This document contains answers to frequently asked questions about the upgrade from Simpplr Classic (Salesforce) to Simpplr One (AWS).
AWS Legal / Contract Questions
How does this impact our current legal MSA?
For the majority of our customers, we will send a Legal Notice via email with an attachment of any updates to our terms and services as outlined in your MSA.
A subset of customers will receive an addendum to sign, in lieu of a Legal Notice, because their MSA has specific language that would require an addendum. If you fall under this category, your Account Manager will personally reach out.
Once you begin your pre-upgrade activities in our Customer Portal, your company will be sent a Legal Notice or your AM will reach out with an addendum.
Do I need to sign anything before Simpplr upgrades my intranet?
Unless your Account Manager has reached out to you regarding an addendum, the Executive Sponsor on your account will receive the Legal Notice. If you would like a copy of the legal language, please reach out to oneupgrade@simpplr.com.
Will I need to pay for this upgrade?
No, this is free of charge.
How does this change impact licensing?
Currently, we have Salesforce and Simpplr licenses.
After we perform the upgrade then sunset your Salesforce instance, you will no longer have Salesforce licenses for the Simpplr product, only Simpplr licenses. However, for the 60 day period following the upgrade, you will retain your active Salesforce licenses so when you open an older SF link, the redirection works to point it to your new Simpplr One platform. There will be no change in cost.
How does this affect storage and pricing? Salesforce has storage tied to the number of licenses. What kind of storage capacity should we expect and is there a cost factor?
The available storage will follow the same logic and you will get the same storage quota as you had in Salesforce. Just like Salesforce, the limit in AWS setup also will be at the org level not user level.
Cost will not change.
Can I have a Sandbox for Simpplr One like I have for Salesforce?
As part of Simpplr One, you get a sandbox. Sandboxes function differently in Simpplr One than Simpplr Classic. You will get a sandbox with pre-populated data rather than doing a copy from your production. We also no longer have the concept of partial and full sandboxes; Simpplr One sandboxes will have the same functionality as production. Learn more about Simpplr One Sandboxes here.
Customer Commitments
What if I don’t want to upgrade?
Eventually all customers will need to upgrade to Simpplr One. If you choose not to move at this time, then we can find another time in 2025 that would work for your team.
Can we go back to Simpplr Classic (Salesforce) after we upgrade to Simpplr One?
No, once you upgrade to Simpplr One you cannot move back to Simpplr Classic.
What resources need to be available for the upgrade?
We will need support from your internal team to manage the upgrade.
IT Resources
Set up custom domain if desired
Set up & test automated sender email address
Set up SSO integration if using
Set up CSV or Azure for syncing or provisioning if using
Set up Slack, MS teams, Outlook, ServiceNow and Google Analytics if using
Re-build custom integrations using Simpplr APIs if necessary
Intranet Manager
Decide on a new url
Schedule the upgrade date and align internal resources
Communicate the change internally
We will provide you with a communications playbook to support you with the change.
End Users
Update bookmarks and any external hyperlinks point to the intranet.
How much time / effort will this upgrade take?
The amount of time needed depends on how you have Simpplr set up.
Intranet Manager – 7-8 hrs
IT Resource – 4-5 hrs
IT Admins for each integration – 1-2 hrs
What kind of training and support will be provided to help us get up to speed with Simpplr One and the new AWS environment?
We do not anticipate a need for much retraining as the platform works largely identically to Simpplr Classic. End-users and site managers will not need to go through training. The changes mainly affect the application manager and system admins.
Additionally during the upgrade process, we will share materials about what is changing and what new features are available in Simpplr One.
What kind of support will be provided to help us with the upgrade process?
You will have a dedicated project team (Project Manager, Consultant, and Engineer) that will assist you during the upgrade. We will also be sharing a link to our customer portal (OnRamp) that will provide step-by-step guidance on our upgrade process.
Security Questions
Are there any changes to the security documentation?
At Simpplr, we prioritize security to protect our customers' data and maintain the integrity and availability of our services. Read more about Security in Simpplr One here.
Upgrade Questions
What happens to my Simpplr Classic intranet?
Once upgraded, your old Simpplr Classic version will be used to redirect users for 60 days. We will work with you to shut off Salesforce at that time.
After the migration, Newsletter, Employee Listening, Recognition and Analytics data will not be available in Simpplr Classic. All other data will still be available. We will work with you to determine a set of users that will maintain access to Simpplr Classic during the 60 day window.
Some integrations will need to be reconfigured in the upgrade process. Our team will work with you to do that.
How long is the upgrade process?
The upgrade is broken down into three (3) main phases:
Pre-Upgrade: Complete any pre-upgrade activity within your Customer Portal. These activities can take as little as 3-4 days to complete, but you have up to 3 months to complete them. If you run into any trouble, we will set up a call with your technical admins to resolve any issues. Once completed, then you are able to schedule your upgrade.
Upgrade: On the day of the upgrade, we will put your Salesforce instance into maintenance mode at 6pm PT (or your timezone). We will begin the upgrade, please plan for roughly 14 hrs of downtime. Once the upgrade is complete, we will have a cutover (go-live) call at 8am (your timezone) with your technical admin. During this call we will review your new AWS platform together, set up any remaining integrations, and re-setup your SSO.
Post-Upgrade: Once your new system is live on Simpplr One, then we will have increased support SLA times for the next two (2) weeks. You will submit a ticket in our Zendesk portal as you normally would if there is any issue. 60 days following the upgrade, we will sunset your Simpplr Classic (Salesforce) instance.
The URL for our intranet will change. How will this impact us?
Users will need to be sent the new url to access the upgraded version.
Internal Links: All links to your intranet that live on the intranet will be updated to the new url. (ex. Page X has a link to page Y, the link on page X will be updated so it will continue to point to page Y)
External Links: Any links to the intranet that are external from the intranet will be redirected to the new intranet for as long as the old instance is live to allow time for those to be updated manually. Once the old instance is sunset, the redirects will no longer work (ex. PDF with links to your intranet, bookmarks, etc.)
Can we modify which integrations we want to set up in Simpplr One?
We will not set up new integrations in Simpplr One during the upgrade. If there is a new integration you want to set up, you can do that after the upgrade is complete.
Will the sender email address change, and if so, how should we prepare for that?
It does not need to change, we can continue using the same email address you had before.
What changes need to be made to our email infrastructure (e.g., SPF, DKIM, DMARC records) to ensure proper delivery of Simpplr One notifications and emails?
We will work with your team to set up and verify your notification sender email address in Simpplr One before the upgrade day. We will send a test email to verify that emails are successfully landing in your inbox.
This article has details on the email set up process and the IP addresses we will ask you to whitelist.
What will happen to HTML code in tiles?
The code in HTML tiles will be migrated and will work as it did before.
What about the custom reports that I was using in Salesforce?
In Simpplr Classic, we relied on Salesforce for reports that were not available directly within Simpplr. In Simpplr One, we are building custom reports and actions within our platform. If you were running a custom report in Simpplr Classic, you can request that report via our support team for now. Learn more about custom reports and what is available here.
Can we get access to the new production environment in Simpplr One before the upgrade?
Unless we work together to set up your integration in production ahead of the cutover, we will not be able to provide access to the production environment until after the upgrade is complete.
How will the upgrade affect our analytics and reporting?
Analytics in Simpplr will remain as is and you will maintain your historical data.
Custom reports have changed as mentioned above.
If you are using Google Analytics, it will need to be set up for your new domain.
If an issue occurs during the upgrade, can we roll back to the Salesforce environment if needed? What contingency plans are in place if the upgrade does not go as expected?
During the cutover call with your team, we will share the output of our QA and you will log in to spot check. If there are any issues during the upgrade process, we will seamlessly rollback without any data loss. Your users will be able to log in to Simpplr Classic.
Once we cutover / go live on Simpplr One, the only option is to fix forward. We cannot go back to Simpplr Classic at this point.
What will my employees need to do to prepare for the upgrade?
We will provide you with a communications playbook to use with your company. It has communication templates and recommended timing for the communications to ensure your company is aware of the change and has the details they need.
For a seamless upgrade on mobile, users should be on the latest mobile version.
Will any of my data change during the upgrade?
Your data will all remain intact during the upgrade however there are a few edge cases where data will need to be slightly adjusted.
Older content that was created before content types were introduced do not have a content type. All content without a content type will be “News” after the upgrade.
We cannot have two sites with the same name in Simpplr One. If you have two sites with the same name, we will add a (1) … (2)... etc after the name of the sites.
A few features are not available in Simpplr One. The data from those features will be available via export during the upgrade process.
Blogs, Feed Polls and Q&A will be available in Spring 2025
Are there changes to how files work in Simpplr One?
The only change to files is that you cannot go into the Salesforce interface to upload a file or manage the file permissions. If you need to adjust the file permissions, please submit a ticket to our support team. We are building out native capabilities and our team will work with you to make these changes in the meantime.
Product Release Questions
What is the upgrade process for new releases?
Simpplr will automatically upgrade your intranet on the GA date
How frequently does Simpplr release a patch or version upgrade in Simpplr One?
Scheduled Monthly releases and occasional off-cycle hotfixes which are pushed as needed (during IST hours)
Can we control when releases happen?
No, we have a strict release schedule
Can we test before an upgrade is released?
Customers will have access to a sandbox pre-populated with data to test releases.
Customers will receive the feature release in their sandbox two (2) weeks before a major release and one (1) week before a minor release
Does AWS, like Salesforce, send emails independently to Simpplr customers for their system changes?
No, AWS will not send notifications to customers independent of Simpplr
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