Is it an Upgrade or an Implementation?

By | November 23, 2007

When does a PeopleSoft upgrade become an implementation? And what is the difference anyway?

There seems to be a commonly held view that a minor version change (e.g. 8.x to 8.x) is an upgrade. Whereas, a major version change (e.g. 7.x to 8.x) is a re-implementation.

This view is challenged where the vendor provides an “Upgrade Path” between major versions. For example PeopleSoft provide an Upgrade Path between v7.5/6 to 8.8. Albeit that the Upgrade Path is only available for HR, Global Payroll is not upgradable from 7.x versions.

The approach taken to upgrade is one way to draw the line between an upgrade and an implementation. If custom scripts are developed to migrate data from the legacy environment to the upgrade environment, then it is reasonable to assume an “implementation” approach is being employed. This is common where data cleansing is included in the scope of the upgrade, which complicates the use of vendor provided upgrade tools.

Ultimately it is politics that governs the title of a project. It is often easier to get support for an “Upgrade”, even if it requires the same effort as the implementation of a competing product.