Upgrading to OpenText Content Suite 16—the time is now

Upgrades are vital for organizations to improve performance. Upgrading to the latest software version ensures systems are optimized and business continuity is protected. New features provide…

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Alison Clarke

January 21, 201912 minute read

Upgrade to OpenText™ Content Suite 16

Upgrades are vital for organizations to improve performance. Upgrading to the latest software version ensures systems are optimized and business continuity is protected. New features provide your users with access to the latest tools to be effective. The reality is, competitive advantage and service levels won’t increase by using yesteryear’s software, so it’s less about whether to upgrade and more about when to upgrade. It’s time to upgrade to the latest release of OpenText™ Content Suite 16. 

Starting in April 2016, Content Suite 16.0 ushered in an innovative way of thinking about ECM—introducing new opportunities to drive digital transformation by extending content deeper into business processes and taking a people-first approach that simplified the way users interact with content. This evolution of content management also helped automate the application of metadata and classification, strengthening control and governance while boosting adoption and productivity.

Subsequent Content Suite 16.x releases, including CS16EP2, CS16EP4CS16EP5, CS16EP6  and CS16EP7 were each designed to further improve usability, performance and maximize the payback of your investment in OpenText technology. It’s these advancements that maintain our leadership position as the most complete, powerful and integrated content services platform available today.

OpenText provides a full range of services to help your organization successfully take advantage of moving to Content Suite 16 EP7. No matter where you are with your upgrade—whether you’re still building the business case to move forward or are ready to evaluate options on how to proceed, this blog is your complete guide to finding the information you need.

Why now? 7 immediate wins that spell U.P.G.R.A.D.E.

U: User experience

The amount of information we have available to do our jobs is increasing. Our ability to work anytime, anywhere and with a diverse set of individuals has given “productivity” a whole new meaning. The tools we use to find, use and collaborate on information need to be reimagined. These changing demands have been driving some of the most significant advancements in OpenText products. Usability is a central theme across all the OpenText EIM technologies. Let’s look at a handful of the most significant new capabilities Content Suite 16 introduced:

  • New simple and intuitive Smart View user interface for Content Suite and OpenText™ Extended ECM. With role-based views channeling relevant content, users are empowered through fast access to frequently used content and seamless integration with productivity tools such as Microsoft® Outlook®.
  • Connected Workspaces, with available integration to the process applications that drive business, are designed to enhance teamwork by providing template-driven structures that connect content, data, people and tasks aligned to a common purpose. They also automate the application of metadata, records management and permissions.
  • Secure knowledge management and collaboration with stakeholders both inside and outside the organization via external file sharing with OpenText™ Core Share make it easier for groups to improve their outcomes and improve the ability to retain organizational IP. Check out the blog and the demo video and get the Core 3-month FREE trial. 
  • The new Microsoft® Office Online Add-on enable seamless editing and co-authoring of documents managed within Content Suite.
  • Anywhere/anytime access to information with Content Server Mobile helps on-the-go users and field workers with simple applications that tie content to back-office business processes. Content can be made available offline and is fully secure with audit and remote wipe capabilities. Content Server Mobile is now included with both cloud and off-cloud versions of Content Suite Platform and Extended ECM Platform at no additional cost.

P: Performance improvements and lower total-cost-of-ownership

CIBC Rejuvenates Digital Collaboration with OpenText Content SuiteMost IT teams dream of the day they’ll be able to free up resources to work on strategic efforts rather than maintenance. To get to this utopia, the systems they manage need to be fully optimized for scalability and performance, easy to upgrade and simple to maintain. With the Content Suite 16 releases, the cost, risk and time associated with upgrades, installations and maintenance has been greatly reduced. A few examples:

  • Administration capabilities are now split between System Administration and Business Administration, a model that helps distribute workload and reduce bottlenecks, providing business groups with the flexibility to configure applications to meet their specific needs without engaging IT.
  • Installation and upgrade improvements include pre-installation of Records Management modules, elimination of the need for a staging database, ability to install all modules and enhanced Transport capabilities.
  • New Configuration Scripting features enable the import and export of 300 administration configuration settings, helping reduce the investment associated with installations and upgrades and minimizing the likelihood of user errors during setup.
  • System Center has become the comprehensive tool for defining a Content Suite system, streamlining the downloading of components, upgrades and patches.
  • Server Syndication, the successor to Remote Cache, allows a subset of content to be synchronized with secondary Content Server installations. It provides up to 60% faster access and management of data in remote locations even if internet connections are lost.

G: Glide above the cloud

In a digital world, enterprises must have the ability to make changes faster and more flexible. Organizations are asking themselves how they can free up strategic resources to make IT and technology like Content Suite a revenue center rather than an operational cost, challenges Forrester analyst Cheryl McKinnon discusses in this recent video.

Content Suite 16 releases have been optimized for cloud delivery and is designed to help customers be more flexible and agile by offloading the burden of infrastructure investment and administration. We’re here to help you chose the deployment model that best meets your needs, be it on-premises, in the OpenText Enterprise Cloud, in a supported configuration with a third-party cloud such as Azure, AWS or Google, or as a hybrid model.

Making it even simpler yet, OpenText™ Managed Services in the Cloud brings together the power of a cloud platform with our deep expertise in management and optimization of our platforms and applications. There is no easier way to reduce the cost, time and staff needed to maintain your OpenText solution.

The EP7 release introduced fully containerized versions of Content Suite and Extended ECM platforms, for modernized deployment and management. This means users now have the ability to run fully containerized versions of Content Suite Platform and Extended ECM Platform in the cloud or on-prem. Check out this video to learn more about how OpenText System Center, Docker, and Kubernetes work together to automate the process, making it easier than ever to deploy.

R: Redefine how you think of ECM

Feedback from upgraded customers, along with recognition from industry analysts such as Gartner, confirm that OpenText is leading the way in rethinking ECM and ushering in the age of content services. With OpenText as a partner, enterprises can evolve beyond the traditional implementation of a monolithic, one-size-fits-all ECM application and move towards leveraging a set of content services applications to drive business.

This re-envisioning extends across OpenText EIM applications and has been crystallized with the introduction of OT2. OT2 is our next-generation EIM-as-a-Service platform, delivering services to support the development and deployment of EIM applications. OT2 included the launch of the new content services offering OpenText™ Core for SAP® SuccessFactors® . Learn about the latest innovations across the OpenText Release 16, Cloud 16 and OT2 platforms, delivered in any cloud, and new business-focused SaaS applications in this recent webinar.

A: Automate your compliance to enhance security and reduce risk

The City of Calgary Streamlines Content Access and Compliance with OpenText Content SuiteWith our consistently highly rated Records Management earning OpenText recognition as a leader in compliance, Content Suite 16 EP6 allows organizations to create a fully governed, enterprise-wide information network. Advances in the automation of governance policies means you can control and secure a much larger pool of information, including both structured and unstructured information as discussed in this recent webinar. New features include:

  • The ability to apply retention policies to entire workspaces through automated, case-based Records Management in Connected Workspaces.
  • Advanced compliance functionality to meet new privacy standards such as the GDPR, making it easier to manage and control access to PII and to identify and manage PII and place items on legal holds.
  • Easier ways to manage Physical Objects, and defensibly dispose of information with expanded disposition review
  • Redesign of the Classification workspace, which now offers browse and advanced-search views for rapid filtering, multi-select actions, pagination and advanced search options for Provenance and Classified items, as well as usage privileges to manage the Classification.
  • Records Management, Physical Objects and Security Clearance administration can be granted to Business Administrator users, minimizing the reliance on IT.
  • New ways to intuitively use metadata, including the ability to add Source File Data from content to automatically make highly sensitive information more easily identifiable by exposing Security Level, Supplemental Marking and other security metadata directly in an actively viewed document.

D: Drive digital transformation across the organization

Taking advantage of the latest advancements in content management is just one way to empower the Intelligent and Connected Enterprise.

OpenText Release 16 introduces revolutionary capabilities across the OpenText EIM product portfolio to help combine digital applications with information platforms. The goal is to optimize customer experiences, employee engagement, asset utilization and supply chain efficiency. Some highlights include:

E: Extend ECM into lead business applications

It is no longer enough for ECM solutions to store, retain and, ultimately, delete content. The information that flows within an organization is its most valuable asset. Users want access to that information when and where it is appropriate to their task. Information needs to be available immediately and within their application of choice, whether CRM, ERP, HRM, a marketing system, productivity software, mobile device or any application they use to support their work.

Building on the content management foundation of Content Suite 16 EP6, the OpenText Extended ECM Platform leverages the Smart View and Connected Workspaces to integrate content with lead applications, bridging content silos and delivering content in context for more effective business processes.

In addition to the platform, solutions are available for SAP® Solutions and SAP® SuccessFactors®, Microsoft® Office 365 and Microsoft® Dynamics, Salesforce®, Oracle®, government and engineering. OpenText™ Extended ECM for AppWorks further connects content and processes via workflows that cross-enterprise systems and OpenText Extended ECM Documentum for SAP Solutions provides easy access to all the information contained in Documentum directly from the process inside SAP. The Extended ECM REST API and Widget SDK provide additional capabilities to integrate into almost lead application. Learn more in the OpenText Content Suite and Extended ECM REST API Documentation.

See how OpenText Extended ECM Platform can transparently integrate OpenText Content Suite Platform with your lead applications, bridge content silos and allow information to flow effortlessly across applications in this recent overview webinar.

With all these new capabilities, there’s no better time to upgrade to Content Suite 16 EP6 than now! We are here to help make it easy

Customers with active maintenance on Content Suite or Content Server receive access to new releases of the software at no charge. Learn more about OpenText Prime Protect in the Software Maintenance Program Handbook.

Note: Customers using OpenText Content Server 10.5 please be aware—this product is moving into the sustaining maintenance phase of its product lifecycle on March 1, 2019. See the Customer Advisory here. Find the release dates and subsequent sustaining maintenance for your OpenText products by visiting the Support Lifecycle page on My Support (customer login required).

OpenText provides a full range of services to help your organization successfully take advantage of moving to the latest Content Suite 16 release. No matter which path you choose, you can count on OpenText to help with your upgrade and deployment process.

Professional Services guided upgrade

  • Accelerate your upgrade and reduce risk by working with OpenText Professional Services. Customers who have Professional Services-led upgrades report 75% fewer queries to Customer Support. Let our experts work with you to assess the current environment and prepare recommendations for a successful upgrade, whether on‐premises, in the OpenText Cloud, in other company’s clouds or in a hybrid environment
  • To learn more,  view this recent OT Live Webinar or download the presentation.

Self-directed upgrade

No product upgrade is without its headaches, but OpenText strives to make things a little easier by aggregating all our upgrade content, including best practices and technical documentation, in one convenient location. Upgrade Central is the go-to site on My Support (customer login required) for learning about new features, release schedules, upgrade paths and more.

Upgrade with OpenText Professional Services

Want more detail on the Content Suite 16 releases? Here is your comprehensive list of resources:

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Alison Clarke

Alison is Director, Product Marketing for OpenText Content Suite and Extended ECM. Alison and her team are passionate about helping organizations use content services technologies to distill more value from information, supporting the needs of individuals and teams to improve productivity and strengthen information governance for the organization with content services-enabled solutions.

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