Hi,
We're currently using Laserfiche Rio, production edition Enterprise. We are thinking of making the switch to Laserfiche Cloud and I have a few questions to ask. I'm hoping for some insight.
1. Form business processes can be easily exported and imported to Laserfiche Cloud, but can the workflows? Based on this back in Dec. 2022, they have to be recreated. Is that still true?
2. Does migrating the repository consist of following these steps?
3. Can we read and write to our internal database(s) (SQL Server 2016) from Laserfiche Cloud?
4. For public forms we would need an active public portal, but I'm interested in the business process within Cloud's Forms. Let's say I have a consent form that needs to be filled out by external users. One is a student and the other is the parent. Once the student fills out the form, can I route it to the parent via email link? Once it's filled out, could it write back to our internal database?
Question
Question
Questions about Laserfiche Cloud
Answer
1 advantage you would have with Cloud is the Simple Tables system. This would allow you to save all the data populated by the first anon user and look it up when the second anon user visits a new forms process.
Replies
1 There is no officially supported export and import of Business Processes. We use the following workaround with a lot of success though:
Briefcase all templates into Cloud so that all metadata configs exist.
Make sure the On-Prem system is running one of the latest builds. Currently 10.4.3 or 11.0. Then export each Forms Process as XML and Import into Cloud. Then check every single configuration in the BP diagram to fix any configurations that were lost. We have never found a Form with any lost configurations but we have found many Archive tasks with template configurations malformed which would cause metadata to be lost on archive and entire file upload field configurations set back to default.
For Workflows we re-build them from scratch and re-test. This is the part that can really extend the time it takes to get a Cloud migration done. You must be very familiar with all Cloud WF capabilities, be able to review every workflow in use, break it down and find any areas where Cloud can not perform the same logic, then re-build everything and test before migration day.
2 Yes essentially it is just running a utility that migrates all documents, metadata, and maps your users and local group security configuration. It is entirely automated. You must coordinate the date with Laserfiche.
3 Yes, there is a local Windows Agent you can install on your network that allows making SQL connections from Cloud.
4 I can not think of a Cloud feature which would simplify this. You would have to come up with a system similar to what you might build in On-Prem using 2 isolated processes or a shared public draft.
Hi Chad,
Thank you for breaking it down for me!
So 1, 2, and 3 are a yes.
For 4, it sounds to me as it is also possible? It's one of the key reasons we are looking to switch to Cloud...
Do you mean that you want to allow an anonymous user to complete a form that was started by another anonymous user? That was what I was assuming from your description.
Yep!
1 advantage you would have with Cloud is the Simple Tables system. This would allow you to save all the data populated by the first anon user and look it up when the second anon user visits a new forms process.
Thank for elaborating on this, Chad! You've answered my concern and I appreciate it!!
We are also looking at taking our LF Rio to the cloud. We have a large repository (800 GB) and would love to hear how your transition went. If there is a group/ discussion thread for this< I would love to join!
Hi,
We have a small repository so I am not sure how my experience would relate to yours. There are a lot of things to prep for if you're migrating. I used the documentation and Aspire to smooth my transition.
Forms:
When you start migrating all your business process you will have to recreate ALL lookups for each form if you're using SQL to populate lookup data that is supposed to show instantly. For example our company uses daily forms for quality control. The remote agent will not populate your forms' tables instantly(at time of this writing) so you'll have to create a lookup table. Depending on how many forms have their own table, that can be a huge task in itself. I ran into an issue with lookup rules and here's my fix. After you create the lookup table, you'll have to create different kinds of lookup queries, i.e. select, query, insert, update. Those can take some time as well. You'll use them mostly in the Workflow part if you're not okay with lookup delay. Teams within forms have to be manually updated. Access Rights are contained in like a project. There is also no dynamic filtering so you'll have to think of a way to exclude users at specific steps.
Another thing I found tedious is that the imported business processes would have to be edited. For example, a user task would be assigned to a team. LF cloud would throw an error that the team didn't exist after being assigned. I had to delete the user task and recreate it and assign it back to the same team LF Cloud was saying didn't exist.
Workflows:
They do not transfer over so you have to recreate ALL of them. If you use the Retrieve Business Process Variables and Set Business Process Variables, you will have to set input and output values in the workflow. You have to set the values with the correct data type or your insert rules will error out. Date/Time fields are the most annoying. In SQL it would set it to default 1/1/1900. In the Cloud tables, it will not. We didn't have a ton of workflows, but I felt it was very time consuming. I believe if you do move to the cloud, your VAR will ask Laserfiche to have a meeting with you and that will be discussed. If you need professional assistance in recreating your workflows, it will have a cost.
Repository:
You can use the briefcase if it's a small repository. For more information, this should help.
Overall, it can be a smooth transition but you definitely have to prep for it and know how to recreate the workflows and work with features not available in the cloud that on-prem has.
Hope this helps you!