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Migrating from Informer 4

Moving from Informer 4 to Informer 5 is a migration, not an upgrade, because Informer 5 is built on a completely new architecture. You are moving content into a new system rather than updating the old one in place.

Migrate your content, or start fresh​

You have two reasonable paths, and the right one depends on how much of your Informer 4 content is still worth carrying forward:

  • Migrate existing content when you have a large, well-used library of reports and mappings that should come across.
  • Start fresh when Informer 4 has accumulated content nobody uses, and a clean Informer 5 build would be tidier than importing the backlog.

A migration is a good moment to "clean house": import only the active reports worth keeping, and leave outdated or unused content behind. Either way, the goal is the same: a working Informer 5 with the data connections and reports your organization actually needs.

Tools that help​

Entrinsik provides a Migration Guide that walks through the process end to end, and a Data Gathering Workbook for collecting and tracking everything you need along the way. The workbook ships with suggested tabs; adapt them to fit your migration plan. Contact Entrinsik support for the current versions of both.

How to approach it​

  • Run the two versions side by side. Informer 4 and Informer 5 should run on separate servers, and you can keep them running in parallel as long as you need. Expect a testing period and a learning curve as your team gets familiar with Informer 5.
  • Set up the environment using the system requirements and the installation guides.
  • Plan it as a project. Treat the migration as a project with its own plan and checklist rather than a one-click conversion, and lean on the Migration Guide for the detailed, version-specific steps.

If you run into issues during installation or migration, email the Informer 5 support team at i5support@entrinsik.com.

What changes​

Because the architecture changed, some Informer 4 constructs do not carry over unchanged:

  • Datasources and mappings are re-established in Informer 5, where scanning a Datasource produces the Mappings and Fields your content reads from. See Connecting a Datasource.
  • Reports and queries are recreated as Informer 5 Reports and Queries; the Reports and Queries sections cover how they work now.
  • Calculated logic written in Java in Informer 4 is converted to JavaScript in Informer 5. See Converting Calculated Columns.

For a feature-by-feature comparison and the Informer 4 terms that map to Informer 5, see Differences between Informer 4 and Informer 5.

In this section​

ArticleIn one line
Differences between Informer 4 and Informer 5A feature-by-feature comparison and the term-name changes.
Converting Calculated ColumnsMaking Informer 4 Java calculated columns work in Informer 5.