ArcGIS migration - best practices and

challengesVytautas Gipiškis

HNIT-BALTIC, Lithuania

GIS is EvolvingInfluenced by Innovation in Many Areas

Geospatial

cloud

Open

Configurable Agile

Easier

Ready to Use

Implementation3D

Visualization

Apps

Collaborative

Analytics

Applications

TechnologyFaster Computing

Big Data

Distributed Processing

Cloud

Virtualization

IoT

Consumerization

Smart Devices

Content

UAVs

Real-Time

Crowdsourcing

Projects Systems System of Systems

ArcGIS Supports Multiple Implementation PatternsIntegrating Cloud and On-Premises Systems

Portal

Geo-Enabled

Systems

EA Account Engagement Cadence

Two approaches on enterprise system implementationHow is It Different?

Web Maps

Web Scenes

Web Layers

Apps

Users

Services

Data

Geospatial InfrastructureServer GIS

App

Users

Services

Data

… n+1

portal

Two approaches on enterprise system implementation (cont.)GIS as an infrastructure vs GIS as a stovepipe system

- Stovepipe systems:

- Heavily customized

- Heavily integrated with other IT

- Single purpose, mostly system of record.

- Limited sharing of data or functionality

- Hight costs to migrate because everyone is

afraid to break, lots of customization and

integration.

- Migration means full retesting of all

customization

- Migration might change business processes

- GIS as an infrastructure

- GIS is serving as an organizational infrastructure

- System of engagement, system of insights, system

of record (GIS is multipurpose)

- Self service mapping, analysis, sharing

- Mostly configure vs heavy customize &develop

- Mostly business driven (they do they need and

want, and adjust when necessary based on tools

they have)

- Data and functionality sharable across the teams

- Less liked by IT, because they do not control them

VS

Both type of systems have to migrate because …

Change happens in Business:

• Connectivity/Access to information

• New functionality that available with a new

versions

• New business requirements

• Love of new things and curiosity

• Competition (you can do faster/easier/…)

• Lower costs of operation and maintenance

costs

Change happens in IT:

• Other parts of IT aging and upgraded

• Changes of the HW Infrastructure

• Connectivity/Access to information

• Regulations & compliance

• Security

• Fixes in a new version

• Lower costs of operation

Who are biggest pushers to migrate ?Our experience …

Biggest innovators/pushers are Business users

• They care about get things done

• 80/20 rule

• Less integrations, or manual integration

• KISS (keep it simple stupid)

• They need it now!

• They want to do themselves, as they understand the business better than IT

• Tired to be hostages of IT/Dev departments (waterfall process)

• Configure vs develop

“we found nine and a half times out of 10 we could change the way we do

business because it wasn’t that critical; it was just habit”

“customizations are invariably more expensive than the no-technology

options - change your process. I’d rather spend this money in my business.”

Best Practice: Migration processno matter how simple or complex systems you have

• Create a plan

• Inventory the systems to be migrated

• Avoid critical periods

• Define critical functionality, define test scenario

• Get key system users to test all functions that they rely on

• Evaluate and drop the customizations

• Test migration on staging servers (data which is similar with

production) on a cloned/staging env.

• Backup - Plan for the worst

• In case of failure - communicate the problem with the distributor

support about the problem.

• Upgrade staging, test & accept, then production

Best Practice: Application Implementation Strategies

• Configure First

• Extend Existing Apps & Templates

• Use the ArcGIS Web APIs and SDKs

Minimize cost and maximize development resources

Deviations from “core” increase risk!

Configure first for the lowest cost and least effort

Best Practice: Environment Isolation

• Production: an operational, real-time compute environment

• Staging: a separate, mirrored, pre-production environment

• Development: a limited scale environment sufficient for primary code and data modeling

Separate and distinct compute environments

Reduce risk and protect operational systems from unintentional changes and negative business impacts

VersionRelease

Date

General

AvailabilityExtended Support Mature Support Retired

10.7.1June 27,

2019

Jun 2019 - May

2021Jun 2021 - May 2023 Jun 2023 - May 2025 June 01, 2025

10.7March 21,

2019

Mar 2019 - Sep

2020- Oct 2020 - Mar 2022 April 01, 2022

10.6.1July 17,

2018Jul 2018 - Dec 2019 Jan 2020 - Dec 2021 Jan 2022 - Dec 2023 January 01, 2024

10.6January

17, 2018Jan 2018 - Dec 2019 Jan 2020 - Dec 2021 Jan 2022 - Dec 2023 January 01, 2024

10.5.1June 29,

2017Jun 2017 - Nov 2018 Dec 2018 - Nov 2020 Dec 2020 - Nov 2022 December 01, 2022

10.5December

15, 2016

Dec 2016 - Nov

2018Dec 2018 - Nov 2020 Dec 2020 - Nov 2022 December 01, 2022

10.4.1May 31,

2016

May 2016 - Jan

2018Feb 2018 - Jan 2020 Feb 2020 - Jan 2022 February 01, 2022

10.4February

18, 2016Feb 2016 - Jan 2018 Feb 2018 - Jan 2020 Feb 2020 - Jan 2022 February 01, 2022

10.3.1May 13,

2015

May 2015 - Nov

2016Dec 2016 - Nov 2018 Dec 2018 - Nov 2020 December 01, 2020

10.3December

10, 2014

Dec 2014 - Nov

2016Dec 2016 - Nov 2018 Dec 2018 - Nov 2020 December 01, 2020

10.2.2April 15,

2014Apr 2014 - Jun 2015 Jul 2015 - Jun 2017 Jul 2017 - Jun 2019 July 01, 2019

10.2.1January

07, 2014Jan 2014 - Jun 2015 Jul 2015 - Jun 2017 Jul 2017 - Jun 2019 July 01, 2019

July 30,

• Patches for critical things

• New environment

certification

• Start new projects here

• Patches for critical

things

• No env certification

• Start plan to migrate

• No patches

• No env certification

• Migrate to

supported version

Best Practices: Enterprise

• Avoid zero releases (aka STS, use LTS for production)

• Do not rush on a release day one

• Develop on current version (avoid extended support versions)

• Apply all changes on staging (especially if system is critical)

• Snapshots/Backups for easier things

• Test from the day one, using your workflow/usage patterns.

• Never assume things will not break

• Apply patches

• Old and new can run side by side up to 6 months (migration period)

• The sooner you log a case with Esri support, and in case of bug escalate the

bug – the bigger is your chance to have it fixed on time

Best Practices: ArcMap

- Upgrade license manager,

- Install on other machine machine, test typical workflows!

- Always have a backup (independently from upgrades)

- Do not rush on a release day one

- Apply patches (manual process )

- SU license have 2 authorizations (desktop and e.g. Laptop), to be used

by same person. Test on one, move to production later.

- ArcMap is no longer actively developed. Plan migration to Pro.

ArcMap

ArcGIS Pro

Support

through

2025

New Innovations

Best Practices: ArcGIS Pro

- ArcGIS Pro have auto updater.

- Major release (2.1, 2.5, ..) – wait at least month or so

(if you are running critical things). Licensing things above apply.

- If you are running NU model, you can run 3 instances of Pro

simultaneously (assuming all 3 are used by the same person –

Workstation & Laptop & Home PC).

• The sooner you log a case with Esri support, and in case of bug escalate

the bug – the bigger is your chance to have it fixed on time

• ArcGIS Pro does not have backfixes, all fixes are in new versions

only (follow industry practice)

Best Practices: Mobile

If you are big, use MDM/EMM to provision the software.

• Someone need to approve (and test) new versions and push to all devices

If you are smaller, then most likely app auto update will do a job for you.

Expect everything will go smooth.

The sooner you log a case with Esri support, and in case of bug escalate the bug – the

bigger is your chance to have it fixed on time

• ArcGIS mobile apps does not have backfixes, all fixes are in new versions

only (follow industry practice)

Best Practices: ArcGIS Online

It is always current

It is almost always on, > 99,9% - status.arcgis.com

Follow Esri blog about update announcements

You can test new versions couple weeks before release (apply

for early adopter program)

The sooner you log a case with Esri support, and in case of bug escalate the bug

– the bigger is your chance to have it fixed on time

Best Practices: ArcGIS Monitor

• Ubiquitous system monitoring for ArcGIS

• Timely metrics and analysis

• Proactive insights, alerting, and reports

• Optimize the GIS environment

What is monitored?

CPUMemoryDiskNetworkEvents

Hardware

Software

Services Response TimeBusy TimeThroughputSOC Usage

Health ChecksLog EntryUsage StatisticsConfigurationSecurity

Health

Performance

Usage

Esri Maintenance ProgramGet more from Your ArcGIS

Esri global account

associated with your org

my.esri.com

Support Statistics, Year 2019:Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia

#of cases per year in the Baltic states - 513

#of bugs/enhancements - 149

- #82 closed (fixed, know limitation, …non reproducible)., assigned to developers - 21

- Rest are waiting for development review

CSAT 4.7, current quarter – 5 (out of 5)

NPS 67% (HB 79 %)

NPS above 0 is considered “good”, +50 is “Excellent,” and above 70 is considered “world class

8 dedicated professionals (1 in Latvia)

Best Practices Documented

https://go.esri.com/bp

Thank you for your attention!

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www.hnit-baltic.lt

www.maps.lt

CONTACTS

vgipiskis@hnit-baltic.lt

Tel. +370 616 10343

PRESENTER

Vytautas Gipiškis