Before you upgrade your application, ensure that you complete all of the following tasks.

1. Before starting an update, and before backing up your system, review the database policies and application permissions that are used by your Pega Platform update. Determine whether the application is permitted to update the database automatically or if you must generate the database scripts that your organization will use to manually make schema changes.
2. Update to the latest version of Pega Platform 8.5, and ensure that you can log in as an administrator. For more information, see the Pega Platform Update Guide for your environment on the Deploy Pega Platform page.
3. Apply any required hotfixes by using the Hotfix Manager. For more information, see Applying hotfixes.
4. Upgrade to Pega Customer Decision Hub 8.5, and ensure it is available for the Pega Retail Advisor application to connect.
   For more information, see the upgrade guide applicable to your upgrade path on the Pega Customer Decision Hub product page.