Proficy iFIX Upgrade - Tips and Best Practices

Owned by John Stribbell
Jul 28, 2023
2 min read

  • OLE, ActiveX and Microsoft objects may not be compatible in the new Operating System, it is important to understand what your project does and what it references. 

  • Custom code and direct pathing can cause a headache on the new system as your VBA code can crash if a referenced file is missing. 

  • When updating a project, the picture resolution needs to be the same. The only way to make a picture look good in a different resolution is to modify it or rebuild it. 

  • Drivers and protocols need to be identified as some older drivers used serial communications that may not be available on new machines. Do this before ordering new hardware.  

  • Disable security before importing files to a new project. Do not use the FBK application! 

  • After iFIX 5.9, longer naming conventions for database tags caused iFIX 6.0 and newer SCADAs to be incompatible with older versions of iFIX SCADAs and clients. However, iFIX 6.0 and above clients can still connect to older SCADA systems. 

  • Classic Historian is not supported in iFIX after versions 6.0.  

  • Contact our inside sales team to find out if your license needs to be updated. Every license besides Webspace is backwards compatible.  

  • M4 and M1 licenses are not available anymore, any upgrades will automatically convert them to the new Advantage License model. This means the license software needs to be updated as well.  

  • Windows operating systems need to be fully updated before installing iFIX, even unsupported (by Microsoft) operating systems like Windows 7, need the latest updates. 

  • Microsoft Office products need to be installed prior to iFIX installation.  

  • The project name and computer name should be established prior to installing GE software as some products can break if changed after installation. 

  • SIMs and SPs must be applied after installation but before configuration. For instance, iFIX 5.8 SP2 needs to be installed for iFIX 5.8 to be compatible with Windows 10.

  • A good practice is to take all the project files and store them in a separate folder. Depending on the scale of the project, a copy or backup of the hard drive would be the best option.  

  • Do not copy over the SCU file from the previous project. Build it from scratch in the new project; a report and easy-to-read list of all the settings in the SCU can be utilized by creating an SCU report file.  

  • Everything installed for your iFIX project should be “run as administrator” and when prompted to during the various installs, “Full” or “Complete” install is typically advised.  

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