Prior to installing the most current Spire version and converting data, below is a synopsis of what to expect and plan for, when updating from different older major versions, and for features that might require additional learning or need updated business processes. Specific areas of the database may need to be optimized prior to conversion, and other areas may need to be verified or re-created after conversion. Some updates are more significant, with database changes where prior planning and decisions are necessary, or where the software functions differently than before. Other updates are less significant and do not require as much planning, or where new features do not meaningfully affect workflow. Updates are rated as Minor, Moderate or Significant.
Current Spire Version: 4.0.0
Upgrading from Version 3.13
Changes to current version: Significant
Before installing:
- Spire now uses PostGres 18. New installations will use this. Existing installs will continue to use PostGres 14. Removing support for PostGres 10; if you still have this in use then you will need to make an archive of data and files, uninstall old Spire, then install Current Spire version.
- If you want to use the Purge Data procedure after installing the upgrade, you may want to plan for when this can be run, along with creating the snapshot or archive prior to this.
- Spire Desktop is now a 64-bit application, so ensure that your environment supports this.
- A new Crystal Reports runtime engine is installed; ensure that installing is done with appropriate rights to the workstation.
- Customized reports can use the new V4 views tables.
After installing:
- New login screens are available, as the first step to move away from user name and password credentials, and move towards more modern authentication methods. Spire Desktop uses the userID or user’s email address for logon and remembers the user’s email address for the next time that they log in. Use of email address is encouraged as this can be used to support identity and authentication contexts that support it. Information may be included with the host name within Windows Credentials.
- Customer UDFs can now be transferred to new Sales Orders. To use this feature, you need to edit any customer and access the UDF Properties screen to set the Transfer option for any or all fields that you want to display in sales orders. Repeat for UDFs from Shipping Addresses that you want to include in orders.
- If you choose to use the new feature to configure multiple CRA accounts in a single company, you also need to set these accounts on Payroll Departments and/or T4A/T5018 vendors, for use in form printing and generation filtering.
- If you use saved filters in both Orders and History and assign to the module list, they are now grouped together. Filter names should be modified to differentiate between open and historical orders.
- Many new User Settings that you may want to configure, especially Import permissions.
Upgrading from Version 3.12
Changes to current version: Minor
Before installing:
- It is no longer possible to install Spire 3.12 or lower over a database that has been opened with Spire 3.13. The entire Spire database must be deleted (tear down) and a clean install done. If you need to maintain multiple versions of Spire, it is recommended to have Windows Virtual Machines configured for each instance. For more information about this, read the Knowledge base article.
- Integrations to Global Payments Integrated and SPS Commerce now require your Software Assurance to be current. This means that if your company uses the SPS Commerce integration and also have let your Software Assurance lapse, if you install the 3.13 upgrade then the SPS Commerce integration will not be able to connect until such time that Software Assurance is renewed. Only the new Global Payments integrations are affected by this change.
- Decide if your entry model for Accounts Payable invoices should change based on the ability to enter multiple expenses and that the invoice total is locked once that field value is entered.
After installing:
- Confirm that default tax statuses for new customers and vendors have converted correctly over from Company Settings to the respective Sales Tax codes.
- Where appropriate, update customers and vendors with additional tax statuses as previously only 4 could be created but now more are supported.
- Create any Allocation accounts that would be useful in Accounts Payable invoice entry where expenses are regularly split across multiple accounts.
- Confirm inventory is configured with active vendor pricing, if you wish to use Update Sell Prices by Vendor Price. Also ensure a Primary Vendor is assigned if you want to assign base prices from the purchase price of that particular vendor.
Upgrading from Version 3.11
Changes to current version: Moderate
All of the above and:
Before installing:
- Create new Ledger account(s) for Production Order Work in Process if you wish to use this feature. Plan for how phases will be used with subassemblies and components.
- Create a new Ledger account for Cost Variance if you wish to change the component costs used on Production Orders. Reports may need to be modified to track cost variance amounts.
- Create a new Ledger account for the purchase deposit clearing account if you wish to assign deposits to Purchase Orders.
After installing:
- If Work in Process is used with Production Orders, modify Template subassemblies and components to assign WIP Accounts and phases where applicable. A starting phase for the order might also be necessary if it is different than the user default phase, to better synch with Work in Process.
- The Inventory Sell Prices tab now includes cost and margin columns, which could affect how you export filtered lists for the purpose of making updates and re-importing. Or you may wish to instead use the multi-edit Change Price tool to make pricing changes without using Import.
- The new company setting Serialize on Commit is initially enabled after the upgrade. You will need to disable the setting if you prefer to delay selecting serial/lot numbers after quantity is committed on sales orders.
- Conversions from BusinessVision now require a new version of the BVImport utility, to accommodate CPP2 amounts.
Upgrading from Version 3.10 and older
Changes to current version: Significant
Considerations for changes in the Spire 3.10 release were Significant:
- Sales Tax configuration for Inventory items and Levies has changed. Instead of enabling arbitrary taxable statuses, you now set which taxes are exempt. Default Customer and Vendor taxes in Company Settings are used in conversion to determine where exemptions exist. After conversion, you should audit the sales tax exceptions for some inventory items to ensure the expected taxable statuses remain. Product code setup for sales tax exceptions could also be planned for if needed.
- Price levels now support named codes, instead of simple numeric codes. You may wish to plan for giving price levels suitable codes and descriptions for better context in use; if you use the Unit Price drop-down on Sales Order details, the length of the code value will affect how wide the Unit Price column must be to display all information. Also, if you use units of measure in addition to the stocking unit and set specific pricing by unit, the display has changed. These prices are now added and maintained as separate records from those calculated from the stock unit prices.
- Procedures for maintaining inventory price levels has changed, particularly in the area of larger-scale updates. A new import layout for Inventory Sell Levels is useful for updating prices or adding future prices with effective dates.
- For System Admin users, the underlying default for the User Setting to ‘Modify GL Transaction by Default’ is now to have these settings disabled for all modules. New Admin users will have this setting disabled. This might mean that when version 3.11 is implemented, these options for only System Admin users will be disabled, if you have never modified these before. You should audit how these user settings are configured, if you want to have Post and Review GL by default.
- Active Payroll employees must have the new Dental Benefits setting configured before T4 statements can be generated for the 2023 tax year.
Upgrading from Version 3.9
Changes to current version: Significant
Considerations for changes in the Spire 3.9 release were Minor:
- The company Bank EFT configuration is migrated from Company Settings to the General Ledger Bank Account defined in Special Accounts, for the Consolidated Division if divisions used. You need to determine how to handle EFT format configurations for other divisions associated with this bank account, and if any other EFT formats should be created for other bank accounts or currencies.
- The Account Reconciliation Opening Balance is no longer editable. Ensure any saved reconciliations have the correct value prior to conversion, so that future reconciliations will be able to calculate the Variance correctly and remain reconciled to the bank balance.
Within User Settings for General Ledger, you can Modify Last Statement Balance for a GL Account, if you need to make a correction to the opening balance (3.10.6).
- Microsoft Visual C++ V17 (2022) Runtime is installed, which will likely prompt you to reboot the server when the installation is complete.
- The Export screen from within Report Preview has been changed from the Crystal Reports export types, and legacy File Types were removed that could not allow remembering the save location. Currently supported types are now PDF, Excel, CSV and RTF formats.
Upgrading from Version 3.8
Changes to current version: Significant
Considerations for changes in the Spire 3.8 release were Moderate:
- SMTP Email configuration is migrated from Company Settings to a new SMTP Backend setup in the Integrations area of Spire Server Administration, which is the recommended place for SMTP configuration. New company databases no longer allow email server setup within Company or User Settings. Multiple SMTP configurations are supported, which could be assigned to various companies.
- All non-Administration users will need to be given permission to Send Email in User Settings.
- A new Keyword “SupportBatchEmail” needs to be added in Crystal Reports that will used for Emailing from a batch.
- Employee Payroll Schedules for 52/53 weekly and 26/27 biweekly pay periods have improved. Verify that converted schedules are correct, and re-create them as required.
- A change to displaying overdue and uncompleted Communication Notes not assigned to any user means that a potentially large volume of old notes may appear in the Due Today window when logging in. To correct this, from the Communications module, multi-select groups of old notes and click the Mark Completed button to set these as completed. You may be able to mark a few hundred or more at a time, depending on server speed. (3.9.1)
Upgrading from Version 3.7 and older
Changes to current version: Significant
Considerations for changes in the Spire 3.7 release were Significant:
- Database re-organization tasks occur, which can take some time on large databases. During this time, the Spire server will not be accessible.
- Contact Type labels within Company Settings are migrated to central Contact Types list in Company Settings. Ensure all Contact Type labels are appropriate in every area, rather than Contact #1, etc. It is more time consuming to make these changes after data migration as compared to before.
- Spire Desktop did not auto-populate the hostname in this version. The first time you start Spire Desktop after the upgrade install, you may need to manually enter the hostname in order to initiate the Desktop upgrade and start using the current version.