Migrating to the new Web Platform UI

Deploying the new Web Platform UI.

The new ActiveControl Web Platform UI requires a docker image to be hosted by the customer. This is in addition to the existing Domain Controller backend requirement.

The ActiveControl docker image can either be hosted on a standalone Linux Server (eg on AWS, Azure etc cloud or on-premise server) or to SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP). A BTP deployment requires Cloud Foundry (not Neo) based environment.

As our customers have different deployment requirements (eg some are already using SAP BTP, some are not) and different levels of integration with Fiori Launchpad, the ActiveControl Web Platform can be deployed using various alternative deployment options, as described below.

Table: Deployment Options for the ActiveControl Web Platform.

Basis Technologies’ recommendation to our customers would be to deploy the ActiveControl Web Platform on BTP where possible, given SAP’s strategic direction, and parts of SAP’s standard offerings (eg SAP CPI) are already running on BTP. In addition, it means that functionality such as SSO and Mobile access will likely already be available within your organisation. For the vast majority of customers, the BTI Dashboard will also suffice. We anticipate only our larger enterprise customers wanting to customise via Fiori launchpad.

More information on the deployment options for the ActiveControl Web Platform, as well as links to the deployment steps, can be found in the ActiveControl 9.10 Administration Guide.

Availability of legacy UIs

Basis Technologies will be deprecating the legacy BSP-based Web UI and Windows GUI from ActiveControl 9.20. This means that both of the legacy UIs that existing customers are familiar with will not be available with the AC9.20 release, or thereafter.

As such, Basis Technologies strongly recommend to all existing customers to plan an upgrade to ActiveControl 9.10 in the coming months. Doing so will ensure that existing customers can run the three UIs in parallel for a period of time, and effectively do a gradual phased migration of users across to the new Web Platform UI. From AC9.20, this will not be possible and an existing ActiveControl customer will need to perform a big-bang migration to the Web Platform during their upgrade, as the legacy UIs will not be available.

Figure: Timeline for deprecation of the legacy Windows GUI and BSP-based Web UI.

*Although it is possible to run the legacy UIs in parallel to the new Web Platform UI as part of an ActiveControl 9.10 upgrade, Basis Technologies recommend doing this for as small a time period as possible (ie no more than 6-8 weeks). This recommendation is in large part due to the fact that many of the new features available in ActiveControl 9.10 will not be available in the legacy UIs besides the fact that any non-critical bugs found in the legacy UIs on AC9.10 will not be fixed.