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Installing Award Management

This content applies solely to Award Management, which must be purchased separately from the Appian base platform. This content was written for Appian 24.2 and may not reflect the interfaces or functionality of other Appian versions.

Introduction

The Government Award Management (AM) solution is built on the Appian low-code platform and helps your organization monitor, track, and complete the activities, actions, and workflows associated with your award contracts.

This guide provides how-to instructions for installing the Award Management (AM) solution, which consists of six main steps and three optional steps:

  1. Download the software package.
  2. Deploy AM plug-ins to the Appian environment.
  3. Create the database objects in the business data source.
  4. Import and configure robotic tasks into the Appian environment.
  5. Import the AM application into the Appian environment.
  6. Set up SAM.gov integration (Optional)
  7. Set up AM to VM integration (Optional)
  8. Set up Process HQ integration (Optional)
  9. Upgrading from AM 1.7 or earlier

Before starting the installation process, review the System Requirements to ensure all minimum requirements are met.

System requirements

  • Appian version 24.2 for AM 2.0.0.
  • A supported version of a MariaDB or Oracle database as a business data source.
    • Note: Instructions below are tailored for MariaDB databases. The SQL scripts used in Step 3 will need to be modified for use with other databases.
  • A supported web browser.

Step 1: Download software package

To install AM, you'll need to download the software package that contains the following files you'll use in the remaining setup steps.

  • 01.AwardManagementv2.0.0.sql: SQL script for creating the database objects needed for the AM application.
  • AwardManagementv2.0.0.zip: Application package to import into Appian.
  • AwardManagementv2.0.0.properties: Import customization file for configuring the application package.
  • ContractDirectorySearch.zip: Contract directory robotic task package to import into Appian.
  • GAM-IE11-WebDriver.zip: The driver package to the robotic task configuration for IE11.

To download the software package:

  1. Go to the SUPPORT tab on My Appian.
  2. Click the DOWNLOADS tab.
  3. Click SOLUTIONS.
  4. Find and open Award Management V2.0.0.
  5. In Downloads, click the Download Award Management link.
  6. Click PROCEED to agree to the License Agreement.
  7. Click Download Award Management v2.0.0 to download the ZIP file.
  8. Unzip AwardManagementv24.2.2.0.0.zip to access the software installation files.

Step 2: Deploy plug-ins

You must deploy the following plug-ins for the AM solution to work. The steps for deploying plug-ins differ for an Appian Cloud or self-managed environment. Be sure to note which deployment steps you need for your environment.

  • Appian Solutions
  • Content Tools
  • Advanced Document Templating
  • Dynamic Document Generator

Appian Cloud Environments

To deploy the plug-ins for an Appian Cloud environment:

  1. In the target environment, log in as the deployment user.
  2. Navigate to the Admin Console.
  3. On the left side of the console, click Plug-ins.
  4. Click ADD NEW PLUG-INS.
  5. Search for and click Appian Solutions.
  6. Click DEPLOY.
  7. Repeat steps 3-6 for each of the following plug-ins:
    • Content Tools
    • Advanced Document Templating
    • Dynamic Document Generator

Self-Managed Environments

To deploy the plug-ins for a self-managed environment:

  1. Download the following plug-ins directly from the Appian AppMarket:

  2. Follow the Deploying Plug-ins instructions to deploy each plug-in.

Step 3: Create database objects

To create the structure for the database tables, views and other objects that are a part of the AM application, you will need to run a DDL script in your database.

To create the database objects:

  • In your database, run the 01.AwardManagement2.0.0.sql DDL file downloaded in Step 1.

    • Note: This DDL file is optimized for MariaDB or Oracle databases. If you are using a different type of database, the DDL file may need to be modified.

Step 4: Import and configure RPA

The final step required is to install the robotic tasks for the AM application into the target environment.

To import and configure RPA:

  • Follow the Setting Up RPA instructions, which show you how to import and configure the RPA files downloaded in Step 1.

Step 5: Import the application

Next, you will need to install the AM application by importing the application files into the target environment.

To import the application:

  1. In the target environment, log in as the deployment user.
  2. Navigate to the Appian Designer.
  3. Click IMPORT.
  4. Click UPLOAD and choose the AwardManagementv2.0.0.zip file downloaded in Step 1.
  5. Select Include related import customization file.
  6. Click UPLOAD.
  7. Select the AwardManagementv2.0.0.properties file downloaded in Step 1.
  8. Click INSPECT and review the inspection results..
    • Note: The inspection could take several minutes and may time out. If this occurs, the import will continue in the background.
  9. If there are no issues, click IMPORT.
    • NOTE: The import may time out due to file size. If this occurs, the import will continue in the background.
  10. Review the import results.

Note:  If the business database is not called Appian, a warning will occur when importing the data stores. After the import completes, open each data store object and update the Data Source dropdown list to fix this issue.

Step 6: Set up SAM.gov integration

Award Management comes with an optional integration to SAM.gov that allows you to pull public data into your Award Management solution. Follow the Setting SAM.gov Integration instructions to configure the API integration.

Step 7: Set up VM integration

An optional integration between Award Management and Vendor Management connects the two solutions, providing vendors and contracting personnel with more visibility into the award process. When enabled, this integration enables contracting officers to see vendor information directly in their AM environment.

Follow the Setting up VM integration instructions to configure the VM integration.

Step 8: Set up Process HQ integration

Award Management also comes with an optional Process HQ integration to provide deeper insights into your award data and processes.

Follow the Setting up Process HQ integration instructions to configure the Process HQ integration.

Step 9: Upgrading from AM 1.7 or earlier

Award Management 1.8 introduced a new way to manage document folders, which requires a migration of the existing data. If you are upgrading from Award Management 1.7 or earlier to Award Management 1.8 or later, you have the choice to allow the system to migrate the data automatically or run a manual migration at your convenience.

Note:  Complete all deployment steps for AM 1.8 before migrating the existing data.

Before deploying AM 1.8 or later, you need to decide which data migration option works best for your organization, automatic or manual migration, then follow the steps in this section that correspond to your chosen migration path.

Automatic data migration

To allow the system to start the data migration automatically at 12 AM ET:

  1. In the import customization file, enter a value of true for the AS_AM_BOOL_SWITCH_DB_FOLDER_MIGRATION constant.
    • Note: After successful deployment of AM 1.8, the system will automatically run the migration process at 12 AM ET. This means, if you successfully deploy AM 1.8 or later on a Tuesday at 12:01 AM ET, the system will automatically run the migration process the next day (Wednesday) at 12 AM ET.
  2. To verify that the migration was successful, check that AS AM ZZZ 1.8 Award Folder DB Migration completed without error.

Manual data migration

After successfully deploying AM 1.8 or later, if you want to manually start the migration process:

  1. In the import customization file, provide a value of false for the constant AS_AM_BOOL_SWITCH_DB_FOLDER_MIGRATION.
  2. After successful deployment of AM 1.8 or later, go to Appian Designer and start the AS AM ZZZ 1.8 Award Folder DB Migration - MANUAL process model.
  3. To verify that the migration was successful, check that AS AM ZZZ 1.8 Award Folder DB Migration - MANUAL completed without error..

After the deployment and migration are complete, manually set the value of AS_AM_BOOL_SWITCH_DB_FOLDER_MIGRATION to false. This ensures that the scheduled migration process will not unintentionally restart.

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