diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index 794840f3d36..37ca2ce4b4c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -13,6 +13,12 @@ Change Log
 
 Unreleased
 ~~~~~~~~~~
+
+[4.16.1]
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+* Updated django-simple-history package to 3.3.0 
+* Created no-op migrations needed for new django-simple-history package version
+
 [4.16.0] - 2023-06-22
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 * Support added for Django 4.2
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index c675369b780..b24161a4de4 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ upgrade: $(COMMON_CONSTRAINTS_TXT)	## update the requirements/*.txt files with t
 	mv requirements/common_constraints.tmp requirements/common_constraints.txt
 	sed 's/edx-drf-extensions<7.0.0//g' requirements/common_constraints.txt > requirements/common_constraints.tmp
 	mv requirements/common_constraints.tmp requirements/common_constraints.txt
+	sed 's/django-simple-history==3.0.0//g' requirements/common_constraints.txt > requirements/common_constraints.tmp
+	mv requirements/common_constraints.tmp requirements/common_constraints.txt
 	pip install -qr requirements/pip-tools.txt
 	pip-compile --allow-unsafe --rebuild --upgrade -o requirements/pip.txt requirements/pip.in
 	pip-compile --rebuild --upgrade -o requirements/pip-tools.txt requirements/pip-tools.in
diff --git a/edx_proctoring/__init__.py b/edx_proctoring/__init__.py
index c211ad4e5a6..bfe47ee1248 100644
--- a/edx_proctoring/__init__.py
+++ b/edx_proctoring/__init__.py
@@ -3,4 +3,4 @@
 """
 
 # Be sure to update the version number in edx_proctoring/package.json
-__version__ = '4.16.0'
+__version__ = '4.16.1'
diff --git a/edx_proctoring/migrations/0025_auto_20230727_2112.py b/edx_proctoring/migrations/0025_auto_20230727_2112.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0b209bf408d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/edx_proctoring/migrations/0025_auto_20230727_2112.py
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+# Generated by Django 3.2.20 on 2023-07-27 21:12
+
+from django.db import migrations
+
+
+class Migration(migrations.Migration):
+
+    dependencies = [
+        ('edx_proctoring', '0024_delete_proctoredexamstudentattempthistory'),
+    ]
+
+    operations = [
+        migrations.AlterModelOptions(
+            name='historicalproctoredexam',
+            options={'get_latest_by': ('history_date', 'history_id'), 'ordering': ('-history_date', '-history_id'), 'verbose_name': 'historical proctored exam', 'verbose_name_plural': 'historical proctored exams'},
+        ),
+        migrations.AlterModelOptions(
+            name='historicalproctoredexamstudentattempt',
+            options={'get_latest_by': ('history_date', 'history_id'), 'ordering': ('-history_date', '-history_id'), 'verbose_name': 'historical proctored exam attempt', 'verbose_name_plural': 'historical proctored exam attempts'},
+        ),
+    ]
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index b8c07035208..96b9834b42c 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "@edx/edx-proctoring",
   "//": "Note that the version format is slightly different than that of the Python version when using prereleases.",
-  "version": "4.16.0",
+  "version": "4.16.1",
   "main": "edx_proctoring/static/index.js",
   "scripts": {
     "test": "gulp test"
diff --git a/requirements/base.txt b/requirements/base.txt
index 24f0065eead..81a7642fd59 100644
--- a/requirements/base.txt
+++ b/requirements/base.txt
@@ -68,9 +68,9 @@ django-model-utils==4.3.1
     # via
     #   -r requirements/base.in
     #   edx-when
-django-simple-history==3.0.0
+django-simple-history==3.1.1
     # via
-    #   -c requirements/common_constraints.txt
+    #   -c requirements/constraints.txt
     #   -r requirements/base.in
 django-waffle==4.0.0
     # via
diff --git a/requirements/common_constraints.txt b/requirements/common_constraints.txt
index d34ab34dfd5..18ff1b20a0c 100644
--- a/requirements/common_constraints.txt
+++ b/requirements/common_constraints.txt
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ Django<4.0
 elasticsearch<7.14.0
 
 # django-simple-history>3.0.0 adds indexing and causes a lot of migrations to be affected
-django-simple-history==3.0.0
+
 
 # tox>4.0.0 isn't yet compatible with many tox plugins, causing CI failures in almost all repos.
 # Details can be found in this discussion: https://github.com/tox-dev/tox/discussions/1810
diff --git a/requirements/constraints.txt b/requirements/constraints.txt
index a577ad2dacd..943bac1dac6 100644
--- a/requirements/constraints.txt
+++ b/requirements/constraints.txt
@@ -20,3 +20,6 @@ click>=8.0,<9.0
 
 # pinning because to match pin in edx-platform: https://github.com/openedx/edx-platform/blob/e25f00f35cb2ed70502bb0b28909535d55e5525e/requirements/constraints.txt#L83
 django-webpack-loader<1.0.0
+
+# incremental upgrade plan.
+django-simple-history<=3.1.1
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/requirements/test.txt b/requirements/test.txt
index 2d9cacb57cb..4451f39b7f9 100644
--- a/requirements/test.txt
+++ b/requirements/test.txt
@@ -71,9 +71,9 @@ django-model-utils==4.3.1
     # via
     #   -r requirements/base.in
     #   edx-when
-django-simple-history==3.0.0
+django-simple-history==3.1.1
     # via
-    #   -c requirements/common_constraints.txt
+    #   -c requirements/constraints.txt
     #   -r requirements/base.in
 django-waffle==4.0.0
     # via