Platform v8 Upgrade FAQs
What is Platform v8?
Platform v8 is the gateway to OneStream’s NextGen architecture, providing optimizations to enable the next level of scale and growth for our customers. The NextGen architecture starts with Platform v8, which provides faster processing and computational performance and modernizes OneStream’s authentication and data integration technology.
As with most OneStream Platform major releases, we will be deprecating older technology, introducing new technologies, and there are some ‘breaking changes’ that must be addressed during the upgrade process. Customers will need extra time for this upgrade cycle, and OneStream has prepared readiness content and new processes to make the transition to Platform v8 successful.
How will Platform v8 modernize technology and why is that important for future growth?
Platform v8 has migrated the development framework from .NET4.8 to the .NET6 (sometime referred to as .NET Core – see this video for more background). This migration represents a significant modernization of OneStream’s Platform code that will yield immediate performance benefits for memory intensive operations – such as Consolidation processing, data and meta data loading, and complex cube views.
The transition to .NET6 represents a significant developer framework modernization that opens the door for developers to utilize new paradigms, components, and strategies to further advance Platform performance, scale, and adopt modern cloud-native approaches to optimize operations.
What are additional features of Platform v8 modernization?
With Platform v8, OneStream IdentityServer (OIS) and Smart Integration Connector (SIC) will be generally available.
In coordination with these announcements, OneStream cloud customers upgrading to Platform v8+ will migrate from Legacy Authentication to OIS, and if they are utilizing VPN for local data source integration – they will migrate to SIC. Both OIS and SIC represent modern, cloud-native technologies that provide functional, security, and performance benefits to cloud customers. VPN will not be provided with any Platform v8+ release.
What are examples of ‘Future Growth’ for the OneStream Platform?
With this .NET migration, adopting newer .NET frameworks will be easier – OneStream expects to maintain alignment with Microsoft’s Long Term Support (LTS) release schedule, and therefore migrate to .NET8 for a 2024 release. .NET 8 is expected to further enhance OneStream processing performance gains. Following the release of Platform v8, you will start to hear about development for our NextGen architecture. This is an in-development reference to a new architecture that will implement an elastic scaling infrastructure to automate the application of compute power to meet customer demand.
I’m a self-hosted customer – what else do I need to know about Platform v8?
Self-Hosted customers will work through their Customer Success Manager to engage in the Platform v8 upgrade process. The v8 installable MSI files will not be downloadable by default on Solution Exchange. Self-hosted customers committed to the upgrade will be provided download access to the install files on Solution Exchange.
All customers will benefit from the performance gains for Consolidation processing, data and meta-data loading, and complex Cube Views. Self-hosted customers will also benefit from optimized memory management on their Application Servers.
Self-hosted customers are not subject to the required cloud technology migrations to OIS or SIC, but are encouraged to follow guidance in the Upgrade Guide for a successful installation.
I’m a FedRamp hosted customer – can I upgrade to Platform v8?
OneStream designates a Platform release for FedRamp certification each year, enabling FedRamp hosted customers to upgrade to this approved release at their convenience. Currently, Platform v8 is not certified for FedRamp hosted customer use. Stay tuned for further information on the Platform v8.x version designated for FedRamp certification.
What is the process for cloud customers to engage in a Platform v8 upgrade and when does that commence?
As of the August release date, customers may indicate their interest in Platform v8 by submitting a Software Upgrade Catalog request. Customer Success will meet with upgrade candidates to review the release benefits and discuss the preparation tasks necessary to commence the software upgrade.
In early September, cloud customers who have completed prescribed readiness criteria will be provided v8 migration instances to perform tasks necessary for Platform v8 compatibility. Following successful testing in the v8 Migration instances, production data will be cutover for final verification.
What are the steps of a Platform v8 Upgrade for a Cloud Customer?
For Cloud customers, the Platform v8 upgrade process is comprised of two phases - Preparation Phase and Migration Phase.
Customer Success will lead customers through the benefits of the release, and review the customer-specific activities required. Customers will be required to provide a response to required tasks with evidence indicating their readiness for the Migration Phase. For example, the .NET6 Desktop Runtime must be rolled out to every OneStream user before the Migration Phase can begin.
The Migration Phase will commence with taking a snapshot of each existing environment (i.e, Prod & Non-Prod) to create a corresponding v8 Migration environment. Customers will perform Solution Upgrades, Business Rule compatibility maintenance, and SIC implementation (if necessary) in these environments. Upon completion of these activities, then-current data and meta data will be cutover to the Migration instances for final verification and testing.
More details on the Platform v8 Upgrade process will be discussed during your Preparation Phase calls.
What functionality is being deprecated with Platform v8?
With the release of Platform v8 OneStream is deprecating:
Cloud-Hosted Customers
- Legacy Authentication – OneStream IdentityServer (OIS) is the new authentication standard
- VPN – Smart Integration Connector (SIC) is the new local data source integration standard
- VBA ROPC – cloud customers are to use OIS Personal Access Tokens when authenticating via VBA macros in Excel
Self-Hosted Customers
- VBA ROPC – self-hosted customers are to use SSO Tokens when authenticating via VBA macros in Excel
All Customers
- Client API – customers are encouraged to utilize Task Scheduler or the REST API to satisfy use cases previously calling for Client API
- MVC (OneStream Mobile) – customers are encouraged to engage in the BrowserUX Early Access Program for End-User browser access use cases on desktops/laptops or mobile devices
Are there new requirements for production use of Platform v8?
Yes, to summarize content from the previous FAQ question:
Cloud-Hosted Customers
- OneStream IdentityServer (OIS) is the new authentication standard
- Smart Integration Connector (SIC) is the new local data source integration standard (VPN is not supported with v8+)
- OIS Personal Access Tokens for VBA authentication in Excel
Self-Hosted Customers
- SSO Tokens for VBA authentication in Excel
Do I have to prepare user laptops and desktops with .NET6 to access Platform v8?
Yes, the Windows Application Client requires locally installed .NET6 Desktop Runtime 6.0.14 or greater to operate. Users with administrative access to their machines may individually perform the installation or it can be scheduled to all targeted users through a Corporate push.
The .NET6 Desktop Runtime can co-exist with previous versions of the .NET Runtime.
Microsoft provides access to the .NET6 Desktop Runtime here.
What are the core functional enhancements in Platform v8?
Performance
- Performance enhancements for memory intensive tasks such as Consolidation processing and complex cube views
Journal Enhancements
- Export journals to XLSX BRApi
- Option to prevent self-approval and self-posting of journals
- Option to require journal creation using templates
- Copy journals across time periods
- Delete multiple journals simultaneously
- Validate journal for intersection constraints
- Prevent journals to impact entities not assigned in Parent Workflow profile
- Show member descriptions in Journal Line Items
- Option to display UD descriptions from Application Properties in Journal POV and Line Item Headers
Workspaces
- Addition of Cube Views to Workspace object organization
Cloud Data Source Integration
- SIC: Increased throughput for data payloads to 5 million rows and 5GB
Identity and Access Management
- OIS: Self-service integration for SAML Identity Providers
User Experience
- Cube View and Excel enhanced with shortcuts, scaling, and hotkeys
- Option to disable auto-refresh of dashboards
- Option to rename and copy form templates
- Option to rename and copy Data Management sequence/steps
What are Breaking Changes?
OneStream is continuously innovating the platform to meet the evolving demands of our customers. Evolution often requires the deprecation of older technologies and methodologies, and the adoption of newer technologies and paradigms.
New technologies and paradigms that require customers to make changes during a platform upgrade are isolated to Major releases (on average once every 12 – 16 months). A breaking change implies that with an upgrade to a Major platform release, an existing process may ‘break’ and require changes to adapt to new technology or process.
With the upgrade to Platform v8, there are occurrences of Business Rules no longer compiling - largely due to compatibilty with OneStream’s adoption of the .NET6 development framework. In rarer cases, changes to Workspaces may cause a breaking change.
Deprecated functionality, such as Client API or VBA ROPC authentication are additional examples where customer use cases need to be changed to evolve with Platform v8.
Why will Platform v8 cause my existing business rules to break?
Mainly due to compatibility with .NET6. Certain DLLs in use with pre v8 platform versions are only compatible with the older version of .NET, and must be upgraded to be compatible with .NET6. In other cases syntax changes are required to fulfil compatibility requirements of .NET6.
In a few cases, enhancements to Workspaces require designated Business Rule references to be adjusted to compile.
Will I have to upgrade Solutions during the Platform v8 upgrade process?
Yes, OneStream has made Business Rule changes to approximately 15 Solutions. Customers may upgrade to the latest version of these solutions to ensure Platform v8 compatibility. See the complete status of Solution compatibility with Platform v8 in the MP Solution Forum post in the ONECommunity Platform v8+ Group.
Do I have to perform the Solution upgrade or can I manually make v8 compatibility changes?
OneStream recommends upgrading Solutions to ensure comprehensive compatibility, and to maintain alignment with future solution releases. For designated solutions, customer-specific solution configurations may cause upgrade complexities. Under these conditions, customers may reach out to OneStream through their Customer Success Manager to discuss manual solution changes to achieve Platform v8 compatibility. Manual changes are the exception and to be performed only when necessary.
I use ERP Connect for integration with SAP data sources – will this continue to work with Platform v8?
Yes, support for ERPConnect will now be via the Smart Integration Connector. Note: There is a new version of ERPConnect – ERPConnect20.DLL that is available for download from the DLL tile on the Platform page of Solutions Exchange. See the SIC doc for additional information.
What is OIS authentication?
OneStream IdentityServer (OIS) is OneStream’s single sign-on (SSO) service for applications hosted in the OneStream Azure Cloud environment. OneStream IdentityServer supports multiple, concurrent OpenID Connect (OIDC) and SAML 2.0 protocol compliant external identity providers (IdPs) and native authentication, so you have more choice and flexibility implementing SSO.
Customer Identity Providers may be integrated into OIS to achieve SSO with OneStream using the Identity and Access Management (IAM) Portal self-service user experience. Additionally, the IAM portal provides for the management of Personal Access Tokens (PAT) to facilitate REST and VBA API authentication.
Learn more about OIS and the IAM Portal in the ONECommunity Platform v8+ Group.
Do I have to migrate to OIS in order to upgrade to Platform v8?
Yes! OneStream IdentityServer (OIS) has been the standard authentication technology for all new OneStream cloud customers as of v7.4 with over 150 customers using OIS in production. As of Platform v8, OIS is the required authentication technology for all new and upgrading customers.
What are the benefits of OIS?
OneStream IdentityServer (OIS) represents a modern, secure, and cloud-native approach to enterprise SaaS solution authentication. There are several benefits provided by OIS to enrich the OneStream customer experience:
- Enables SSO integration with any OIDC or SAML2P protocol compliant Identity Providers
- Provides for SSO integration with multiple sources of authentication from a single OneStream cloud instance
- Secure use of Native IDs in conjunction with SSO authentication
- Identity and Access Management portal for self-service integration and management of Identity Providers
- Identity and Access Management portal for self-service generation and management of Personal Access Tokens (PAT) for use in API authentication
How to I prepare to migrate to OIS?
Migration from your current authentication technology (sometimes referred to as ‘legacy’) should be straight-forward and seamless to your user community’s login / logoff experience.
During the upgrade planning, Customer Success will provide you with a document corresponding to your current Identity Provider which identifies the meta data content required to migrate to OIS.
What is SIC data source integration?
Smart Integration Connector (SIC) is OneStream’s solution for providing local data source integration to the OneStream cloud. SIC is a modern, secure, cloud-native approach to integration that aligns with our customers’ IT security concerns. As opposed to a VPN ‘direct connection’ to a customers network, SIC leverages Azure Relay technology to ‘meet in the middle’. Customers deploy an SIC Local Gateway Server that listens to the Relay via an outbound connection. Additionally, the Local Gateway is responsible for connections to designated data sources, including management of database credentials and supporting dll files. SIC also supports sFTP file exchange and exports to local data warehouse databases.
Do I have to migrate to SIC in order to upgrade to Platform v8?
Cloud-hosted customers requiring local data source integration will use SIC with Platform v8. Customers currently using VPN must migrate to SIC as part of the upgrade process.
Can I continue to operate VPN with Platform v8?
No. VPN has been discontinued with Platform v8 and forward. VPN will be supported in pre-v8 releases through August 31, 2024.
Does SIC enable direct writeback from OneStream to a Data Warehouse?
Yes, in addition to facilitating data loads and drill through queries, SIC permits writeback of OneStream data to Data warehouse repositories.
Does SIC enable access to sFTP files?
Yes, SIC permits a Web API connection to faciliate sFTP file exchanges.
What data payloads does SIC manage?
SIC supports data payloads of up to 5 million rows and 5G of data. These defaults can be configured by customers within the Smart Integration Local Gateway Configuration utility. Thresholds can be configured by customers.
Are there changes to VBA authentication with Platform v8?
Yes, use of ROPC with VBA has been discontinued with Platform v8. Cloud customers will use Personal Access Tokens and self-hosted customers will use SSO Tokens – see the ‘Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) Procedure’ section of the Design and Reference Guide for coding examples.
Where did the ClickOnce Tiles Page go with Platform v8?
When invoking the OneStream Windows Application client via the ClickOnce URL (https://<your sitename>.com/OneStreamWeb/OneStreamWindowsApp.aspx), users will no longer be presented the familiar ‘tiles page’. The URL will move directly to the acknowledge dialog, and clicking ‘Open’ will immediately begin the Windows Application Client provisioning process.
What’s different with Web documentation with Platform v8?
When clicking the ‘?’ to invoke help from the Windows client application, users will be brought to a centralized public OneStream documentation portal. Centralized documentation streamlines installations and provide for on-demand access to the latest version of OneStream documentation.
What’s the status of Client API with Platform v8?
Client API has been removed from the Platform v8 installation and is no longer supported. Use cases calling for Client API should be transitioned to Task Scheduler or the REST API. Contact support for further assistance with managing this deprecation.
Is BrowserUX GA with Platform v8?
No. While BrowserUX is available with Platform v8, it is not enabled by default.
The BrowserUX Initiative continues to progress with a goal of browser-enabling the comprehensive set of OneStream end-user functionality. OneStream is actively seeking Early Access Program candidates to validate browser use case in their self-hosted or cloud-hosted environments.
How can I participate in BrowserUX Early Access Programs?
Customers having a go-to-production browser use case, and an ‘early adopter’ spirit will be considered for participation in the BrowserUX Private Preview program. Customers successfully validating their browser use case in non-production will be supported to transition to production use through the Limited Availability program.
Committed candidates are selected based on a discussion with OneStream to ensure a high probability of success. If you are interested in participating, reach out to your Customer Success Manager.