I have to admit I was a bit nervous about upgrading from 6.5.5. After reading some of the horror stories, my main concern was speed after the upgrade. Thankfully it wasn?t as bad as I thought. We have been using version 8.2.4 for a day and a half already.

Our current setup:
Server running Windows Server 2012 R2, 64 bit with 32 GB RAM. Processor: Intel Xeon CPU E5-2640 v2 @ 2.00 Ghz. 2.00 GHz (2 processors). It?s all on a hard wired CAT 6E with a gigabit switch.

The client PC?s are running Windows 8.1 Pro. Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E6550 @ 2.33 GHz 64 bit with 4 GB RAM

We have on average about 13-14 users all logged in at the same time.

The upgrade process from 6.5.5 to 8.2.4 went smoothly. It actually took less time to upgrade to 8.2.4 than it had in previous versions. The only issue I had was on a few PC?s, Microsoft.net failed to install. On each occasion, there were windows updates to run (I thought I had done the updates already but apparently not). Once these were run, the upgrade continued without any issues. I was able to upgrade 20 Client PC?s and one server in about 3 hours. (It actually took more time for the backup to run than it did for the whole upgrade process. Our backup file is now 15 Gigs).

There is a noticeable speed difference going from 6.5 to 8.2.4 but nothing horrible. Opening a chart went from 1.5 seconds to about 4 seconds (the first time). After opening a chart at least once, the charts open in about 2.5 to 3 seconds. The Rx writer is slower. It?s about 3 seconds slower than previous versions.

The biggest slow down I have noticed is opening the Prescription Transaction Log. This now takes 14 seconds on average but honestly I don?t have to look at it very often. I did not time this in my previous version.

Some issues I have noticed:

? All of my custom ICD-9 codes are gone. In version 6.5.5, I was able to customize the description and even was able to make my own codes (for tracking purposes). This feature is no longer available in 8.2.4
? My decision support was reset. All the rules that I had set to inactive had to be reset to inactive again. I did not lose any information though.
? I still get the random shut down on occasion but I have with every version of AC

Marty
Physician Assistant
Fullerton, CA