Actually, we did have Ryan, one of the Ac Support Techs, call in and step us through the upgrade process. We upgraded 12 systems starting with the Main Server first and then proceeded from room to room until all stations were upgraded.
Three systems failed the upgrade initially, but I think that was just a connectivity issue as opposed to something with the software installer itself. After all systems were upgraded, we picked back up the three failed ones and worked with those until the upgrade took. Mostly when machines fail (here at least) the issue is always due to systems attempting the upgrade process when the Windows OS was not fully updated itself. That has always been our thorn - making sure everybody stays up to date with just Windows itself. Thankfully, though, that process is not particularly difficult.
So, moral of the story is:
A. Come in at least an hour prior to your scheduled AC 7 upgrade call and update all systems.
B. Then back up all AC and Windows OS things (we already were doing this with AC's backup service anyway).
C. Then accept the AC Tech call and let them proceed with their upgrade routine.
Plus, AC Techs can simultaneously upgrade eight machines; you just have to log in to all eight to allow this. Once that happens, the bulk of your "fleet" can be upgraded pretty quick. We were averaging about 10-15 minutes per machine which is reasonable. And on Sunday you'll be in and out in about two hours. This is my third upgrade round and it was not that painful.
I am waiting on a response from AC Support as to why the interface is so draggy. My first guess would be a "database tuner" answer but I will continue to fill ya'll in on our experiences here. I do know that when AC first starts up, it sits there and loads up all the structural elements of its database first so your usage experience is supposed to be faster somehow. That would lead me to conclude that the more records you have the longer the load; that makes sense to me not being all that technical.
Anyway, good luck with your 7 upgrades. Our AC Tech Ryan was quick, good and knew exactly where to go and what to do.
