Quality of Upgrades... Please Read/Respond

[tony]

I can see this being a contentious subject, but I'll give it try anyway...

What is your general experience with Genesys' recently upgraded components, with regard to local testing and implementations?

I've made a mental note that a few more upgrades failed local testing recently and were sent back to Genesys, who issued "Hot Fixes" almost immediately... thanks to our Beta testing... :-/

Another one (I won't say which one!) was a Hot Fix (minor upgrade) that actually required a full OS upgrade for it to function correctly...

Anyone else had any experiences like this?

T[font=Verdana][/font]

[Timur Karimov]

I aggree. latest GAD did't work with T-Server for Cisco 8.x correctly. and prevision one too. and previson....i try 5 or 6 version before find same stable.

and it's not the one sample. but if we open the new SR every time we got a first question - did u check the release notes and try the latest version =)

[tony]

Thanks Timur...

I know that this is a contentious area but I think it is worthy of discussion - and I wonder if anyone from Genesys (Dev or Support) would care to contribute..?

I have found that our perfunctory testing uncovers issues which are "show stoppers" for us.  I understand that there is a process for testing prior to release and I would like to understand more exactly what is tested, at Genesys Labs.

As I understand it, for Hot Fixes there are some standard functionality tests and another series of lab tests to ensure that the issues covered by the Hot Fix are completed.  What I do not know is if full regression testing is applied, prior to release - I do not think it is.  The problem there is that the "fixes" being applied may actually have a knock-on effect and can contribute to issues which are not apparent, until full regression testing is conducted.

I'd welcome any other views - from Genesys or anyone else willing to contribute...

Thanks!

Tony

[tony]

Judging by the lack of response, I would have to assume that everyone is happy with the quality of the upgrades from Genesys...

T

[Adam G.]

[quote author=Tony Tillyer link=topic=4664.msg21016#msg21016 date=1253627561]
Judging by the lack of response, I would have to assume that everyone is happy with the quality of the upgrades from Genesys...

T
[/quote]

Tony,

Lack of posts doesn't mean everyone's happy - isn't there a current post about implementing ICS v6.5?! There must be a logical reason to go for something 5 (or so) years old and not a latter release. Quality\functionality of the product maybe?

Pavel

[cavagnaro]

Costs are another option, many prefer to stay in old releases because upgrades may be very expensive.

[tony]

Good point - but then what about eol statements from Genesys?  Do they then go unsupported...?

[cavagnaro]

I do have a couple of users that are happy with the old versions they have and never had a critical issue, I guess that when something happens that needs a Genesys intervention they will consider then to buy the upgrade, if not...no reason why for them.

[tony]

ahhh.. so when Genesys re-badge a product and effectively resell it, not everyone automatically upgrades and that is based on choice/cost...

OK - thanks!

T

[Adam G.]

I'm not fully up to speed on the licensing costs but isn't one of the benefits of a support contract the 'free' (as in beer) upgrades?

Pavel

[tony]

I will refer to my first post in this thread... contentious...

Yes - upgrades are free.  But the "what if" factor is if the product itself becomes end of life - or another product supersedes it?

T-Lib ("free"/nearing eol) vs. Platform SDK ($$$)
Call Concentrator (usually part of Routing Package, as a freebie...) vs. ICON/Infomart ($$$)
CCPulse+ ("free"/not licensed) vs. Informiam ($$$)
[s]VTO (eol? Port licensing only) vs. VGP/GVP ($$$$$) - [/s]Probably not a fair comparison

Yes, I know that there have been a lot of enhancement along the way and the bills have to be paid somehow and there is only so much resource to support a finite number of versions - and so the "eol" statements appear.  You either take the risk or purchase the latest version...

Yes, it's business and I understand that.  Going back to cav's note: It's the [i]quality[/i] of the software upgrades I'm going for, here - not the [i]cost[/i].... For example, very few customers would be brave enough to implement an full upgrade which hasn't already gone past (example) 8.0.xxx.xx - imho, this level of upgrade needs to have the bugs removed - not road tested by the customer...

I'd like to conduct a straw poll on the relative number of upgrades which have failed customer testing - but I fear that no-one will want to take part... :-/

T

[Adam G.]

Back in the 90's I can remember dealing with 8 (yes eight) versions of a T-Server on a single day! To credit Genesys it was a brand new TServer for a PBX and the customer was screaming blue murder.

[tony]

I guess it's a start...

Genesys is number one for call centre technolgies, based on their TServer/"Middleware" for PBX/Network (GenSpec) deployments and the versatility provided in their Routing engine. There is no denying that it really is that good - integration, operation, function, features - it's alll there!   So, you buy the Genesys Routing components  and install the Framework/Solution and you are very happy with the product.  Then you are advised of a required upgrade - or you find a bug - or your PBX/Network is upgraded - or you want to keep up with the latest version, etc. You already have a local process for testing and implementation (or you don't - you just upgrade/deploy...).

- What I would like to discuss is the relative experience with the qualtiy of the upgrades;

How many times (as an average) did the upgrade work first time around?
Did the upgrade fix the issue?
Did the upgrade introduce any issues?
Did you have enough information about the upgrade?  (Release Notes, etc.)
Which components generally work first time around - and which do not?
What is your experience for the general response times for fixes from Genesys?
What was good/bad about the upgrade?

...Would anyone like to contribute...?

Tony