Macola Progression 7 - upgrade options

[Frank W]

Our company inherited a Macola - Progression 7 installation through an acquisition of another company. We still use this data to look up historical information.

It runs on a Windows 2003 server and is accessed through a separate Windows 2012 remote desktop server. We do not have installation discs or license info available, except for what is set up in the software itself.

We really need to move this application off this old WIndows 2003 virtual server. Preferably to server 2019 or newer. I don't know if it is possible to upgrade at reasonable cost as we don't use this as an ERP system.

Any suggestions and information will be greatly appreciated!

 

[dgillz]

Sounds like you are simply looking to move to a newer platform as opposed to upgrading anything. Correct?

I can see some problems. You are likely to run into compatibility issues with a 20 year old instance of Progression with relatively recent windows server and workstations. That is assuming you have or can get the install media. The progression install isn't as simple as copying files, it makes lots of changes to the registry, environment variables, etc.

You also did not mention what database engine you are using, Pervasive SQL or Microsoft SQL Server. Heck maybe even Btrieve 6.15 back in 2003. Please advise.

Frankly I would either a) keep the old virtual machines in place or b) convert whatever data you are looking up in Macola to your current ERP system. If you need help with that, please reach out to me.


Macola and SAP Business One Consultant
Check out our Macola tools:

http://www.gainfocus.biz/exceladdin.html

 

[Frank W]

Yes, the goal is moving to a newer platform. I assume upgrading will be costly.

The database engine is SQL Server 2005. The client software is installed on a remote desktop server that runs Server 2012 R2. The users connect to this server because the PWE / Macola client software does not run on Windows 10/11. At least as far as I can tell and have tested. It installs but getting errors when we try to run it.

Our current ERP system is Infor XA that runs on an IBM iSeries. That seems like quite a project to move data from Macola into that system. And not sure if we want this data in there.

The 2 servers are running fine but the OS are not supported anymore. This may be a security issue and was brought up by our MSP and cyber insurance. Our MSP also charges per server/yesr for maintenance/monitoring so would be nice if we could move this Macola data to another existing server and save money there.

Thanks so much for your feedback Don. Information about a 20 year old ERP system install is not all that readily available.

 

[dgillz]

You might consider just moving the SQL database to a modern platform and creating several Excel Power Queries that you can easily apply filters on to get any data imaginable:

* Simple Customer Data Lookup
* Simple Vendor Data Lookup
* Simple Item Data Lookup
* Sales History
* Purchase History
* GL History

Etc., etc. If you have anything real complicated that comes up you could always call a Macola specialist.

There is one "gotcha" to look out for in case you are not familiar with MS SQL Server. You cannot upgrade from SQL 2005 to 2022 or 2019. It is a 2 step process. You'll have to upgrade to SQL 2008 R2 first, then to 2019 or 2022.

You would probably have to buy an old copy of SQL 2008 R2 from eBay to make this happen. I have done this before and they are out there, and dirt cheap.

Good luck.

Macola and SAP Business One Consultant
Check out our Macola tools:

http://www.gainfocus.biz/exceladdin.html

 

[crystalreporting]

If you're just looking for some historical reporting and do not need to access the data via the Progression client interface, then you could just do as Don suggests i.e. create reports to access the SQL data for the historical information you need.

This would entail a small subset of the Macola database tables. If you do not want to go through the whole SQL upgrade path then you could simply script the required table contents out of the 2005 database and into the newer version.

Peter Shirley

http://www.erpessentials.com