This document provides an overview of key considerations and new features for upgrading to Oracle Database 12c. It discusses checking and potentially updating initialization parameters, applying the latest bundle patches, enabling new authentication protocols for client connections, using the new SQLCL tool instead of SQL*Plus, and configuring the free Oracle Enterprise Manager Express product for database management and monitoring. It also mentions new features for the Oracle Automatic Storage Management cluster and the introduction of a management repository for storing cluster metrics.