Upgrades are always time-consuming and complex, so anything that makes the task easier and reduces the downtime needed is worth investigating. A newly-supported technique for upgrading from Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i to Release 12.1.1 involves use of a staged Applications system, in an extension to the already proven usefulness of this approach to patching within an EBS version. We’ve recently expanded the following note to provide full details of the steps needed: How does this work? Traditionally, a staged Applications system represents an exact physical copy of a production system,including all APPL_TOPs and the production database. You can apply patches to a staged system while the production system remains in operation. After that, you connect the staged system to the production system, update the database, and synchronise the APPL_TOPs. This means that the downtime for the production system only needs to begin after all patches have been successfully applied to the staged system. After the patches have been applied to the staged system, and the production system updated, you must export applied patches information from the staged system and import it into the production system. This ensures that the production patch history database is up-to-date. Now certified for production upgrades from EBS 11i to 12 Having been used unofficially by some upgrade customers for a while, this strategy is now fully supported for use in performing an upgrade from Release 11i to Release 12.1.1. Although your mileage will vary, you should find that using the staged approach is significantly faster than the traditional upgrade route.  The principles of using the staged approach for upgrading are simple: after meeting the applicable AutoConfig and Rapid Clone patch rerequisites, you create the R11i staged system. You then upgrade the staged system to R12.1.1 by updating the production APPL_TOP and database. Finally, you synchronise the patch histories of the production and staged systems. Your feedback is welcome One early adopter found that this shaved 12 hours off their total upgrade time.   We’re extremely interested in hearing about your use cases and your experiences with this newly-supported upgrade technique. Please post a comment here or drop us a line with your thoughts. Related Articles