From Maximo to MAS 9.2: Upgrade Tips & Tricks from TROIA experts

Q: What is most important, from your standpoint, when planning an upgrade? 

Nina Čapelnik, PM

Upgrading from Maximo 7.6 to Maximo Application Suite is not just a technical task, it’s a complex project with both technical and organizational challenges. Based on experience from 12+ upgrade projects, I’d say preparation is critical. 

The key is to define a realistic timeline early and ensure all stakeholders commit to it. It’s also essential to identify critical business processes, integrations, and customizations from the start, as these usually require the most testing. 

Interestingly, the biggest risks are rarely the installation itself but verifying that all connected systems and processes work correctly after the upgrade. That’s why proper testing and coordination are so important.

Aleksander Kolar, technician specialist - team lead

From a technical perspective, a MAS upgrade should be planned as a full environment transition, not just an application upgrade. Moving from Maximo 7.6 to MAS 9.1.x also means moving to Red Hat OpenShift, requiring careful planning and preparation across multiple areas, including infrastructure, capacity, certificates, DNS, security, users, and integrations.

Development, test, and production environments should be as aligned as possible, with production kept separate from non-production environments. This approach reduces risk, enables reliable validation of upgrade procedures, and ensures that the production deployment follows a process that has already been tested and verified. 

Primož Sevčnikar, CEO

It is important to understand that this is not just a technical fix installation, but a change of the technology platform. 

Additional infrastructure resources are needed, as well as new knowledge and skills within the team. A successful upgrade depends on meticulous planning across the entire infrastructure, needs thorough end-to-end testing - including integrations with external systems - and a carefully coordinated execution to ensure minimal downtime and business disruption.

Q: What advice would you give clients during the planning phase? 

Nina Čapelnik, PM

Don’t skip the analysis phase. 

A thorough review of the existing system is the only way to truly understand the scope of the upgrade. It helps uncover customizations, integrations, and hidden complexities that are often not reflected in documentation. 

I always tell clients that analysis is not a cost, it’s an investment. It reduces risks, enables realistic planning, and prevents unpleasant surprises later in the project. 

Aleksander Kolar, technician specialist - team lead

Start with a realistic review of the existing system. Over time, systems often accumulate customizations, integrations, scripts, security groups, and manual solutions that may not be fully documented or actively maintained. 

The client and technical team should work together to clearly define the critical business processes and system functionalities that must remain operational after the upgrade. 

All key stakeholders should be involved from the earliest stages of planning, ensuring that requirements, dependencies, and expectations are fully understood. 

Before proceeding to production, the upgrade process should be thoroughly validated in development and test environments to confirm functionality, performance, and integration compatibility, ensuring a smooth production deployment. 

Primož Sevčnikar, CEO

The upgrade should not be viewed only as a migration project, but also as an opportunity to modernise and optimise the existing solution. Over the years organisations often develop customisations, extensions, and business processes that may no longer represent the most efficient or maintainable approach. The transition to Maximo Application Suite provides an ideal opportunity to review these components, simplify where possible, and redesign certain processes to better align with current business needs and platform capabilities. 

It is also worth looking at the full MAS package, as it offers a wide range of new functionalities that the client can take advantage of as much as possible. One major improvement is the completely new mobile solution, which provides a more modern, user friendly, and feature-rich experience compared to the previous Anywhere solution. 

MAS also has a flexible licensing model, allowing clients to use many new or additional functionalities that they may not have had licenses for in the past. 

Q: What common mistakes do you see, and how can they be avoided? 

Nina Čapelnik, PM

The most common issue are delays in decision-making. Even small delays can impact the entire project timeline because everything is interconnected. 

Other frequent challenges include delays in hardware or environment setup - especially OpenShift, dependencies on third-party integrations, and limited availability of key users during testing. 

Another big challenge appears during testing, when teams discover existing issues or start introducing new requirements that weren’t part of the original scope. 

To avoid this, it’s crucial to clearly separate upgrade-related issues, existing system defects, and new business requirements. 

Aleksander Kolar, technician specialist - team lead

The biggest mistake is treating MAS as a standard application upgrade, rather than the platform transformation it actually represents. 

A successful migration depends on having all underlaying technical prerequisites in place: OpenShift capacity, storage, network, certificates, security settings,...

Other common risks are misaligned environments, untested integrations, outdated Java customizations, and incomplete testing. These can be avoided with early validation, clear sequencing, and testing all processes users actually rely on. 

Q: Your top tips for a successful upgrade? 

Nina Čapelnik, PM

The most important one would be to act as one team. A successful upgrade depends on strong collaboration between the client and the implementation partner. Trust, open communication, and quick decision-making make all the difference.

Also, don’t postpone decisions or open questions. Most problems require active resolution, not time. 

And finally, stay focused. During the project, many new ideas will come up. Capture them in a backlog, but don’t let them disrupt the main goal - a stable and timely go-live. Keep the upgrade focused on the upgrade. 

Separate “must-have” requirements for go-live from future improvements. After a successful transition, there will be plenty of time to optimize and enhance the system. This approach is faster, less risky, and more efficient in the long run. 

Aleksander Kolar, technician specialist - team lead

Upgrade step by step: development first, then test, then production. Prepare a clear technical plan with defined steps, responsibilities, and success criteria. 

Test with real users and real permissions, not only administrator accounts. Also check system performance, including both application resources and the database, which remains key to overall responsiveness. 

A MAS upgrade works best as a joint project between the client and the implementation partner. Technical validation is important, but users must also confirm that the system works correctly in practice. 

Keep the project focused on the upgrade. New ideas are valuable, but they are often better captured in a backlog and addressed after a stable, secure, and timely go-live. 

Primož Sevčnikar, CEO

My advice would be not to wait too long or postpone the upgrade. Experience shows that Maximo Application Suite as a whole, as well as its individual modules, performs considerably better than Maximo. 

Organizations that transition sooner can begin realizing the benefits earlier, while also reducing the risks and costs associated with maintaining older technology platforms. Rather than viewing the upgrade as a mandatory technical exercise, it should be seen as an opportunity to modernize the asset management landscape and establish a stronger foundation for future digital transformation initiatives.

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