IDM Angular Web Portal customizations across the 9 and 10 upgrade paths (4384067)

An environment has implemented customizations in the Identity Manager Angular Web Portal, and an upgrade is planned from Identity Manager 9.2 to 9.3.1 (and potentially later to 10.0 LTS). It is needed to understand:

• Whether Angular Web Portal customizations are preserved during an upgrade.
• What impact the upgrade has on customized Angular modules and applications.
• Whether customizations must be redeployed after the upgrade.
• What responsibilities remain with the owning party when using a customized Angular portal in an IMOD SaaS environment.

During Identity Manager upgrades, the Software Loader uploads the new product installation set, including Angular web application bundles, into the database (QBMFileRevision). Any customized Angular files that replace standard product files are overwritten by the upgraded product content.

It is often observed that portal customizations no longer function after the upgrade because:

• Customized Angular bundles are replaced by standard product bundles.
• Angular framework and product APIs may have changed between releases.
• The SaaS upgrade process does not perform automatic merging or compatibility validation for Angular customizations.

Angular Web Portal customizations are implemented as customized builds of the Identity Manager Angular workspace rather than as upgrade-safe configuration changes.

During an upgrade:

1. The Identity Manager upgrade process uploads the standard ("vanilla") web application artifacts through the Software Loader.
2. Existing customized files that share the same names as product files are overwritten.
3. The IMOD upgrade process does not perform:
   • Angular customization discovery
   • Source code merging
   • Compatibility validation of Angular customizations
   • Automatic preservation of customer-specific Angular changes

Additionally, the upgrade from 9.2 to 9.3 introduces significant platform changes, including:

• Angular framework upgrades (Angular 14 → Angular 18)
• Angular Material upgrades
• Extensive API changes in core Angular libraries such as QBM and QER
• Introduction of Nx as an optional build framework in 9.3

These changes can cause previously customized code to require modification before it can be successfully rebuilt and redeployed.

To maintain Angular Web Portal customizations after an upgrade, it is required to follow a source-code based upgrade process.

1. Maintain a Source-Controlled Fork

Store all portal customizations in a fork of the official repository rather than relying on artifacts uploaded to the database.

2. Upgrade the Customization Fork

Before or immediately after the Identity Manager upgrade:

1. Obtain the target version of the IdentityManager.Imx source.
2. Rebase or merge the customized fork onto the target release branch.
3. Resolve all merge conflicts.
4. Review product upgrade documentation and release-specific breaking changes.
5. Update custom code as needed to accommodate framework and API changes.

For upgrades from 9.2.x to 9.3.x, special attention should be given to:

• Angular 14 → 18 framework changes
• QBM API changes
• QER API changes
• Removed or replaced UI components
• DataView framework changes introduced in 9.3

3. Rebuild the Angular Applications

After updating the source code:

1. Run dependency installation (npm install).
2. Rebuild all customized applications and plugin libraries.
3. Validate that all custom modules compile successfully.
4. Perform functional testing of customized features.

Examples of customized functionality that should be tested include:

• Home page cards and shortcuts
• Custom forms
• Modified identity management pages
• Attestation components
• Request management pages
• Branding and logos
• Custom plugins and libraries

4. Redeploy the Customized Bundles

Once validation is complete:

1. Upload the rebuilt Angular artifacts using the Software Loader.
2. Verify that the customized bundles replace the standard upgraded bundles.
3. Perform smoke testing to confirm expected functionality.

5. Plan for Future Upgrades

Angular customizations require ongoing maintenance for every major Identity Manager version upgrade.

The same process must be repeated for:

• 9.2 → 9.3
• 9.3 → 10.0 LTS
• Future cumulative updates and major releases

Environment owners should budget time for:

• Reviewing release notes
• Rebasing customizations
• Resolving code conflicts
• Rebuilding and testing customized applications
• Redeploying updated bundles

Support Considerations

When running customized Angular Web Portal code:

• One Identity supports the standard product behavior.
• Support cases may require reproducing issues using an unmodified portal.
• Compatibility and maintenance of custom Angular code remain the responsibility of the customer or implementation partner.
• The IMOD upgrade process validates certain database customizations and scripting scenarios but does not validate Angular Web Portal customizations.