With the roll out of the new iMIS 20/20 Advance program (AKA Cloud VDS) in early 2021, NAELA was eager to get on board with the program.
Cloud VDS Benefits
Like many other iMIS customers who have been using the iMIS software package for over a decade and always looking to improve member offerings, NAELA had developed many key server-side plug-in enhancements to their iMIS system. They were not in a position to drop or replace all of these key features at once but they were keenly aware of the dramatic improvements in the 20.3 version and the cloud program in general. The Cloud VDS program allowed NAELA to maintain pre-existing server-side enhancements and retain direct access to their iMIS virtual server while using the latest and best available version of the software. With the cloud platform supporting automatic server security update deployments and automatic version upgrades, NAELA was very excited to join the program.
Analysis
The first step was to conduct a complete analysis and document all current custom system enhancements. While conducting this analysis, we took full advantage of a complimentary evaluation version of iMIS 20.3 provided by ASI Hosting. This trial version was key to show how standard product features could replace enhancements from the past using a copy of the NAELA system. Once completed, out of approximately 30+ individual enhancements we identified about ½ of them could be replaced with out of the box features and about ½ of them should be migrated to the server to maintain existing functionality.
Technical Considerations
The best long-term approach in replacing server side enhancements (iParts) is of course to replace these as client-side iParts using development platforms such as Angular, React or Vue. There is one server-side API however that is still fully supported in the iMIS 20.3 version called iMIS SOA. Since many of the enhancements for NAELA already used this API, we took advantage of this much lower cost option by migrating what they already had mostly “as is” to the 20.3 version.
Migrating the Website Templates
Supporting over a dozen RiSE websites for National, Chapters, Conferences and the Foundation, NAELA had 5 distinct designed templates. We found that templates which are first upgraded to the 2017 “WST” format using published templates were generally compatible with the latest 20.3 version. ASI upgraded the templates and we just needed to upload our themes folders in a zipped format to get them to work. We also took the added step to modernize each of the 5 website templates by expanding the maximum width of the templates to 1920px, added a “sticky bar” on scroll feature and put extra attention on the mobile screen displays. You can see samples of each of the 5 cloud templates here: National, California Chapter, Chapter Conference, National Conference and Foundation.
Go Live Dry Run
Due to tens of thousands of content records contained in 20+ heavily used websites since 2010, we did run into some technical challenges with the initial prototype migration. ASI worked diligently to resolve these to get our test system running but we felt we needed to go through the process again to ensure a low risk and short downtime go live process. We requested a “dry-run” of the migration process a few weeks before the scheduled go live. ASI was extremely supportive in this process and helped us resolve all issues found in the process at no extra charge. At the end of the dry run, we felt very comfortable that we were minimizing risk and downtime for the go live. ASI’s flexibility to add this to our process at no added charge is a real testament to their core mission of “Customers for Life!”.
Go Live & Post Live Support
In early July after a 6 months process of analysis, prototype, system testing and successful dry run, we made the decision to go live. With our migration processes and plan ready to go, we estimated a total production downtime of about 1 day was required. We decided to take the 2017 production system offline at 3pm on a Thursday and since our dedicated ASI tech was willing to work after hours, we were able to get through the initial system upgrade Thursday evening. Starting early on Friday, John Consulting migrated all of the new work we completed into the freshly upgraded production system by mid-day Friday. All 3rd party integrations were turned on, data objects, websites, enhancements and the iMIS Pay system was setup and ready to go for customer testing by 1pm. Once the customer was satisfied that all looked good, the decision to make the new system public was enacted at about 3pm on Friday.
90 Days Later & Conclusion
90 days after go live, NAELA is very satisfied with their decision to move into the Cloud VDS program. They are very happy with the speed and scalability of the new version. Some notable benefits reported include: Very fast page loads with their 12+ active websites, dozens of new features available, reduced security threats with rapid Azure security deployments on the ASI cloud, system restore capability to virtually any moment in time, continued new feature enhancements being regularly rolled out automatically, new iMIS Report writer used to create self-service receipting for all transactions, much lower cost for system hosting, continued direct server access and the benefits of a fully web-based solution. We want to thank our partners at ASI for their commitment to see this project through and the flexibility to make it a success. We also want to extend a special thanks to Ann Watkins, Senior Director of Operations ad The National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys for her extensive efforts and support throughout this process.
