Do you always take latest and greatest PUM image for 9.2?

Hi All,

We upgraded to 9.2 this summer and are planning for our first PUM image in 2018.  For those of you who have been on 9.2 for a while and are living the continuous delivery dream :-), I was curious to know if you have a strategy around which PUM image you take (latest and greatest, N - 1, etc.), as well as what your experiences have been if you have taken latest and greatest.  I.e., have they been typically buggy, etc.  With 26 coming out in a few weeks, we're debating whether we go with 25 or 26.

Would also be curious as to how many PUM images you are applying each year.  Appreciate the insights and help!

Thanks, David!  Appreciate it!

Hello Ashley,

We upgraded to 9.2 back in 2015 and since have taken an annual approach to upgrading to the latest PUM version on a schedule that works well with the business teams schedule. We then upgrade PeopleTools every other year. This is all of course dependent on what is in each PUM or Tools release, for example moving to Elastic Search we want to move to Tools 8.56 before using that as we've heard the latest version is easier to work with. If you are fully taking advantage of fluid you may have a reason to upgrade more frequently depending on what is released.

Hope that helps and good luck with your planning/strategy.

Thanks,

David

Our PUM strategy is always on de latest PUM minus 1,

End of april 2018 to PUM25. (We are now on 9.2 PUM24) We use AP, AM, EX, IN.PO, CM, GL. W use fluid aproval en fluid expense.

End oktober 2018 to PUM26.

We upgraded to 9.2 for our HCM and HelpDesk Tool earlier this year.  We are currently in the process of updating our International Instance to Image 24 as well as People Tools 8.56.04.  We are undecided at this point on the strategy going forward.  After our International instance is completed, we plan to do the same for our Domestic HCM and HR HelpDesk Tool.

Thanks, Paul!  Hope all is well.

We are taking an annual N-1 approach.  This would result in 4 images for FSCM and HCM, for for ELM and IH, assuming Oracle keeps to the release cycle used in '17 and announced for '18.

Our installation includes:

FSCM upgraded to 9.2 in Oct '16 with PUM 14.  We updated to PUM 23 and PT 8.55.15 in Oct '17.

HCM upgraded to 9.2 in Apr. '17 with PUM 18.  PT 8.55.15 in 2017. We are targetting PUM 22 in '18.

ELM is on 9.2 PUM 13 as of Jun '16.  We are targeting PUM 17 in '18.

We are also implement the Hub with FSCM in '16.

When we updated FSCM this year we did take a couple of items from image 24 which fixed a couple of items in image 23.  The flexibility of the PUM process is a great help in this regard.  Our belief is that taking the absolute latest PUM is too risky.

Gary

In our HCM practice, we have done the get-current thing seven times since September 2014.  We always use the most current available image when we start our process.  Of course, by the time we get to production, it is no longer the most current, but that's OK.   I cannot think of a good reason to use anything but the most recent image.

Thanks, Logesh!  I appreciate it!

Hi Ashley,

We encourage our customer to take up the latest PUM when available.

Some considerations,

- Access to older PUMs are removed from Oracle support when a new PUM is released, so unless you have downloaded earlier getting hold of an older PUM image is difficult

- For issues reported inolder PUMs, more often than not, fixes is available in the latest PUM, not that newer PUMs are going to be issue free :-) atleast leverage fixes for items that others have already reported.

- PUM patching frequency is a key factor to consider as well, for customers who don't take PUMs often, going to the latest make more sense, as they dont know when the next opportunity may come around

All said, taking up latest PUM need not equate to enabling any new features which has been just released in the latest PUM.

Such features can be analysed on case-by-case basis for scope, stability etc. before deciding to enable it or wait for further refinement.

Typically N-1 rationale is used for PeopleTools patches and customers (IT) prefer more stable patch version regardless whether it is latest or not.

Hope it helps!

Thanks, Jo Ann!  Did you guys consider just taking up to 25?  Am curious around your decision to go to 26 with its "new-ness".