MRI Software, one of the leading providers of real estate software solutions, will soon release a major upgrade to its MRI Property Management tool. This upgrade is known as Property Management Version 10.7 or PMX X.7. Many of you will have heard about PMX X.7 at recent industry events such as MRI Ascend or been told about it in conversations with your MRI Account Executive.

But what does it mean for you? A major update like this can be daunting, and you might be wondering how it will impact your business. That’s why we wanted to take the stress and guesswork out of it. 

The REdirect team has assembled the following tips and insights. If you are an MRI SaaS or Cloud Services client, read on for what you need to know and what steps you can take to make the upgrade process as smooth as possible for your business.

When Will the MRI PMX System Be Upgraded for SaaS Core Clients?

MRI will be rolling out the upgrade in waves. The company will notify MRI Cloud and SaaS clients several weeks before each client’s initial upgrade date. The email will provide the planned upgrade date, but MRI will also include the opportunity to select a later upgrade date if necessary. This is especially important if you have a testing plan that requires time beyond what is provided in the notification from MRI. See the Important Information About Testing section later in this post to learn more. 

SaaS Flex and Prime clients will work with their MRI Account Executives on scheduling. This may also include clients using “Dedicated Cloud Services.”

Who Sends That Email?

Look for an email from CloudUpgrades@mrisoftware.com, and ensure that your organization’s email system has the mrisoftware.com domain set as a trusted sender.

It is also critical that you know the person or people at your organization to whom MRI will send the email notification. MRI will send the initial notification to Client Administrators. The Administrator is the individual at your organization who has full privileges to make decisions related to MRI services on the organization’s behalf. Every client has at least one Administrator. 

If you don’t know who your Administrator is, you should reach out to your MRI Account Executive. MRI Support can tell you who your Account Executive is if you do not have that information.

Important Information About Testing

Even if you already have a testing plan and test scripts, there are a number of important factors you will need to consider when planning your PMX X.7 update.

REdirect always advises that you use your most thorough testing plan for major releases, including this one. PMX X.7 will include updates to foundational, architectural elements of the database and its programs. These changes mean that customizations that functioned with earlier versions of MRI should be thoroughly tested to ensure continued compatibility. Build time into your testing plan to respond to failed test items and then retest them. 

In particular, REdirect recommends that you test the behavior of every web page customization that you have in your MRI PMX. Many of those foundational elements mentioned above relate to items on web pages and how they behave.

Another area that requires special attention is integrations. If external systems send information to your MRI system or the other way around, those integrations must be tested. This might include integrations for accounts payable processing or credit screening, for example. 

If you have limited time and resources for testing, please contact us for help. We can augment your testing team, help you develop a more robust testing plan, and/or manage the overall effort for you.

How Do We Get Started on Testing? 

MRI’s initial notification will include instructions about requesting a Test Upgrade Database. The database will be provided in a few business days, potentially up to a week.

This test database will have your security roles copied from production and one admin user set up. Plan to set up any additional test users and assign security roles to them at this stage. 

If your third-party integration partners are configured using application programming interfaces (APIs), the way they reach your database will likely change. MRI will provide a different URL or web address, which you will need to give to those third-party app providers.

Note that requesting a test database does NOT automatically change or defer your upgrade date. Those are two different requests, and they are managed by two different departments at MRI Software. To request a test database, you must open a case according to the instructions in your initial notification. To change the timeline for your upgrade, you will need to reply to the initial notification so that your request is sent to CloudUpgrades@mrisoftware.com.

That Is a Lot of Information! Where Can We Get Additional Support? 

It sure is! In brief, the most important points to remember are:

• Watch for communication from MRI Software, especially Cloud Upgrades.
• Stay on top of the relevant dates and deadlines.
• Build in more time for testing, addressing errors, and retesting than you think you will need. 
• Test the behavior of every web page customization in your MRI PMX.
• Pay special attention to integrations, and remember that those utilizing APIs will likely work differently and need reconfiguring after the upgrade.

The team at REdirect is well versed in helping clients through upgrades from the most straightforward to those with much higher levels of complexity. We can take the stress out of your upgrade and ensure that any downtime is minimal, reducing disruptions to your business practices and your clients. Contact us if you would like to discuss how we might be able to work together.