Part 2 in our three-part series on what to do before, during, and after your Tessitura v16 upgrade. Not yet ready to upgrade, or have you completed your upgrade and are still thinking about optimization? Check out Part 1 & Part 3 for more information.
Congratulations, you’ve pressed “start” on your v16 migration! Hopefully you’ve had a chance to review the upgrade guides from Tessitura Network to understand required changes and areas of opportunity – if not, that’s a great place to start.
Soon you’ll be connected with your Product Adoption team, who will share a project management board and serve as a technical resource throughout the process. The upgrade process can vary greatly depending on your team’s needs and internal capacity, but in all instances the team working on it should include representatives from the Box Office, Marketing, IT, Finance, and Development. You’ll also need to include some external partners, such as a contracted partner for your custom website.
In addition, Campbell & Company recommends assigning an internal project manager to coordinate among the stakeholders; designating a “point person” from each team for the upgrade to coordinate decision-making and testing; and ensuring that highly impacted teams such as Development and the Box Office have reserved blocks of time to advance the tasks required.
As the technical upgrade gets underway, you’ll need to balance continuity with process improvement. Here are a few tips on how to approach process changes in parallel with the technical migration.
1. Review Customization and Identify Impact Areas
In the early stages of your upgrade, you’ll review your customizations and integrations for anything that’s no longer supported or needs to be retired. As you review, consider:
Compare this list side-by-side with your strategic priorities. Identify areas where a small change can lead to a big difference—such as simplifying a donation workflow, implementing scanning technology, or shifting membership reporting.
Then flag larger changes that may need more time, such as bringing additional departments onto Tessitura, changing your membership structure, or fully automating donor acknowledgments.
2. Iterative Testing
During testing, don’t just test whether the system works—test whether it works better and meets your business needs. Users should walk through everyday tasks and new workflows and consider:
Use this period to validate new workflows, address unforeseen challenges, and get buy-in from other stakeholders before upgrading your Production environment.
3. Train for New Ways of Working
If you’ve updated a process—no matter how small—make sure your training reflects it. This is your chance to reset expectations and roll out best practices, not just teach where buttons have moved.
Share the impact. Change is hard, and communicating the “why” of changes at a high level can help staff (and your audiences!) get on the same page. Consider how:
Training new and current staff on updated processes and the organizational rationale behind them helps the changes “stick”, so your organization can move forward effectively, together.
Need assistance in your testing, or in identifying new business processes for v16? Give us a call—we’d love to work with you.
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