Introduction

Periodically, we release updates to the Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) application that include enhanced features. Most customers will be able to take advantage of the newest features by deploying a patch to update their application.

Note that making certain changes to your environment will make upgrading more difficult. In order to take full advantage of the newest features, we suggest only making changes that are outlined in the IDP documentation on this site.

If your cloud environment is already running IDP, use this page to deploy the feature enhancements from the latest version of IDP. IDP upgrades must happen in sequence. You won't be able to skip a version of the app.

If your Appian installation includes different environments, such as development, staging, and production, we recommend following these instructions to upgrade each of your environments separately.

Step 1: Deploy the required plug-ins

See Step 3 of the installation guide to verify the necessary plug-ins are deployed.

Step 2: Download software package

Upgrading IDP uses different files than installing the application for the first time. You will need to download the software patch that contains the following files. These files will be used in the remaining set up steps. In the list below, each file lists the target IDP version. The number may be different if you're upgrading to another version.

• Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) - IDP 1.8.0 Release Patch.zip: Application patch to import into Appian.

Download link

Upgrade patches for IDP are listed below. Apply the patches in order, starting with the version for your currently installed version. You won't be able to skip patches if you're upgrading to a version two or more versions ahead of your current one. For example, you won't be able to upgrade directly from IDP 1.4 to 1.8.

• 1.4 to 1.5 IDP Upgrade Patch
• 1.5 to 1.6.2 IDP Upgrade Patch
• 1.6.2 to 1.7.1 IDP Upgrade Patch
• 1.7.1 to 1.8.0 IDP Upgrade Patch

Note that you must be registered with your company on Community to download this file.

Step 3: Note objects to merge

If any document types have already been created in the environment, the upgrade patch may overwrite this content, and updates to the objects related to creating document types would be lost. To avoid this, take note of the version and contents of the following objects:

• Expression rule DU_returnDataTypeForChoiceIndex
• Expression rule DU_returnDataStoreEntityForChoiceIndex
• Data store DU Data Store
• Contents of database table dudoctype
• Contents of database table dudocchannel

Step 4: Import the patch

The final step is to import the patch into your Appian environment.

1. In your Appian environment, log in as a system administrator.
2. Go to > Appian Designer.
3. Open the Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) application.
4. Click IMPORT PATCH.
5. Click UPLOAD and select the Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) - IDP 1.8.0 Release Patch.zip file.
6. Click INSPECT.
7. Review the inspection results. If there are no issues, click IMPORT PACKAGE.

Step 5: Merge document type objects

If any document types already exist in the application, merge the contents of the following objects based on the notes from step 3:

• Expression rule DU_returnDataTypeForChoiceIndex
• Expression rule DU_returnDataStoreEntityForChoiceIndex
• Data store DU Data Store
• Contents of database table dudoctype

Merge the data store objects contents

As noted above, customizing your IDP application requires you to take additional steps during upgrades. If you previously modified the DU Data Store object to include additional document types, you'll need to recreate these customizations after you import an upgrade patch. This section describes how to upgrade IDP and maintain your document type customizations.

To use your custom document type in the DU Data Store object after importing a patch:

1. Complete steps 1 through 5, listed above.
2. Open the Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) application, if it's not already open.
3. Open the DU Data Store object. A message appears at the top of the page: A modified draft of this data store exists. Saving changes will overwrite the draft.
4. Click modified draft in the message.
5. In the Data Source dropdown menu, select the database you use for IDP.
6. In the Data Entities list, the new entities appear and your custom entity is removed.
7. Click Add Entity to add your custom entity back to this list.
   1. Click the directory icon next to the Type field.
   2. Locate the custom data type for your document type and select it.
   3. Click OK.
   4. Type a Name for the entity.
   5. Click SAVE.
8. Under Schema Management, click VERIFY to verify entity mappings with the database.
9. Once the entity mappings are successfully verified, click SAVE & PUBLISH.

The DU Data Store object now contains entities from the patch as well as entities for your custom document types.