As the summer begins, so begins the season of Do-It-Yourself (DIY) and home improvement projects. According to the Home Safety Council, over 40 million enterprising homeowners take on DIY home projects every year. Hooray self-sufficiency! But don’t grab that hammer just yet. Of those 40 million folks working on home projects, 1 in 5 winds up going to the hospital due to DIY accidents.

The cause of injury is not just on obvious dangers such as table saws or electrical issues. There are significant numbers of ladder accidents, hand tool injuries, back or neck issues caused by heavy lifting, accidental fires, hand tool punctures, tripping hazards, eye lacerations, concussions and contusions caused by overhead or obstructing objects.

The risk of serious injury aside, there is another significant risk associated with DIY. A Google image search for “home repair fails” shows an unending story of measuring mistakes, banister blunders, plumbing problems, door disasters, stair silliness, and garage gaffes.

Knowing When to Drop the Hammer

In the age of COVID, according to DIY trends, it looks like more people are holding a hammer and seeing nails everywhere. Because of the pandemic, many families are looking to trim budgets where they can. Unfortunately, many are operating under the misguided assumption that a DIY project is a sensible place to cut corners and costs by performing work they have not been appropriately trained on how to do. Indeed, England’s National Health Service even issued several warnings about avoiding DIY accidents during a time when hospitals may be overtaxed.

How many injuries or project disasters could be prevented by humble self-analysis or “counting the cost” for money spent versus potential (and avoidable) hassles, issues, and troubles?

Your partners at DataBank see a similar trend in DIY OnBase upgrade and server migration projects. In 2020, we have seen 26 DIY self-upgrades, which is trending higher than usual. And while there isn’t such thing as an “upgrade hospital,” we’d estimate that 9 out of 10 self-upgrades end up in a bad spot. Why is that?

The Riskiness in Self-Upgrading

The cause of significant upgrade issues is not just for obvious dangers like forgetting to take database backups or use proper project management oversight. Costly issues may arise from improperly implemented server settings, web.config settings, missed OnBase installer entries, compatibility issues with custom forms and scripts, unplanned deprecated modules, or even failing to plan ahead and rushed user acceptance testing.

Then there’s trying to catch up on documentation. If you haven’t installed OnBase before, or even if you have but it’s been a while, it can be challenging to know where to start in looking at upgrade whitepapers, upgrade MRGs, End-of-Life module FAQs, module MRGs, app server MRGs, etc.

Finally, you have to put all this information together and document it. There are many best practices, recommendations, and gotcha’s when it comes to upgrading OnBase. If you’re performing an upgrade for the first time or if you only do so every couple of years, you couldn’t be expected to have anywhere near the experience of people working on these projects year-round.

Did you know?

• • • Over 90% of customers who attempt their own upgrade end up having to call for help
    • Having an experienced OnBase engineer perform an upgrade is to help ensure that no underlying issues exist. If an issue is discovered, you will be glad you have a professional to assist.
    • There were 1219 software corrections and enhancements between OnBase 18 SP1 and Foundation EP3.
    • A botched upgrade may take significantly more time to troubleshoot to find a root cause than hiring someone to get the implementation done right the first time
    • A botched upgrade can cause significant disruption to standard business processes

DataBank Upgrade Assistance Options

Because of the pandemic, many organizations are looking to trim budgets where they can. Unfortunately, many are operating under the misguided assumption that an OnBase upgrade is a sensible place to cut corners and costs by performing work they have not been adequately trained on how to do.

We have an Upgrade Specialist to help tailor a project plan to suit your needs, Upgrade Technicians whose primary role is performing upgrades, and a Project Manager dedicated to supporting upgrade projects. The team meets weekly to iterate and improve on processes regularly. Engagements with DataBank’s upgrade team put you in the best situation to upgrade smoothly and on time, freeing up your team to focus on the things you do best.

If your team would like some form of ownership over the project, we can account for that. Think of it as hiring a home contractor to consult with on the things you’re unsure of, fill in the gaps where needed, and make sure your work is up to code.