Shannon Hebert, Head of Support for AOD Automation, provides answers to commonly asked questions on the addition of Automic Automation Intelligence (AAI) to the Weekend Upgrade Program. Shannon has led Automation Support in both distributed and mainframe environments. He has 20-plus years of experience in Technical Support and Escalation Management. A firm believer in leading by example, Shannon holds an AWS Solution Architect certification and is furthering his collegiate studies.
What is Broadcom’s Weekend Upgrade Program and How Long Has It Been Running?
Broadcom staffs our Support and Engineering teams on set weekends for all upgrade-related topics encountered. We kicked this off in our Automation space in late 2021 because we know how mission-critical our automation software is for our customers’ businesses. The weekends chosen are in months when we tend to see most of our customers upgrading their environments.
What Benefits Do Customers Get From Broadcom Upgrade Weekends?
All customers who sign up to participate in our Upgrade Weekends are successful in running on the latest GA release. One customer told us that, “No other vendors are providing this level of focus, not even IBM or other large vendors we work with. This is a huge benefit from Broadcom that we're excited about participating in!"
What Is Included in the Program?
We spend time with our customers to ensure they’ve adequately prepared for their upgrade. Specifically, we:
- Review their upgrade plans in advance and provide recommendations based on best practices and challenges we’ve seen other customers experience. (As a side note, we offer all our customers this opportunity, even outside our designated upgrade weekend event. All they need to do is create a Sev 4 case and upload the plan to begin the process.)
- Attend customer-hosted virtual meetings to proactively check in, ensure all is going smoothly, and answer any questions.
- Staff team members from 6 AM to 6 PM PT to handle all upgrade-related cases. Engineering is also readily available to jump in where needed. We notify our Call Center of the customers participating, so all upgrade-related inquiries from those who sign up are immediately routed to our staffed team. This, combined with the other benefits, helps significantly reduce the time required to complete the upgrade, reducing the risk to the customer’s business.
Why Do Customers Want to Upgrade to the Latest Version of AAI?
Automic Automation Intelligence’s (AAI’s) 6.4.4 release continues the evolution of our Web UI, including:
- Addition of global job search
- Job details pages
- Scheduler administration
- Business area support
- New and improved system monitoring
- Fully-integrated context-aware help
For more information about AAI’s current capabilities, you can also read AAI Head PM, Jennifer Chisik’s blog post.
Is It Difficult to Upgrade AAI?
AAI has been engineered to have lightweight install and upgrade capabilities that don’t require significant effort. Questions typically arise when configuring the functionality to suit your business best, and should that happen our latest guides, integrated help, and Broadcom Support will ensure your success.
What Dates Are Set Aside for AAI Upgrade Weekends?
- March 25-26, 2023
- June 24-25, 2023
- September 30-October 1, 2023
Where Do Customers Sign Up?
Visit the Weekend Upgrade Program page to fill out a short form and we will contact you with the details. Alternatively, you can create a Severity 4 ticket to inform us of your plans.
