Upgrade considerations

Please review the considerations in this section before upgrading to version 2019.2. If you have any questions or if you need assistance with upgrading, please contact Kaufman Hall Software Support.

IMPORTANT: This document details the upgrade considerations when moving from the most recent Axiom Software release of 2019.1 to the new release of 2019.2. If you are upgrading from an earlier version, please also see the release notes for the interim versions for any additional upgrade considerations.

Advance notice: planned removal of deprecated Workflow feature

Description

The Workflow feature was replaced several years ago by plan file processes in Process Management. Workflow was deprecated and hidden in all systems, except in existing systems that were actively using it. Since that time, it has been supported for backward-compatibility only, to give clients time to migrate to the new feature.

We are now giving advance notice that we plan to remove the deprecated Workflow feature as of version 2020.1. Removing deprecated features helps to simplify our development and testing efforts.

Testing and Review

In our understanding, most or all clients have already migrated to using plan file processes. However, if any clients are still using workflow, you should migrate the workflow to a plan file process at your earliest convenience.

If you have any concerns about the planned removal of this deprecated feature, please contact Kaufman Hall Software Support.

Advance notice: planned removal of deprecated Data Explorer feature

Description

The Data Explorer feature has been deprecated in favor of the existing Web Reports feature and the developing Axiom Intelligence reporting feature. Since the introduction of the browser-based Report Builder in 2018.1, Data Explorer has been supported for backward-compatibility only.

We are now giving advance notice that we plan to remove the deprecated Data Explorer feature as of version 2020.1. Removing deprecated features helps to simplify our development and testing efforts.

Testing and Review

In our understanding, most clients have already discontinued use of Data Explorer. If you have any concerns about the planned removal of this deprecated feature, please contact Kaufman Hall Software Support.

Removal of Auto orientation option for Axiom form PDF generation

Description

When configuring an Axiom form for printing to PDF, you can specify the page orientation (portrait or landscape). In previous releases, the default orientation was Auto, which was intended to dynamically calculate the width to height ratio of the form and automatically use the appropriate orientation. However, this option has not worked as expected since the introduction of dynamic form and component sizing—such as the ability to fill width/height or set a percentage width/height. Instead, the option was always selecting portrait orientation and then forcing the contents to fit.

Since at this time we cannot fix the option to work as expected, the option is being removed. Going forward, you must specify either Portrait or Landscape. Landscape is now the default orientation for newly created forms. Existing forms that are set to Auto will now use Portrait, though the contents will no longer be forced to fit.

Testing and Review

Most forms that are designed to be printed to PDF are likely already using either Portrait or Landscape, because in most cases Auto did not generate useful results. If you have an existing form that is often printed to PDF, you can check the PDF settings and test the output to see if you want to make any changes. You may also want to adopt some of the additional PDF enhancements that were made in this release, such as the ability to set margins and define headers and footers. For more information, see the separate What's New document.

Removal of embedded forms from PowerPoint add-in

Description

The ability to embed a live Axiom form or a snapshot of an Axiom form has been removed from the Microsoft PowerPoint add-in. This feature only worked in PowerPoint 2010. Differences in PowerPoint 2013 and 2016 meant the feature could not be used without manually updating the registry. Since Office 2010 is no longer officially supported, this feature is no longer useful and has been removed. The add-in can still be used with PowerPoint 2013 and up as a document management tool, to edit PowerPoint files stored in the Axiom Software file system.

We will continue to investigate new ways to enable display of Axiom Software data in PowerPoint. In the meantime, the recommended approach is as follows:

  • Use the Axiom Software file processing feature to save a snapshot copy of a spreadsheet Axiom report to a designated network location. This report should contain the data that you want to display in PowerPoint.

  • Use PowerPoint features to link to the snapshot file and display data in the PowerPoint.

When you need to update the data, you can generate an updated copy of the snapshot from Axiom Software and then update links in PowerPoint.

Testing and Review

Most or all affected clients have already migrated their presentations to use the recommended approach, due to the need to use current PowerPoint versions. If any client is still using PowerPoint 2010 with an embedded form, it will no longer be possible to update this form or embed any new forms. If you need assistance migrating your presentation to use the recommended approach, please contact Kaufman Hall Software Support.

Potential impacts on end users

This section summarizes the potential impacts to your end users when upgrading to version 2019.2. This list is provided to help you understand changes that you may need to communicate to end users. You may also need to update your internal documentation.

  • Nothing to note in this release.

NOTE: "End users" refers to users who work with plan files and reports that have been built for them. These users do not perform any file setup activities or administration activities. It is assumed that Master System Users will fully review the release documents to understand changes that may affect them and other power users.