11.0 Upgrade Guide

Summary

There are many benefits to keeping your system updated, including:  

  • Expanded solutions to support new business initiatives

  • Enhanced user experience and increased efficiency

  • Up-to-date security and supportability

  • SaaS option available

Customer action may be required. Before upgrading the platform and its add-on components, there are certain system changes that customers need to be aware of when moving to 11.0 from an earlier version. The list that follows may not be comprehensive; however, along with the full release note set, it provides a starting point for upgrade evaluation.

Note: It is always recommended to use the latest released version of SPOT (regardless of the STEP version you are on). If upgrading via the --upgrade command, using the latest SPOT version is required.

Details

Customer-driven branding flexibility

Customers now have more Web UI Styling Options for the Web UI. These options include choosing a brand color, action button color, and overall Web UI color theme. Additionally, to better serve customers and their branding guidelines / preferences, there is a new option to choose a white background for the logo displayed at the top of the Global Navigation Panel. For more information, go to the Web UI Enhancements and Changes release note for 11.0 here.

New saved searches functionality for faceted search / Elasticsearch

The saving and sharing of searches is now part of the faceted search experience in the Web UI Search Screen. This allows administrators and privileged users to share default searches with user groups and eliminates users having to spend time creating their own default searches. Favorite Views are migrated to Saved Searches allowing users to retain those custom views.

Important: Additional changes were made for the faceted search solution. The updates include user interface changes. Some changes require reindexing and/or republishing to take effect. Read the Faceted Search Enhancements and Changes release note (here) thoroughly before upgrading.

Updated User List screen

The User List screen has been updated for all users who upgrade to 11.0. Without additional configuration, the User List screen now features the ability to sort and filter table data, resize columns, and create new users. The table can also be configured to include additional columns of information about the system users and additional toolbar action buttons. For more information, go to the Web UI Enhancements and Changes release note for 11.0 here.

Empty fields export for CSV

When using the export empty values option for CSV exports, the output will be different than previous releases due to a bug fix. Exporting reference metadata when multiple references are present will now be exported correctly. Full details can be found in the Data Exchange Enhancements and Changes release note here.

Performance improvements

A new Efficient mode for event handling (renamed 'Deduplicate' in release 2023.4) is available for OIEPs and event processors. For some configuration scenarios, primarily long-running OIEPs and/or where downstream systems have trouble keeping up with message processing, it is advised that customers change existing configurations to use Efficient mode. New configurations use the Detailed mode (renamed 'Standard' in release 2023.4) by default and for backward compatibility, existing OIEPs and event processors continue to run in the Detailed mode (Standard) until changed. In scenarios where the time required to remove redundant events is not beneficial, using Detailed mode (Standard) will perform better. For benefit details and suggested mode settings for configuration scenarios, refer to the Data Exchange Enhancements and Changes release note here. Additional information about performance updates can be found in the Performance Improvements release note here.

Simplified Matching - Merge Golden Record component model

The Matching - Merge Golden Record component model operates with a potential duplicate reference type which tells the user at a glance if a golden record is in a Clerical Review workflow. Prior to this release, the potential duplicate reference type needed to be multi-valued, and a matching algorithm ID (MAID) attribute was needed as metadata on the reference type, which told the user which matching algorithm was being used on that golden record. However, this method of operating meant that more than one matching algorithm could be applied to the same golden record, placing it in multiple Clerical Review workflows, which could be confusing to users.

With this release, the Matching - Merge Golden Record has been simplified so that only one matching algorithm can operate on a golden record at a time. The potential duplicate reference type and potential duplicate match algorithm ID are now single-valued, so that one record cannot have more than one potential duplicate reference, and thereby can only exist in one Clerical Review workflow. As such, the MAID attribute is no longer relevant, as there is no need to differentiate between multiple potential duplicate references.

Stibo Systems will provide an auto-upgrader to change the potential duplicate reference type to single-valued without disrupting the rest of STEP. However, the auto-upgrader cannot account for all scenarios in STEP, and some users must upgrade manually. Contact Stibo Systems to begin the process. For more information, refer to the Customer MDM and Supplier MDM Enhancements and Changes release note here.

Support, platform, and system admin information

The following items are desupported or removed with the 11.0 release (or as indicated):

  • Adobe InDesign CC 2019 and CC 2020 are no longer supported and have been removed as options within the STEP InDesign Plugins.

  • Support for the 9.1 version of STEP ended January 1, 2022.

Note: Support for the 9.2 version of STEP ends August 1, 2022, and support for 9.3 ends November 1, 2022. Support for the 10.0 version ends May 1, 2023, and support for 10.1 ends December 1, 2023.

Support for the following was added in the 11.0 release:

  • Windows 2022

  • RHEL / Oracle Linux 8.5

  • Adobe InDesign CC 2022 is available with 11.0 and also with 10.3 (MP4). Support for Adobe InDesign CC 2021 continues.

Platform and Software Support information can be found in the Platform Support section here. And, 11.0 Platform and Software Support changes can be found here.

Superseded, Withdrawn, and Deleted components

Some components are moving into a new stage within the component removal lifecycle with the 11.0 release. The purpose of these component status changes is to simplify the component list, minimize support on components that have an improved substitute, and to remove clutter and uncertainty as to which component(s) to use. For users, this means that after components are superseded, they are later withdrawn (also referred to as deprecated). Previously withdrawn components are now being removed (status = deleted). Alternate components have previously been announced, and it is very important for customers to make sure they are using those recommended components prior to upgrade.

  • The Web UI Data Container Table View Editor component is superseded and will be withdrawn in a future release. Refer to the 'New table-based data container editor supports editing multivalued attributes' section of the Web UI Enhancements and Changes release note here.

  • The Embedded Analytics Platform (EAP) Web UI components are withdrawn. Details can be found in the 'Embedded Analytics Platform components withdrawn' section of the Web UI Enhancements and Changes release note here.

  • The 'Detailed' Event Mode option (renamed 'Standard' in release 2023.4) in workbench is withdrawn. It will be removed in a future release. Refer to the 'New Efficient processing mode for OIEPs and event processors' section of the Data Exchange Enhancements and Changes release note here.

Important: Prior to upgrade, customers should be aware of any maintenance patch updates that came out in earlier releases. The projects below were covered in the maintenance patch notes for 10.3, which can be accessed via the 10.3 Release > 10.3 Maintenance Patch notes section of the documentation here.

New features incorporated via 10.3 maintenance patches

  • Proxy support available for Lionbridge V1 and SDL Asynchronous translations (10.3-MP4)

  • Proxy support available for Faceted Search (10.3-MP4)

  • Faceted Search enhancements and changes (10.3-MP4)

  • REST API V2 added to baseline (10.3-MP4)

  • InDesign CC 2022 (CC17) support added (10.3-MP4)

  • Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) end-of-life for Direct 2.0 API (10.3-MP4)

  • DSA key support update / Cluster SSH Configuration topic updates (10.3-MP2)

  • New List Processing 'Find Similar Master Data' operation (10.3-MP2)

  • Workbench latency improvements (10.3-MP2)

  • Profiling performance improvements (10.3-MP2)

  • New 'Select None' button for 'Classification roots for inherited attributes' field (10.3-MP2)

  • 'Classification roots for inherited attributes' improvements for Smartsheets (10.3-MP2)

  • New Browse Tab business function (10.3-MP2)

  • Updates to password security for users (10.3-MP2)

  • Updates to table header filters (10.3-MP2)

  • Updates to working in the Approved workspace (10.3-MP2)

  • Machine Learning Match Recommendations allows downloadable ML scores (10.3-MP1 / 10.3-MP2)

  • Faceted search now available for Asset Content and Asset References (10.3-MP1)

  • Ability to restrict display of basket in Global Navigation Panel (10.3-MP1)

  • Introduction of the 'Classification roots for inherited attributes' parameter (10.3-MP1)

  • Support for version 7.14 for Elasticsearch and Kibana (10.3 / 10.3-MP1)