules. The Mail Connector analyzes e-mail messages and cleans unwanted text from the message when it matches the rule. Alloy Navigator offers a set of preconfigured rules for the popular e-mail clients, which are initially disabled. You can enable these rules, and add your own preprocessing rules, if needed. You enable (select) the rules when configuring the Mail Connector job. For details, see .Administration Guide: Configuring Preprocessing Rules

NOTE: In order to prevent data loss in your production system, the imported Mail Connector jobs are disabled.

Self Service Portal settings

All Service Portal settings are imported.

For details, see Administration Guide: Configuring the Self Service Portal.

Self-Registration

Self-Registration settings are imported.

E-mail Templates:

Install the default workflow:

All E-mail Templates for SSP notifications are replaced with new ones.

Keep the existing workflow:

All E-mail Templates for SSP notifications are imported.

Workflow Settings

Workflow settings are imported, regardless of the workflow upgrade option you chose.

Authorization Settings

Authorization settings are imported, regardless of the workflow upgrade option you chose.

TIP: In addition to standard (SQL) authentication the new version offers LDAP authentication for SSP customers. For details, see Administration Guide: User Authentication Types for the Self Service Portal.

TIP: The new version adds the ability to customize the appearance of SSP pages. For details, see Administration Guide: Customizing the Appearance of SSP Pages.

Service settings

All service settings are imported.

Active Directory Synchronization settings

Active Directory Synchronization jobs are imported. Service Actions used by these jobs are imported, regardless of the workflow upgrade option you chose.

IMPORTANT: The new version introduces a new way how to create Organizations and Locations, so you should review imported jobs. For details, see Review and reconfigure Synchronization jobs.

Alloy Discovery Synchronization settings

Alloy Discovery Synchronization jobs and Conflict Policies are imported. Service Actions used by these jobs are imported, regardless of the workflow upgrade option you chose. The new version introduces a new way how to create Organizations and Locations, so you must review imported jobs. For details, see Review and reconfigure Synchronization jobs.

The imported Alloy Discovery Synchronization jobs use your production Alloy Discovery 7 database as the source of audit data. To test those jobs, you need to modify them and temporarily redirect them to your test AD8 database. For details, see Redirect the Alloy Discovery Synchronization jobs to the pilot Alloy Discovery database.

NOTE: In order to prevent data loss in your production system, the imported Alloy Discovery Synchronization jobs are disabled.

Archiving

Archiving settings and archives are imported. The new version uses a new format for archive databases, so you may need to update your archive databases. For details, see Optional: Update archive databases.

NOTE: In order to prevent data loss in your production system, the imported Archiving jobs are disabled.

Scheduled Reports

Scheduled Report jobs are imported.

NOTE: In order to prevent data loss in your production system, the imported Scheduled Report jobs are disabled.

Log settings

Log settings are imported.

System Log

System Log settings, administrative alerts, and log data are imported.

Other Logs (Workflow Log, Incoming Mail Log, etc.)

All log settings are imported, log data are discarded.

For details, see Administration Guide: Log Management.