[bmchicago]

When connected to original Licensed ISTA+, FASTA data should update the backend with the vehicle order and i-level so when BMW and its partners connect to AOS or AIR, the I-level will be displayed and any retrofits or changes to the vehicle order will also be updated. ISTA collects serial numbers, program and part numbers of control units as well so engineers/puma/tsara can detect if control units were replaced or swapped.

If a recall or campaign is issued for programming and the latest software version has already been reported to AOS/AIR before entering an official workshop. The technician should still check if software is available before closing the campaign or recall.

the I-level also contains information when performing guided troubleshooting. known fault patterns. If the test plan says to update the vehicle software to fix an issue on recent versions of ISTA it should know what the current i-level is and recommend an update or continue fault diagnosis

some i-level updates also contain different operating strategy's like electric seat operation and when attempting to calibrate seats may fail if the i-level was not updated after programming or when performing energy diagnosis.

it is best practice to update complete vehicle software when replacing a control unit on E-Series vehicles select complete vehicle encoding.
If the vehicle has custom coding, you should not perform complete encoding or use ISTA at all or if you need to use ISTA, then restore coding changes after encoding.
optionally on E-Series vehicles the MOST network can be bypassed to speed up programming on Customer Pay repairs and to reduce the chance of RAD/CCC/CIC programming failures.

when performing a conversion, the i-level may or may not be updated. depends on dependencies.
when coding or programming, the i-level will be updated. even if all control units do not need programming.