Technology update in IT is unavoidable. Specially If you use Microsoft products every two years there is a new version. There are various reasons compels IT departments to move or adapt the new technology.

For the past one year I worked with multiple tech upgrades like

1. SQL Server 2005 to 2008

2. VS 2005 to VS 2008 (.Net 2.0 to .Net 3.5)

3. SSRS 2005 to SSRS 2008

3. Office 2003 to Office 2007

Each tech update thought lessons,

1. Tech Update may look simple but may go complex. Have enough buffer in planning.

2. Check you hardware architecture (X86/ X64) and platform (OS).

3. Always have a backup plan. In SSRS 2008 the Excel report printing had issues for few scenarios. It was observed after two weeks of production deployment. Even we may need to rollback after the go live, so keep your rollback option clearly documented.

4. Make sure the application is scalable to the new technology. Like in Office 2003 to 2007 the number of row increase. We had big time in improving the performance and faced memory issues.

5. Read the known issues and past experience before planning the tech upgrade.