As an Elite ServiceNow Partner, we’re
currently going through the process of upgrading several customers to
“Paris” – the latest release of the world’s leading digital workflow
platform. With a new release every six months, it’s crucial for
businesses to use the latest features to maximise their ROI from the ServiceNow platform.
At UP3,
we do this day in day out throughout September and October – or
“upgrade season” as we like to call it. Our vast experience in customer
upgrades, combined with our expert technical team ensures we’re well
equipped to run these upgrades problem free. Not only do we offer this
service, rather than charging a substantial fee to manage the upgrade
for you, we include this offering as part of our Managed Service.
Typically
upgrading can be a time-consuming process; with a need for sufficient
planning time, as well as ample testing, you may not be able to utilise
the new features as soon as you had hoped. That’s where we come in. As
an expert boutique partner, we’re well versed in the world of upgrades –
so let’s walk you through the process and show you how it’s really
done.
Review & Planning
The
first step for any of our upgrade activities is always a review – we
delve into the ServiceNow release notes to understand the key features
and changes within the new release, and look at how these will affect
our customer’s current instance. Although it might be tempting to make
use of any new features as soon as they’re available, our key focus for
the upgrade is always on any changes which will impact business as usual
and existing functionality. Once we understand what needs to be done,
we set to work creating the upgrade plan and present this back to the
customer along with any notable changes. In addition to this, we follow
best practice guidelines and recommend a development freeze during the
upgrade process to minimise the risk of any compatibility issues. Our
expert support team works closely with our customers throughout this
time to evaluate the risk of any requests and ensure that any
business-critical development is still able to be released during this
timeframe. When we’re all on the same page and the timeline has been
agreed, we are able to move onto step 2…
Cloning & Technical Testing
Our
crack team of ServiceNow experts set to work in backing up any
outstanding development and scheduling the updates of all the instances.
As part of this process we clone your current production instance,
which provides a like for like environment for the upgrade. Then we move
on to arguably the most crucial stage in any upgrade; the testing. Our
technical team follow ServiceNow best practice and carry out set tasks
for conducting both system and functional testing to guarantee every
area of the platform is covered and any issues are resolved prior to
handing over to the customer for UAT. By completing our own rigorous
testing, we ensure that the time commitment and effort needed by the
customer is greatly reduced – helping them be confident that the
platform is functioning exactly as it should be.
Testing & Production Upgrade
After
our in-depth system and functional testing, we hand over to the
customer for user acceptance testing; with any issues logged as an
upgrade incident to the UP3 Support Team for remediation. When
completing this process, your business is our key priority – we work
around the clock to ensure all stakeholders are happy with the upgraded
test environment. Once official approval has been received, we upgrade
the customer to ServiceNow Paris. Once the upgrade is complete our
Service Manager will complete another full system test to ensure
everything is functioning as expected – so by the time you come online,
your system is up and running and ready to go.
We don’t finish there…
Once
we’re happy the upgrade is complete, tested and working efficiently, we
don’t down tools and call it a day. We conduct multiple follow up
sessions to leverage the new features available to each customer. This
forms the basis of the customer’s roadmap and ensures they’re receiving
maximum ROI from the features they’re paying for within the ServiceNow
platform. With countless years in the ServiceNow space, our Managed
Service team are well equipped to provide advice and best practice on
how to best use the platform. We develop a deep understanding of how
your business functions, and align these new features with your
strategic objectives.
All of this comes as part of our Managed Service
offering, which also includes: core support to resolve incidents and
fulfil requests, platform management and performance, enhancements to
in-scope applications and processes – and so much more. This offering
allows you to outsource the entire management and support of your
ServiceNow platform to us so that you can focus on the services your
customers really need.
To find out more about what’s included in our Managed Service, simply get in touch and we’ll be more than happy to walk you through the process. Alternatively, our website has some fantastic insights and technical hints and tips to help your business utilise the leading digital workflow platform.
Thanks for reading!
