Noah System 4 was released in March of 2011. There have been multiple releases of Noah 4 over that time period with many feature updates and technical updates. When a new Noah version is released, it includes upgrades to the Noah application and the Noah database.
Each time HIMSA releases a new version of Noah we test upgrading to the new release from several previous versions of Noah. HIMSA’s recommendation is to upgrade to a Noah version that was tested for that Noah release. This may mean that for unsupported Noah versions, you will need to update Noah in steps.
If you are running an unsupported version of Noah System and are planning to get up to date, HIMSA has specific recommendations depending on the version of Noah you have installed.
NOTE: The recommended upgrade path applies to the Noah server or a Noah standalone machine. If you have Noah workstations pointing to the server, with no local database being upgraded, you can update directly to a supported Noah version.
* Noah 4.15 is an important upgrade as the database technology is changed from MS CE to SQLite. The data migration process is only supported between Noah 4.14 and Noah 4.15. The Noah installation program will require that the installation is at Noah 4.14. For example, directly upgrading from 4.12 to 4.15 will not be possible.
In the future (e.g., Noah 4.16), older versions of Noah 4 will be required to first upgrade to Noah 4.15. For example, Noah 4.12 installations will first need to upgrade to Noah 4.14, then Noah 4.15, and then 4.16.
** Upgrading from Noah 3 has not been supported since Noah 4.3. Alternative to upgrading Noah 3, patients in Noah 3 can be exported in .nha format and imported directly in latest Noah 4 version.
If you are getting a new machine as part of your quest to be up to date, the same advice applies. If you have Noah 4.12 on the old machine and want to get to Noah 4.15, you should install Noah 4.14 on the new machine, Restore the backup from Noah 4.12, and then update to Noah 4.15. This will update the Noah application and database tables to Noah 4.15 using a tested upgrade path.
If you want to go directly to Noah 4.15 on the new machine, it is possible to do so by exporting the Noah database from the Noah 4.12 and importing into Noah 4.15 on the new machine. Be aware that with very large Noah databases import and export has some cautions. Click here for best practices on Noah importing and exporting.