Migration best practices

Review best practices and guidelines on the migration process (migrating your bots, Bot Insight, and IQ Bot) and on the Bot Scanner, Control Room, and Credential Vault to complete your migration successfully.

Bot Scanner

When using the Bot Scanner to check your migration readiness, consider these best practices:

  • Create a copy of your Enterprise 11 or Enterprise 10 Control Room repository.

    Create a copy of your Control Room repository on the device on which you want to run Bot Scanner.

  • Use the latest version of Bot Scanner.

    New versions of Bot Scanner are available with each Automation 360 release. The latest version is updated with support for more Enterprise 11 or Enterprise 10 commands and features, which helps you to decide when to migrate.

  • Always run the Bot Scanner on the copy of the Enterprise 11 or Enterprise 10 repository.
  • Do not mix bots from multiple Control Room instances. For example, if you have two Control Room instances, do not copy bots from both Control Room instances at the same location and use that location in the Bot Scanner to scan these bots.
  • Review the Bot Scanner report thoroughly.

    The report helps you to determine which bots are ready for migration and when support for unsupported commands and features will be available. Understanding timelines for unsupported commands and features helps you decide when to migrate.

Control Room and Credential Vault

  • Create and save a backup of Enterprise 11 or Enterprise 10 Control Room repository and database before you install Automation 360.

    Use this backup to perform migration so that there is no disruption to your existing Enterprise 11 or Enterprise 10 automation.

  • Do not change the name of the database when you restore the backup of the Enterprise 11 or Enterprise 10 database.
  • For migration, do not use a machine on which Automation 360 is already installed.
  • Configure Credential Vault in express mode.

Bot building

When building new bots in Enterprise 11 or Enterprise 10, keep the following considerations in mind so that migration to Automation 360 is easier.
Note: These considerations will mainly help users who have a dual environment (running Enterprise 11 or Enterprise 10 and Automation 360 in parallel).
  • Do not use Microsoft Internet Explorer to build your automations as Microsoft is planning to discontinue support for Internet Explorer from June 2022 on certain operating systems.
  • Use object-based automation wherever possible: For example, use Object Cloning command instead of Web Recorder command.
  • Use AISense Recorder very minimally as migration of this recorder is not yet supported in Automation 360.
  • Do not use Citrix Automation, Internet Connection commands, Apache Flex, Adobe Flash, or the Microsoft Edge (legacy) browser in Object Cloning as these are not supported in Automation 360.

Bot migration

  • Assign the required migration role and permissions to users who will start the migration process and the Bot Runners that will be used for bot migration.
  • Assign the required device permissions for the devices that will be used for bot migration.
  • Install the Bot Agent on the devices that will be used for bot migration.
  • Test the Automation 360 setup before using the Bot Migration Wizard to migrate your bots.

    Create and run a sample bot before using the Bot Migration Wizard. This helps to ensure that Automation 360 system prerequisites such as device registration, credential updates, and Auto Login are met.

  • Start migration with a business process for which all the bots are completely ready for migration.
  • Check for any required manual updates for migrated .

    Review the messages for the migrated bots to check if any updates are required for the migrated bots to run these bots successfully. The list of bots that require updates after migration is available in the Action required tab of the Bot Scanner report.

Post-migration

  • Validate the migrated bots.

    Plan a dedicated time to validate and ensure that the bots are migrated successfully. Do not delete the Enterprise 11 or Enterprise 10 format bots until you complete validating that these bots run successfully after migration.

  • Create all new bots in Automation 360 after migration is completed.
  • If you have updated any bots in Enterprise 11 or Enterprise 10 after migration, you must migrate these bots again.

Bot Insight migration

  • Back up and restore the Enterprise 11 Bot Insight database before you install Automation 360.
  • Use the same credentials you have used for Enterprise 11 database when you restore the database.

IQ Bot migration

  • Download the database migration assistant that is compatible with your Automation 360 version.
  • Create backups of Enterprise 11 databases.
  • Stop processing, training, and validating documents in Enterprise 11.
  • Prepare a new environment for IQ Bot and the database migration assistant installation.
  • Restore backed-up Enterprise 11 databases in different locations.
  • Review the database migration assistant log file.
  • Clean up the application registration information in the IQ Bot database if the Automation 360 Control Room address is new.
  • Migrate learning instances one at a time. Do not place all learning instances in one iqba file.