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Crucial Siebel Anywhere Terminology


This section provides information about the following crucial terms for understanding and working with Siebel Anywhere:

Upgrade Kits

A Siebel Anywhere Upgrade Kit is an archived file that contains software or database schema changes required to upgrade a specific upgrade component on a subscriber's computer. An upgrade kit contains one or more upgrade kit items, which are instructions for actions to be performed and the files associated with those actions. A kit also contains information about the sequence in which the actions are to be performed. Available actions include:

  • Executing any type of program or batch script.
  • Copying, moving, or deleting files.

Siebel Anywhere architecture supports creation of upgrade kits in a Web deployment. Administrators can use an HTML browser without any Siebel software installed on their machines to perform the Siebel Anywhere administrative tasks. Preparation of upgrade kits is done through the use of the Upgrade Kit Wizard and the Upgrade Kit Builder.

After the Siebel Anywhere Administrator creates an upgrade kit, it is automatically stored on the Siebel File System. From this location, it is available for retrieval and installation by subscribers. Files or scripts that are included in the upgrade kit are stored in compressed form. For more information about how Siebel Anywhere stores and identifies upgrade kits and the files that are included in upgrade kits, see Siebel Anywhere File Attachments.

It is very important to test upgrade kits. It is recommended that you distribute each kit to selected mobile and connected users through the use of a test configuration, and have those users attempt to download and install the kit before you distribute the kit to a wider group of users.

There are two types of upgrade kits for Siebel client subscribers—required and optional. Upgrade kits created for Siebel Servers should always be required.

Required Upgrade Kits

A required upgrade kit is a kit that must be retrieved and installed on the intended Mobile or Dedicated Web Clients, or Siebel Servers. The Siebel clients and servers will prompt the user to upgrade if there is a required upgrade. If a required upgrade is not implemented, Siebel client can only be started in read-only mode, and Siebel Server will not start.

Optional Upgrade Kits

An optional upgrade kit is a kit that is made available to subscribers, but subscribers are not required to retrieve and install the kit. For example, optional upgrade kits are useful for making third-party applications, files, or other noncritical components available for users to retrieve at their discretion.

Siebel Anywhere does not automatically prompt users to retrieve and install optional kits. Optional upgrade kits are manually retrieved using the Component Upgrades view, which is accessible from the Siebel User Preferences screen, and are installed using the Upgrade Wizard. The Component Upgrades view must be included in the responsibilities that are assigned to users. See Retrieving and Installing Upgrade Kits.

CAUTION:  It is strongly recommended that you use the optional kit feature as a method for testing every Siebel Anywhere component upgrade. When an upgrade kit is created as an optional kit, test users can retrieve kit from the Component Upgrades view whenever it is convenient to do so. If the kit is created as a required kit, test users can lose read/write access to Siebel applications unless they upgrade when automatically prompted to do so. After testing, you can make the kit required or optional.

Upgrade Components

An upgrade component is a logical unit of software for which Siebel Anywhere performs version checks, to determine whether that software needs to be upgraded. The determination is made by comparing the subscriber's existing version of the component with the version requirements specified in an upgrade kit. Each upgrade component defines how to check versions for a particular software module. For example, the upgrade component Siebel Sales CFG, which is used to check the version of the Siebel Sales Client configuration file, defines how to locate the file and how to read the version from it. For more information about how Siebel Anywhere conducts version checks, see How Siebel Anywhere Versions Work.

Upgrade components can be thought of as belonging to two broad categories:

  • History-dependent components depend on the presence of certain previously installed software.
  • History-independent components can be upgraded regardless of the software previously installed.

Components are associated with subscribers by means of Siebel Anywhere configurations, which are discussed in more detail later in this section. A configuration contains one or more upgrade components. The Siebel administrator can include one or more upgrade components in a configuration.

Siebel eBusiness Applications provide several preconfigured Upgrade Components. Seeded components are available based upon the languages installed on the database server. The Siebel administrator can also register additional Siebel Anywhere components or other third-party software. Siebel Anywhere can upgrade these components, just as it does the predefined components used by Siebel eBusiness Applications. For example, it would be possible to create an upgrade component to run a batch program in the form of a .bat or .exe file. Each upgrade component is classified by a component type, as described in Table 6.

Table 6.  Predefined Examples of Siebel Anywhere Components
Siebel Component Type
Siebel Anywhere Component
Comment

Customer Revisions

Siebel Client Customer Revision

Siebel Client Customer Revisions_[language-code]

A nonspecific component for distributing any customer-revised files, such as Online Help files, Siebel Report files, Siebel Help Files, Siebel Sample Database Files, third-party files or applications on the Siebel client. Can be either history-dependent or history-independent.

Siebel Server Customer Revisions

Siebel Server Customer Revision_[language-code]

A nonspecific component for distributing any customer-revised files on the Siebel Server. Can be either history-dependent or history-independent.

Siebel Upgrade Wizard

Siebel Upgrade Wizard

The Siebel Upgrade Wizard. It is automatically associated with every upgrade kit to make sure the client uses the current version of the wizard. History-independent.

Siebel Configuration File

Siebel Sales CFG_[language-code]

A component for distributing a customized CFG file for client systems. History-independent.

Siebel Database Extensions

Siebel Database Schema

The database schema used by the Siebel Regional Node and Siebel Remote user databases. History-independent.

Siebel Executables

Siebel Client Executables

Siebel Client Executables_[language-code]

The Siebel eBusiness Applications client executables. History-independent.

Siebel Repository File

Siebel Client Repository File_[language-code]

Siebel Server Repository File_[language-code]

The file used by Siebel eBusiness Applications (.srf). History-independent.

Third-Party Software

Third Party - Oracle 8 Client

Third Party - Microsoft Word

Third Party - Microsoft SQL Server Driver

Third Party - Microsoft Internet Explorer

Third Party - IBM DB2 Client

Third Party - Adobe Acrobat Reader

Third Party - Adobe Acrobat

Third-Party Software, as used on the Siebel client. Can be either history-dependent or history-independent.

Some Third-Party Software upgrade components are for version checking only. Siebel Anywhere is not intended to deliver complex Third Party software products as upgrade kits.

For smaller and simpler software products such as Adobe Acrobat and WinZip, you can use Siebel Anywhere to deliver them as Third-Party upgrade kits.

For more information about upgrade components, see Setting Up Custom Siebel Anywhere Upgrade Components.

Upgrade Configurations

An Upgrade Configuration is a definition of the setup used by a particular set of Siebel Anywhere subscribers, such as Siebel Call Center Clients or Siebel Sales Clients. A configuration associates a particular set of Siebel Anywhere subscribers with the specific set of upgrade components that those subscribers need to have managed and maintained. Each Siebel subscriber belongs to an individual Siebel Anywhere configuration. When Siebel Anywhere checks whether a particular subscriber needs an upgrade, it checks the versions of all components included in that subscriber's configuration.

Siebel eBusiness Applications provide configurations such as:

  • Siebel Test Client
  • Siebel Call Center Client
  • Siebel Service Client
  • Siebel Sales Client
  • Siebel Marketing Client
  • Siebel Partner Manager Client
  • Siebel ERM Client

Each subscriber can be assigned to one of these configurations. Administrators can also create new configurations for special situations.

NOTE:  Siebel Anywhere supports global deployments by including seeded upgrade configurations and components for each supported language included within the Siebel eBusiness Application. Consider carefully the receivers or subscribers to any upgrade kit you create, and use the correct upgrade component based on end-user languages.

By default, Siebel Anywhere uses the value of the ComponentName entry in the Siebel section of an employee's CFG file to determine what configuration the employee is using and thus what components it should check. The sever parameter UpgComponent specifies the configuration for Siebel Server.

It is possible to override an employee's default configuration assignment by using the Administration - Siebel Anywhere screen to assign the employee to a different configuration. This method of assigning a client to a configuration is appropriate for situations in which the assignment is temporary. For example, a client might be assigned to a specific configuration to let that client test an upgrade kit before it is released for general use. These temporary assignments are also called dynamic assignments.

For more information about working with configurations, see Modifying and Creating Siebel Anywhere Configurations.

Siebel Anywhere Subscribers

A Siebel Anywhere subscriber is a Siebel client or a Siebel application server that belongs to an active configuration. It can be a laptop, desktop, or a regional node. A Siebel Anywhere subscriber belongs to one upgrade configuration. Types of subscribers include the following:

  • Mobile Web Clients of Siebel eBusiness Applications such as Siebel Sales, Partner Manager, Siebel Field Service, or Siebel Call Center
  • Dedicated Web Clients
  • Siebel Servers operating against regional databases (referred to as Regional Node Servers)

CAUTION:  It is strongly recommended that you run only the Siebel Smart Web Client for user accounts that have Siebel administrator responsibilities, to make sure that administrative tasks are performed while connected to the HQ server, and to make sure that the administrator is not prevented from logging in for reasons related to component versions. However, if you run the Siebel Dedicated Client for any administrator account, it is strongly recommended that the account not be associated with a Siebel Anywhere configuration. This precaution also helps prevent version-related login problems.

Siebel Anywhere Administration Guide