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Maximo 7.6 Maintenance Delivery Strategy

Technical Blog Post


Abstract

Explanation of IBM Maximo Asset Management 7.6 maintenance delivery strategy

Body

I want to clarify the Maximo 7.6 maintenance delivery strategy and types of deliverables.

Fix packs are now called Feature packs

Starting with Maximo 7.6.0.0, A fix pack is called a Feature Pack. Using Feature Pack reflects more accurately that IBM adds new functionality and enhancements are delivered together with the latest cumulative bug fixes (APARs) for 7.6.

Feature Packs are delivered every 3-4 months for 7.6, versus every 6-9 months for prior releases. Behavior changes or enhancements are documented in the readme file. Feature Packs are the primary fully-regression-tested maintenance deliverable for Maximo 7.6.  We recommend that Feature Packs be your primary means of obtaining a bug fix whenever possible.

Interim fixes

IBM continues to deliver QA tested monthly cumulative IFixes for the two most recently released Feature Packs. For older Feature Packs, interim fixes are on demand and only unit tested by development. interim fixes are for critical and high priority APARs that you might need before becoming available in the quarterly Feature Pack. With more frequent Feature Packs we expect the need to include APARs in an interim fix go down for before  being made available in a Feature Pack.  In most cases a customer will need to specifically request that an APAR be included in an interim fix; otherwise the APAR would be delivered in the next available Feature Pack.

Limited Availability FIX (LAFix)

IBM will deliver LAFixes, also known as One-Offs, for critical situations when a fix is not currently available in an interim fix or Feature Pack with proper business justification. LAFixes are for a single APAR built for your exact level of Maximo.  All LAFixes require approval of IBM Support Management. No LAFix will be approved without the proper business case and LATestFixReportWriter output.  Because of the risk, multiple LAFixes on the same maintenance level is not recommended and will only be approved in very rare cases.  There is no testing by IBM on LAFixes.

Feature Packs and interim fixes are available on Fix Central by going to http://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral

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ibm11132317