Patch Releases and Incremental Repository Merge
If you are upgrading from one major release of Siebel CRM to another, for example, from Siebel 8.0 to Siebel 8.2, then you must perform a full database upgrade. If you are upgrading within the same Siebel release, then you can upgrade by performing a patch release installation.
Siebel patch releases are applied onto existing patch releases, both of which are part of the same major Siebel CRM release. For example, you can install the latest Siebel CRM montly update as a patch release into an existing installation of Siebel CRM version 8.1.1 or 8.1.1.x. For more information about installing the current Siebel CRM Update release and about Siebel release types, see Siebel Installation Guide for the operating system you are using. For more information about installing Siebel Patchset releases, including new features, see Siebel CRM Update Guide and Release Notes on My Oracle Support, 2382435.1 (Article ID), for each applicable release.
If you install the current release as a patch installation, then you must use the Incremental Repository Merge feature to update your Siebel database to the current release. Incremental Repository Merge is a mechanism which allows you to incrementally upgrade your custom repository data (including schema and seed data) from Siebel CRM version 8.1.1.x (SIA Fix Pack) to Siebel 2020 (SIA) for example. On the DB2 for z/OS platform, incremental repository merge functionality is not supported for upgrades to Siebel Release 8.2. For more information about the incremental repository merge process, see the chapter about performing an incremental repository merge in Siebel Database Upgrade Guide and Performing the Siebel Incremental Repository Merge.