for the next decade, today Please Note 3 HCL’s statements regarding its plans, directions, and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice and at HCL’s sole discretion. Information regarding potential future products is intended to outline our general product direction and it should not be relied on in making a purchasing decision. The information mentioned regarding potential future products is not a commitment, promise, or legal obligation to deliver any material, code or functionality. Information about potential future products may not be incorporated into any contract. The development, release, and timing of any future features or functionality described for our products remains at our sole discretion. Performance is based on measurements and projections using standard HCL benchmarks in a controlled environment. The actual throughput or performance that any user will experience will vary depending upon many factors, including considerations such as the amount of multiprogramming in the user’s job stream, the I/O configuration, the storage configuration, and the workload processed. Therefore, no assurance can be given that an individual user will achieve results similar to those stated here.
for the next decade, today Why upgrade? Many new features were added throughout the last few releases. With every CR and release since Connections 6.0 we focussed on a few key areas improving Connections along the way: • End user adoption • Helping user focus on their work • Improve collaboration • Onboarding Let’s take a closer look…
for the next decade, today Connections Enhancements - Summary v5.5 2015 6.0 2017 CR3-4 2018 CR5-6 2019 6.5 2019 6.5 CR1 2020 Connections Mail • Connections Sidebar for embedding in any website • • Touchpoint for improved onboarding • • Easily invite external users • • Activities Plus to manage tasks and actions more effectively • • Create Community on mobile devices • • • Transfer File Ownership • • • Wiki and Community UI Improvements • • • Share file via link, Lock wiki to avoid edit conflicts • • • • New layout, deduplication of newsletters and email alerts • • • • UI Enhancements: modern theme; Highlights page; redesigned community catalog • • • • Orient Me home page • • • • • Enhanced designs Community homepages, top navigation; Copy community layout • • • • • My Drive sync files and folders to desktop • • • • • Smart type-ahead search and improved prioritization • • • • • • Nested folders • • • • • • Single consolidated notification view • • • • • •
for the next decade, today HCL Connections 6.0 Easily find content and insights for informed decisions • Orient Me – The homepage that knows you • Improved search user experience • Sync folders and files via new My Drive view Modern Communities • Modern communities – top navigation, page-width layouts (and other new layouts), rich text fields to look make your community look like a website • Copy community layout • Remove inactive users from Community (wsadmin) • Permalink in forums Improve Adoption • Touchpoint onboarding tool • Guided Tours
for the next decade, today HCL Connections 6.0 CR3 Focus on your work • Pick up where you left off - Files will return you to the last view you were in. • Instantly filter recent content in Communities and Files. • Simplified navigation and full-screen option for Files make it easier for both new and experienced users to find the content they are looking for. Increase User Adoption • Deploy “Visual Update 1” with Customizer for a beautiful, modern user experience. • Consistent experience when uploading images or files throughout Connections. • New filters for Metrics provide additional insights into usage activity and community health and allow for the import of additional historic data. • Engage users with fit-to-purpose communities, with the new Highlights app (preview). Easier to install and customize Connections • Connections Customizer allows you to change Connections for specific users. • New quick filters and universal search capability can now be powered by Elastic Search instead of SOLR - install it once to simplify the environment.
for the next decade, today HCL Connections 6.0 CR4 Focus on your work • Redesigned Community Catalog page makes it easy to jump to and find the Community you are looking for • Lock a wiki to avoid editing conflicts • Quickly navigate to recently viewed files • Display external updates and events in Orient Me • Announcement banner in Orient Me keeps everybody up-to-date on organizational news • Easily unsubscribe from Community emails that you no longer wish to receive Increase User Adoption • New “Share via Link” makes it easy to share and grant read access to personal and Community files • New layout, fresh design, and de-duplication for newsletter and notifications emails pull people into Connections • Highlights app updated with new widget configuration UX, featuring live-preview • Export metrics to csv; apply a custom date range for all People/Participation reports
for the next decade, today HCL Connections 6.0 CR5 Focus on your work • User Interface improvements in Community navigation and Wiki display • Improved wiki, blog, forum text editors through support for Tiny MCE v5 • Slack integration (Proof of concept) Increase User Adoption • Administrators can transfer ownership of files (such as for a user who has moved to a new role or left the company) • New widget creation and preview capabilities in Connections Engagement Center
for the next decade, today HCL Connections 6.0 CR6 Reduce Total Cost of Ownership • Customizer Light (w/o Kubernetes) for high availability deployments • Component Pack: replace Solr with Elastic Search for lower TCO • Component Pack: new complementary enablement resources • Component Pack: latest versions of all required components Increase User Adoption • Basic Create Community on mobile devices • Link Preview when sharing on mobile
for the next decade, today HCL Connections 6.5 Focus on your work • Embed Connections Sidebar in any website you control to provide quick access to your network, content, and people while in other applications. Increase User Adoption • Enhanced Connections Touchpoint onboards new users to Connections as quickly as 1 – 2 – 3 and turn them into connected employees. • Connections Invite lets you invite external users fast and efficiently and automates assigning and resetting guest passwords Drive Engagement and Usability • Transfer ownership of a file to a colleague without having to go through the administrator • New Activities Plus helps you manage and assign tasks more effectively
for the next decade, today HCL Connections 6.5 CR1 Engaging User Experiences • Mail integration to Connections top navigation • Transfer file ownership, Part 3 - multiple files • Special characters search on Community Catalog • Updated Docs, Engagement Center, and plugins with HCL branding Technical Optimization • Elastic search upgrade • NodeJS upgrade • Kubernetes upgrade Technical & User Enablement • Connections now available in all Tier 1, 2, & 3 languages
in Connections v7 14 • Tailored Experience • Reusable Templates • Layout and Customization • Simplified Community Creation • Microsoft 365 Ecosystem support • Teams bi-directional integration • SharePoint files and folders in Communities • Outlook Add-In (Windows, Mac, Browser) • Office365 round-trip editing • Export to PDF • Archive, Print share content as PDF • Templates • Cloud Native • Deploy CP on OpenShift and Amazon EKS
for the next decade, today Upgrade Process Overview The upgrade process from Connections 6 to 6.5 and 7.0 mostly works as an in-place upgrade, i.e. no need to install a new environment side-by-side and then migrate the data. Detailed instructions here: https://bit.ly/2S8ERp1 Let’s take a closer look…
for the next decade, today Starting with 6.0 upgrades are in-place … to HCL Connections 6.5 All these upgrades happen in-place. No need to install a new stack side-by-side and no data migration is required. 6.5 6.0 CR 6 6.0 CR 1..5 … to HCL Connections 7 7.0 6.5 CR1 […] 6.5 6.0 CR 6 6.0 CR 1..5
for the next decade, today What if you have to do side-by-side? Yes, only in-place upgrades are officially supported for 6.0 CR6 to 6.5 and from 6.5 CR1 to 7. However, if circumstances require a side-by-side upgrade (Server HW move/update, less down-time, etc), follow this procedure…
for the next decade, today If side-by-side is required… do this: Existing Connections existing Install 6.0 Upgrade to new Upgrade to 6.5 CR1 Upgrade to 7.0 6.0 CRx
for the next decade, today If side-by-side is required… do this: Existing Connections existing Install 6.5 new Upgrade to 6.5 CR1 Upgrade to 7.0 6.5 CR1