At Xeeva, we know that our customers’ success in using our products is vital for our success. So when it comes to product releases, we want to make sure that those who use our spend management software are in the know and properly prepared for any upgrades that may occur. In this blog, we’ve laid out some of our most frequently asked questions around product release upgrades to help our customers have a better understanding of what to expect and when, and how it might affect their business.

What are product releases?

Our SaaS products are updated to provide new or improved features and functionalities, as well as to maintain appropriate levels of performance and security. These updates are delivered to our customers as part of our base subscription. Customers are notified of the content and the schedule of releases on a regular basis through our website and email newsletters.

What are the various types of Xeeva product releases?

We issue three types of releases:

1. Typically provided once a year, major releases are an integral part of Xeeva’s product offering and provide new major functionality and/or minor enhancements, oftentimes with major changes to the application or the platform architecture.
2. Minor releases contain smaller improvements or fixes for observed issues and are usually provided a few times in between the annual major releases.
3. Critical fixes are unscheduled and address urgent issues such as security vulnerabilities or stability issues. These are applied as soon as possible, sometimes without explicit notification.

How are release updates performed?

To avoid interruptions in our customers’ production operations during weekdays, we utilize the agreed-upon weekend maintenance windows to deploy updates on production environments. Systems are typically not available for user access during these windows.

How does Xeeva share release update information?

For major releases, information is provided on release content several weeks prior to a scheduled release. Notifications for any minor releases are provided at least five business days in advance.

What is the impact on customers?

During implementation, we request that each customer assign a contact person to facilitate the upgrade process.

By default, no additional features are turned on as part of a release upgrade. If a customer chooses to activate one or more new features, their Xeeva Customer Success Manager (CSM) will assist with the planning and facilitation of any such request. Note: service fees may apply.

To minimize any risk for our customers, we perform an impact analysis based on the customer configuration. We also perform a series of functional regression tests in a customers’ non-production environment prior to upgrading a production environment.

Some of our customers choose to perform additional validation of their business processes and integrations with other software applications. If a customer requests help from Xeeva with additional testing, their Xeeva CSM can assist with planning and facilitation. Note: service fees may apply.

For minimal to zero customer business impact, we utilize the agreed downtime window for any release upgrades. We also try to schedule production upgrade dates that are convenient for our customers.

Are release documentation and user training available?

With every major release, we update our help files as well as our release documentation and share these with our customers in preparation for a release upgrade. Release highlights are available for consumption right on our website, while more detailed release notes are shared with customers directly.

Based on the results of the impact analysis, we assess potential user training needs on new/modified features and when necessary, provide video tutorials for the new features. If a customer requests additional training, their Xeeva CSM can assist with planning and facilitation. Note: service fees may apply.

Conclusion

As industries and businesses evolve, so does our suite of software. We work hard to accommodate changing business needs by providing new capabilities and features as well as security updates and making them available regularly through new software releases. It’s crucial for our customers to stay current at least on major releases in order to get the most out of their investment. We aim to make the upgrade experience as simple, easy, and seamless as possible for our customers.

Have additional questions? Reach out to your CSM or our Results Desk and we’ll be happy to help!

Not a customer yet but want to learn more? Contact us today!