When doing an upgrade of any software, there should be some basic steps taken to protect yourself and your office. I don't know if there are documented on Jon's website but some basics of change control include:
1. Do the upgrade on test hardware or in a virtual machine environment. This makes sure you are comfortable with all aspects of the upgrade and have documented what you need to be successful.
2. Give yourself only a certain amount of time to do the upgrade, the change window (say Friday 6:00pm thru Sunday 7:00pm). Plan and write down how long the major steps will take. You must have a contingency plan if the upgrade is not completed in the alloted time. The contingency plan will be activated if you don't complete all steps by a certain decision point (say 5:00pm Sunday). The contingency plan is where you backout your changes. All work should be completed by the end of change window (7:00pm).
3. You should have a backup installation that can be reinstalled in time between your decision point (500pm SUN) and the end of change window (7:00 SUN). This backup makes up your contingency plan and backout. If you have hardware available, an ideal way to do this is to have separate hardware old vs. new. Then, it is just plug the old installation back in and reinstall is very quick. If no extra hardware, you will need a larger amount of time for your contingency plan.
4. There should be a test plan to verify a good install. Add dummy patients, schedule dummy patient appointment, read your imported items, and create a dummy encounter. This testing all needs to be done before the decision point or the contingency plan should be put in place.
5. I recommend doing the installation a Friday night or Saturday. This gives you a long window of time to complete your work and do the followup testing.
although too late for those having tech support issues now, if basic change control procedures like these are followed there should be reason where the program's crashing leads to a patient care disaster.
