The following legacy post discusses the upgrade path of Maximo. IBM has recently announced the Maximo Application Suite (MAS), which supersedes this article. Learn more about Maximo 8.x and MAS.
Over the past year and a half, I have had many opportunities to explore, test, upgrade, and assess every aspect of IBM’s latest release of Maximo version 7.6.
Maximo version 7.6 (released in December 2014) is by far the most functionally rich and technically advanced Maximo release ever. And we have to say; it’s not only very impressive, but it’s also able to manage more aspects of your business than ever before (particularly with the new release of Industry Solutions – a great topic for another blog).
I put together a list of what I think are the top 5 reasons to upgrade to Maximo version 7.6.
Reason #1: Usability & Navigation
In 7.6 there were quite a few improvements to the overall user experience. Screen real estate is more efficient and streamlined by using a top-down layout (versus left-right), and screens now resize more consistently based on form content. The overall look and feel are more visually appealing, and you can now use a new hover dialog to view information related to another record. For example, if you want to know the Serial number of the on-screen Asset, no problem! Just hover your pointer over the field and view additional details.
You can now see your ‘recent applications,’ thus allowing you to quickly gain access to the applications you most frequently use. A new Side Navigation Bar allows you to perform actions and functions with fewer mouse clicks.
There is still plenty to do, and we like what we see with the Work Centers that IBM has started to release as part of 7.6.0.5.
Reason #2: Feature Packs
IBM changed the way functionality is deployed. Rather than ‘major’ releases with new content, bells, and whistles, IBM now packages this new functionality along with bug fixes and releases them together as a single “Feature Pack.” This gets new functionality into your hands faster than ever before.
Reason #3: Free Mobile Solution
Did you say free? Yes! With 7.6, you now get access to Maximo Everyplace software so that you can use Maximo in a mobile-connected environment with no additional licensing cost. If you want to use Maximo in a disconnected mobile environment, you will still need licenses (Maximo Anywhere is picking up steam with some significant releases – more on that in another future blog).
Reason #4: Automation Scripts on Integration
One of the game-changers in the release of Maximo 7.5 was the release of Automation Scripts. With 7.6, IBM added the ability to launch an Automation Script within the Integration module (for integration processing or to add custom logic to object structures, enterprise services, and publish channels). This enables users to leverage the beloved Automation Scripts for your custom integrations instead of writing, deploying, and maintaining custom Java code.
Reason #5: Supportability
As of April 2015, IBM stopped supporting Maximo 7.1. There is no official date published for when 7.5 will stop being supported by IBM, but it is obviously next in line. Moving to 7.6 brings you up to the latest major release, getting you that much farther away from those dreaded words: “End of Support.”
Do you agree? What would be on your list of reasons to upgrade?
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