migration from Empower 2 to Empower 3
Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2015 10:17 am
by tomiri
Hi all!
I'm working in a GMP environnement and we have to migrate from Empower 2 to Empower 3.
Empower 2 use is actually full validated (PQ).
By your experience, what is the best way to cover the migration. Do we have to revalidate all about the software (PQ), or just do comparisons to show that all works as in Empower 2.
What strategy do you define?
What problem do you discover after implementation of Empower 3?
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Tomiri
Re: migration from Empower 2 to Empower 3
Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2015 8:22 pm
by DR
What protocol did you use when switching from (whatever) to Empower 2?
If you can find that, you may be able to repeat it and be fine.
If not, you will need to write a protocol that is compliant with all of your systems and validation SOPs.
Typically, this will involve running a couple of sample sets and collecting the data via each of the systems.
Practically speaking, Empower 3 is a "wipe and install" procedure for your LACEs and servers though you can restore Empower 2 projects to an Empower 3 server. Waters is usually pretty good about allowing a window of running both systems concurrently for enterprise setups.
We used it an an excuse to do some hardware upgrades, so we built our Empower 3 server and Citrix servers, then prepared, validated and rolled out new E3 LACEs and moved instruments onto them as LACEs were made available. End users were instructed to make fresh projects in Empower 3. Once all users of a given E2 project were migrated to E3, we would archive their project(s) and then restore them to the E3 servers in a read only mode.
The only real caveat with Empower 3 is that, assuming you wind up with LACEs running Windows 7, you will have no drivers for any Equinox boards you may be using. The best thing to do in that situation is to go ethernet. It's cheaper and performs better to use Agilent ICF drivers and G1369C boards for any 1100/1200 systems that do not already have a PDA or other component with an available ethernet port. You will probably have to update firmware, which can be a pain. Also be aware of the ICF "hotfix" and SP that are available and should be used.
If you have 2695s that can use Ethernet but are not using it now, upgrade them to ethernet connections and pull and retain the IEEE BUS-LACE boards. They're worth their weight in gold. If the 2695s are attached IEEE only detectors (2996, 2487...), don't bother.
PS - do a search as this has been discussed before.