Define Your Upgrade Approach
Having created your Upgrade Roadmap, the next critical decision is to define how you will execute the work. There are two fundamentally different strategies for upgrading your Quantexa platform: the Incremental Upgrade and the Reset Upgrade. This page will guide you in selecting the right approach for your specific context, considering factors like your roadmap's complexity, your solution's health, and your team's capacity. At a Glance: Comparing the Approaches Approach Key Characteristic Best For... Primary Benefit Key Consideration Incremental Upgrading through each major version sequentially ("hopping"). Solutions that are well-aligned with Quantexa best practices and are only a few versions behind. Efficiency. Maximises automation using the Repository Tool. The Repository Tool is less effective on solutions with high technical debt. Reset Creating a new, clean repository on the target version and migrating code selectively. Solutions that are many versions behind or contain significant technical debt. Clean Slate. An opportunity to remove technical debt and realign to best practices. Higher initial manual effort to set up and selectively migrate logic. In-Depth: The Incremental Upgrade This is the most common and efficient approach. It involves upgrading your existing repository through each major version between your current state and your target destination. For example, moving from v2.5 to v2.8 would involve separate, sequential upgrades to v2.6, v2.7, and finally v2.8. This approach makes maximum use of Quantexa's Repository Tool, which is designed to automate much of the migration effort between sequential versions. This is the default and recommended option if you are only upgrading a single major version (e.g., from 2.7 to 2.8). When performing an incremental upgrade across multiple versions, you have two release strategy options: Option 1: Single Go-Live Perform each version "hop" in quick succession within your development environment, but combine them into a single release package. This package goes through one cycle of SIT, UAT, and Production deployment. Benefits: Reduced Testing Overhead: One round of formal SIT/UAT saves significant time and effort. Faster Time-to-Target: Achieves the final goal of deploying the target version in the shortest overall project duration. Developer Efficiency: Developers build deep expertise by performing the "hops" back-to-back, increasing speed. Option 2: Staged Go-Live (Release per Hop) Treat each version "hop" as a mini-project. You develop, test (SIT/UAT), and release each incremental version to Production before starting the next hop. Benefits: Lower Risk per Release: Each deployment is smaller and more contained, simplifying testing and root cause analysis if issues arise. Incremental Value: End-users can benefit from new features and improvements more regularly. Increased Flexibility: Allows your team to address other business priorities between upgrade stages. In-Depth: The Reset Upgrade This approach involves creating a brand-new, empty repository on the target platform version. Your team then selectively migrates or completely rebuilds the required logic (data interfaces, Entity Resolution, Scoring, etc.) from the old repository into the new one. This is a strategic choice to "pay down" technical debt. Benefits: Your implementation is multiple major versions behind the latest Quantexa Platform release. The current solution contains a high degree of technical debt, making an incremental upgrade complex and risky. You need to make significant architectural changes or re-align to modern Quantexa best practices. While this approach requires more upfront manual effort, it ensures that your repository is clean, modern, and optimized for future scalability and smoother upgrades. How to Choose Your Approach Your choice will depend on the specifics of your Quantexa deployment and the goals of your upgrade. If your solution is well-aligned with best practices and your Upgrade Roadmap involves only one or two hops, the Incremental approach is almost always the best choice. If your solution suffers from significant technical debt or your Upgrade Roadmap spans many major versions, the Reset Upgrade approach offers a powerful opportunity to reset for the future, even if the initial effort is higher. Quantexa's Divergence Tool can help provide insights into how far away from best practice the deployment is in certain areas The output of this step is a clear, documented decision on the approach you will take. Action: State your chosen upgrade approach. Example: We will follow an Incremental Upgrade approach with a Single Go-Live release strategy.
