Opcenter/Preactor APS Legacy Licenses End of Life

In 2015, Siemens Digital Industries Software made the decision to simplify the Opcenter APS (formerly Preactor Advanced Planning & Scheduling) licensing structure. Since that time, we have made our customers aware that eventually their legacy licenses would reach their end of life and no longer be supported. Well, that time has finally come! Those legacy licenses must be upgraded to the new license structure by October 2022, otherwise, it will no longer be possible to renew maintenance preventing future upgrades, patch fixes, or other modifications to the software. If you are still a legacy user, LSI is here to help you understand what this means for you & we can work with you to address the issue.

Upgrade Path for Opcenter/Preactor APS Legacy Licenses

Below is a summary of the upgrade path if you have a legacy license.

Questions and Answers

Q: What products will no longer supported?
A: The Preactor products affected by this are the following:
• Preactor 100/200/300 FCS
• Preactor 400/500 APS
• Preactor 400 GMPS
• Preactor Enterprise/Runtimes

Q: Can you explain the current product range?
A: Opcenter Planning (PL) covers all of the Advanced Planning products, previously described as GMPS. With the exception of new features since the product range change, Opcenter Planning is the direct functional equivalent of Preactor 400 GMPS. Opcenter Planner Viewers are also available to work with the planning product. Opcenter Scheduling (SC) covers all of the Advanced Scheduling products, previously described as FCS and APS. There are now three SC products available: Opcenter SC Standard, Professional and Ultimate. Opcenter SC Ultimate is the direct functional equivalent of Preactor 400 APS and Preactor 500 APS , with the exception of new features since the product range change. Opcenter Scheduling Viewers are still available across the range of Scheduling products.

Q: What is Opcenter APS Ultimate Access
A: Opcenter APS Ultimate Access gives users access to the configurable Opcenter Ultimate products. These products have the full configurability of Opcenter APS available, including access to the API and the ability to alter the database schema.
The Opcenter APS Ultimate Access is applicable to the account that is purchasing the licenses. This means that two sites within the same group buying separately would require two access licenses whereas a company purchasing centrally would be able to use one Ultimate Access across multiple sites within the same legal entity.

Q: I am a Preactor 200/300 FCS user, what are my options for upgrading?
A: As there are no direct functional equivalents to these products in the new product line up there is a choice to make. This decision may require some discussion between ATS Lean Scheduling (LSI) and the customer. If the Preactor system has not been heavily configured, there may be the opportunity to move to a Opcenter SC Standard or Professional system. Depending on the choice of product there may be an upgrade cost associated with this move. Any upgrade cost should be discussed with LSI. If the Preactor system has been configured and makes extensive use of the API which cannot be remodeled in Opcenter SC Standard or Professional, then the user has the option to upgrade to a Opcenter SC Ultimate system. Any upgrade cost should be discussed with LSI. Upgrading to SC Ultimate, will also need to include Ultimate Access.

Q: I am a Preactor 400/500 APS user what are my options?
A: Preactor 400/500 APS users move to the Opcenter Scheduling Ultimate program. This means that all of these users get the same level of functionality.

Q: I am a Preactor 400 GMPS user; do I need to do anything?
A: Preactor 400 GMPS users also move to the Opcenter Planning Ultimate program. There are some manual upgrade work involved in migrating Preactor 400 GMPS to the new data schema when upgrading from an Preactor 11.x version regardless of whether the license type is changed. Any upgrade cost should be discussed with LSI.

Q: I am a Preactor Enterprise customer, what do these changes mean for me?
A: The Preactor Enterprise and Runtime products do not form part of the new product range. Enterprise users can migrate to the new product range. The advantage of migration is that the runtime licenses will move across to being full un-compiled licenses, removing the overhead of managing the configurations.

Q: What happens if I do not upgrade?
A: You can choose not to upgrade your Preactor license(s) and use it as you have in the past, however, in doing this you will not be able to get technical support or any software fixes for Preactor.

Many of our customers have already upgraded their legacy licenses, so this announcement may not apply to you. However, there are still some remaining on the former license structure. If you believe your company is still using legacy products, please Contact Us today to discuss your upgrade! We are also happy to answer any questions at [email protected]

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