WCEM Upgrade from 1.0 to a higher release

[adam_ebert]

A release upgrade of SAP Web Channel Experience Management is possible from any release to the latest in a direct upgrade. This is shown in the Product Availability Matrix (search for “SAP Web Channel”):

Please read the Release Information Notes for WCEM 2.0 and WCEM 3.0 to check the release requirements, especially the required Service Pack levels of the Java Application Server version and the MDM components. Additionally, obligatory upgrade steps are available in the Master Guide and Installation Guide on the Help Portal (http://help.sap.com/wec) for both releases.
Please be aware that until WCEM 3.0 the mandatory NetWeaver release is 7.30 (not 7.31 or higher!).

In WCEM release 2.0 a major upgrade of the technology stack has been performed: SAP upgraded the used JSF library from 1.2 to 2.1 version. This step opens up a whole range of new possibilities for development of state-of-the art web applications, simplifies the architecture and improves runtime performance. Based on the standard JSF2 architecture some JSF1 concepts are not available anymore so that such implementations need to be adjusted accordingly. These adjustments have been performed in standard WCEM 2.0 so that WCEM Framework and all WCEM Modules have been migrated to JSF2 technology.

Of course this cannot be ensured for custom extensions of the framework, extensions of the SAP modules and for newly created custom modules. This blog shows major aspects which need to be considered with regard to migration of such WCEM 1.0 based custom enhancements.

More information:

• WCEM Public WIKI, section „Installation“, „Configuration“, „Development & Extension“
• WCEM Platform – Technical Introduction
• Advantage of using Java Server Faces
• What's new in WCEM 2.0 and 3.0
• Feature List of WCEM 2.0 and 3.0
• A short walk from WCEM 1.0 to 3.0 by De Villiers Walton Consulting
      

Java Application Server (Java AS)

Because with beginning of WCEM 2.0 the technology basis changed considerably, you need to be careful while deploying of standard WCEM 2.0 or newer on a Java AS where WCEM 1.0 runs successfully including custom enhancements. The Java AS for WCEM cannot serve two different release versions in parallel so that in case the WCEM 1.0 based enhancements won’t be adjusted before, you have to expect that your custom development won’t be runnable anymore.

In case you rely on a runnable WCEM system w/o any down times, it is recommended to use a separate server for the higher release version inparallel. When the new release is running successfully, the older system can be dismantled accordingly.

In case you have no customer or partner specific changes yet, you can use your existing Java AS for the upgrade w/o any obvious risk. In general, the Java AS server can run on a virtual machine or on a physical server.

Customizing Settings

Generally the WCEM related settings, like customizing data maintained in the Web Channel Builder tool, will be upgraded automatically so that you don’t need to execute and manual configuration data migration. For all other steps please check the Release Information Notes, the Installation Guides and the Master Guides as mentioned above.

SSL Certificate

You should be aware about one important change which could hinder you after the upgrade: from WCEM 2.0 Patch 8 and higher, the application switches automatically to https protocol, latest before displaying logon screen. This is mandatory because of security reasons. In case you decide to disable this functionality, please read SAP note 1812800 how to achieve it.

Backend System Activation

Business functions in the backend systems ERP and/or CRM have to be activated in order to support the higher WCEM release. For backend activation please read the notes for WCEM 2.0 resp. WCEM 3.0

NetWeaver Development Infrastructure

As next step you need to take care about your developed extensions. It’s recommended at first to create new version of your already existing Software Component which hosts your custom code based on former release. 

Then a new Track needs to be created. You're creating it in the Change Management Service (CMS) of the NWDI and there you're assigning the Usage Dependencies to the SAP-delivered Software Components of the new release. In particular, you need to assign references to NW and MDM Software Components and to the SAP-delivered WCEM Software Components of the new WCEM release (please use always the newest patch). The process at this point is the same as for the former WCEM release so that you can follow the steps which you've done in the past.

Finally the new Software Component version of your extensions needs to be assigned to the newly created Track as well.

As a result you should have a new NWDI Track for the new WCEM release with all needed SAP components so that you’re able to deploy the standard SAP software on a Java AS successfully. Additionally you have new Software Component version for your custom made WCEM extensions which need to be migrated as the next step.

Net Weaver Developer Studio (NWDS)

Now you can use the NWDS for importing the new Track and focusing on the adoptions relating your WCEM extensions.

As already pointed out, WCEM switched in release 2.0 to the JSF2 standard. It’s strongly recommended to become familiar with JSF2 before any coding activities to get better understanding of available implementation options from the Java standard perspective. Additionally the WCEM 2.0 Development and Extension Guide provides extended documentation relating the technical basis of WCEM.

As additional prerequisite you shall update/install newest version of the WCEM Workbench Plugin. See WCEM 2.0 Development and Extension Guide, chapter 7.8 for more details.

At this point you should be able to start with code-related activities. All important implementation steps and cases are described in very detailed form in the WCEM 2.0 Development and Extension Guide, chapter 7.10. At this point it should be specifically highlighted that most of the needed migration steps will be covered by the WCEM Workbench Plugin in an automatic way. Additional, more special and manual steps has been described in chapter 7.10.

After your extensions have been migrated entirely you can deploy your custom Web Site (Main App) and your custom Web Channel Builder on a Java AS, open your web application in a web browser and test if the new WCEM release runs with customer/partner namespace changes successfully.