An upgrade where the custom user management had to survive

A training company's forum upgraded from phpBB 3.0.13 to current, with the manual user-adding function their enrolment process depends on kept intact, and a tested backup taken first.

The objective

The forum was on phpBB 3.0.13-PL1. Its members are customers enrolled on a training programme, added to the forum by hand as they enrol, through an ACP add-user modification. Losing that would have meant losing their enrolment process, not just a feature.

They asked to be told what changes between versions before going ahead, not after. And they wanted a backup they could actually revert to if the upgrade failed.

What I did

I set out what changes between their version and the current one, and what it meant for them, before starting.

I took a full backup and confirmed it would restore, rather than assuming it would.

I ran the upgrade and made sure the manual user-adding function still worked, or had an equivalent, on the new version.

And I added the new forum header image they wanted included.

The result

The forum moved to a supported version with the enrolment process intact, and a verified way back if it hadn't worked.