A guide through the concepts of Serena Dimensions. René Steg Steg IT-Engineering, Zurich (Switzerland)

Transcription

1 A guide through the concepts of Serena Dimensions René Steg Steg IT-Engineering, Zurich (Switzerland)

2 Introduction About René Steg and Steg IT-Engineering Owner of Steg IT-Engineering since 2000 and contracted since then mainly performed Cross Life Cycle Management projects, such as: Implementing a repository based re-find system of Software Engineering artifacts Implementing a Software Deployment System Solaris Software Configuration Management for Mainframe Applications Design of a Test Environment on Demand Adapting CMMI Requirements to a Dimensions installation Support for CMMI Rollout for the Process Area Configuration Management Main expertise in Cross Life Cycle Management Dimensions expertise since 2001 More about René Steg can be found on

3 Scope of Dimensions CM & RM including Product Integrations Together with Dimensions RM, Dimensions supports the following Software Engineering process areas: Requirements Management Change Management Configuration Management Build Management Distribution Management Release Management Furthermore, Dimensions comes with a variety of tool integrations to support tracking of the entire Application Life Cycle: Test Management integrations Integrated Development Tool integrations and more

4 Motivation Why should Dimensions be used? Dimensions has high sophisticated Change and Configuration Management features and a fully integrated Requirements Management Dimensions makes it easier to create CM Records such as Release Notes Easy to get the necessary information for Configuration Audits Dimensions has no gap to fulfill all requirements of CMMI Integrated Lifecycle Management (State Transitions) for all available object types, such as items, requests etc.

5 People Who may use Dimensions? Dimensions is designed to be used by Requirements Engineers, to keep track of the Requirements Product Manager, to manage their application structure Change Manager, to manage the Change Requests and Change Orders Developers, to version their appplication artefacts Test Manager, to be able to verify the baseline of the test object and track the defects Project Manager, to keep track of their deliverables and milestones Release Manager, to provide the correct baselines to the deployment Quality Manager, to assure Requirements are being implemented

6 Time When should Dimensions be used? Configuration Management is not only about versioning during the development life cycle, but also about archiving the configuration items and assuring the legal retention period¹. Therefore the usage of Dimensions / a Software Configuration Management tool does not end with the phase-out of but with the end of the legal retention period. Possible trigger to start using Dimensions may be: When an application is being created When starting with a new release of an application ¹ The legal retention period for software artifacts (specifications and code) as well as project artifacts (important decision reports, minutes etc.) is 10 years in Switzerland, if the application is tax related it can be up to 25 years. Retention means, archiving the artifacts to be able to read data, which must be stored according to the legal retention period, so the software must actually be executable at any point in time during the legal retention period. Steg IT-Engineering is currently working on a solution, which enables Dimensions customers to store Dimensions data in a Dimensions independent format, so the customer will not be bound to Dimensions licenses to fulfill the legal retention period.

7 Data What data can Dimensions manage? Item Revisions (files) such as Any type of Documents Any type of code like COBOL-, ASP-Source Code and the derived executables etc. Directory Item Entire Directory Structures can be stored as a single Configuration Item Virtual Item enable versioning of metadata without related files (i. e. Hardware Configuration Items) Baselines Releases Requests and Requirements Workflow related data, such as Status of any object, user role assignment, notifications, Inbox etc. Customer data Relationships between any objects (Change Request to Item Revision, Release to Customer etc.)

8 Function How can Dimensions be used? Source Control, such as check in / check out, compare / merge item revisions using Dimensions User Interfaces or any integrated products Configuration Control, such as Design Part structures, Project views (Release oriented views), compare / merge Projects with other Projects or with the file system Change Control, using the Request Management feature to assign affected Items to a Change Order and return the modifications inresponse-to such Change Order, also Work Order Management is possible using Requests Baseline and Release Management, to be able to report the state of the Configuration at certain given point in time, compare / merge Baselines and provide the according Configuration for Deployment Requirements Management, tracking requirements within the very same database of Dimensions relating requirements to change requests Test Management, integrating with test management tools Deployment, using Dimensions Deployment Areas or integrating with deployment tools

9 Location Location / Platform Where can Dimensions be used? Usually Dimensions can easily accessed from any location in the world, of course depending on the implemented enterprise security. However, Dimensions is designed, that it is usually not necessary to setup any type of replication method for WAN. If necessary, caching mechanisms are available, to speed up local access to the items. Platform (Client and Sever) Windows Unix z/os

10 Example Integration to a third party deployment tool Developer 2. Modifies CI Developer 4. Creates deployment package 6. Assign CI to deployment package 7. Submit Package 9. Migrate to IT / UAT 1. Check-out 3. Check-in 10. get <file name>, status=test, <package-id> 12. remove <file name> 5. <file name>, status=development 8. status=test, <package-id> Dimensions CM 7c. status=operational 11. sftp put <file name> IT UAT PROD ITG Release Manager 12. Migrate Package to PROD Hint: This is an implemented scenario. However, this scenario could easily be replaced with the Dimensions Deployment Areas. Only prerequisite: Dimensions listener must be installed on all target servers.

11 Dimensions Glossary Item Revision, aka File Version Item Revision An Item is the most granular element (usually a single file, however can also be an entire directory tree), which is managed by Dimensions. The Revision identifies the change revision of a particular Item. Item systemspec.doc 1 Web.config 1 default.htm 1 2 Revisions 2 2 3

12 Dimensions Glossary Product, aka Configuration Product A Product is a specific set of items, belonging together to fulfill a specific purpose (an application, group of applications or an application component). systemspec.doc 1 2 Product MYAPP_1 Web.config 1 2 default.htm 1 2 3

13 Dimensions Glossary Baseline, aka label Baseline A Baseline identifies a specific state of a configuration in a certain point-in-time. A Baseline contains those Item Revisions, which are used for a specific purpose, such as Review, Maintenance, Deployment etc. Dimensions not only "freezes" the revisions, but also the configuration structure and the status of each item revision within a Baseline. Configuration MYAPP_1 systemspec.doc Web.config default.htm BASELINE-ID: MYAPP_1:1.2.0_4

14 Dimensions Glossary Branch Project Branch A Branch is a Parallel Development Stream. The Object used in Dimensions for a Branch is Project (formerly known as Workset). A Branch is always based on a Baseline. MYAPP_ RELEASE-ID MYAPP_1:1.2.0 systemspec.doc Web.config default.htm RELEASE-ID MYAPP_1:1.1_PATCH systemspec.doc Web.config default.htm

15 Dimensions Architecture Key Features of Dimensions Source: Serena ChangeMan Dimensions User's Guide, Page 22

16 Dimensions Architecture The relationships of all the Object types Source: Serena ChangeMan Dimensions User's Guide, Page 22

17 Dimensions Architecture Product What is a Dimensions Product? A Product in Dimensions can be an entire application, an aggregation of multiple applications which belong somehow together or a component of large application Object Types, Roles and other properties can be defined per Product Configuration 1 Product Configuration 2

18 Dimensions Architecture Dimensions Source Control commands Get Item (Get a read-only copy) Upload Items (Bulk check in / create item) Download Items (Bulk Get Item) Create Item¹ (Register a new Item in Dimensions) Check in (Return a modified item version) Check out (Get a writable copy of an item version) Update Item (Check out / Check in) Create Baseline ("freeze" a configuration) Create Project (Create a new Trunk / Branch Release) Compare Item Versions / Baselines / Projects Merge Item Versions / Baselines / Projects ¹ The create item command can be executed multiple only, using the upload command, scripting the command or by using any integration. The other commands can be executed in a bulk-way by multiple-select of several items.

19 Item Header Substitution What is that? Item Header Substitution is the feature to include Dimensions Metadata in configuration items. This feature only works for plain-text file format not for binaries. Dimensions is able to replace system defined attributes as well as user defined attributes in the header substitution. Check the option Expand Substitution Variables, to activate the Header Substitution

20 Item Header Substitution Example for Source Code Item Header Substitution Definition: #%PCMS_HEADER_SUBSTITUTION_START% # SCM-Repository : %PP% # File : %PM% # Version : %PIV% # Status : %PS% # Change reason : %CHANGE_REASON% # Updated on : %PRT% # Updated by : %PO% #%PCMS_HEADER_SUBSTITUTION_END% Result of the Header Substitution after a Get or Browse command: # SCM-Repository : PVCS_1 # File : create_project_configuration.ksh # Version : 3 # Status : DEVELOPMENT # Change reason : not_applicable # Updated on : 21-NOV :22:46 # Updated by : F210932

21 Item Header Substitution Example for Word Item Header Substitution Definition: Result of the Header Substitution after a Get or Browse command: Word files can only contain header substitution variables, if saved as XML or RTF Recommended, however, is XML, since RTF blows up the size of the documents.

22 Dimensions Architecture Edit, Configuration Control and Deploy Personal Drive (Y:\my_appls) Item Library (X:\dimensions) Metadata (Oracle) Runtime Environment for myapp Personal Drive (Y:\my_applications) Dimensions Software Configuration Project Configuration Mapped Drive (X:\) Sharepoint Personal Drive (Y:\my_projects\) Intranet Work Area Create / Modify / Edit Configuration Control (create item / check out / check in etc.) Deployment / Publishing (to Runtime / public sites) Dimensions usually copies physically items from the item library to the personal drive. Since Dimensions 10, the windows shell integration is available and the items can be kept as read-only when checked in. Therefore the copy is not necessary anymore in such cases.

23 Dimensions Architecture Distributed Development w/o replication Headquarter

24 Dimensions Architecture Dimensions Object Types Object Type Design Part (the Dimensions Product is the socalled Top-Level Design Part) Baseline Item (Revision) Folders and Items Project (formerly known as Workset) Requests Requests For all of the object types, Dimensions allows the specification of one or more types (for Design Part, these are called categories).

25 Dimensions Architecture Design Part What is a Design Part? A Design Part is a logical structure to group Items, create Baselines and set user permissions Example for a Design Part Structure A single software architecture of an application An architecture of an entire Software Domain (such as Securities, Human Resources) A Hardware inventory

26 Dimensions Architecture User and Role Groups What is a Role? When assigning a role to a user, the user is granted specific permissions according to the transitions in the lifecycle specifications of the Dimensions process model Role names can be fully customized What are Groups? Groups can be defined to esier handle permission assignements on a command level and to customize the Dimensions Clients according to the need of each group Design Part and Roles By assigning a user permission to a specific Design Part the Admin can grant easily read-write permissions on a component level of more complex products

27 Dimensions Architecture Baseline What is a Baseline? A Baseline is an object, which selects those item revisions according to a specific status, which is defined in the so-called Baseline Template used at the creation of the Baseline What is a Baselines Type? The different Baseline Types specify different lifecycles and attributes, for instance a Release Baseline may have a different lifecylce than a Milestone Baseline What is a Baseline Templates? A Baseleine Template defines the item types and the status of an item revision, which the Baseline needs to consider at creation (a Milestone Baseline may only consider Item Revisions in Status TEST, but not in DEVELOPMENT)

28 Dimensions Architecture Item Revision What is an Item Revision? The term revision in Dimensions is a synonym for version. Revision is a bit more appropriate, since such a version is relevant from the legal point of view and must not be deleted anymore, once stored in Dimensions. Why different Item Types? Item types enable defining different attributes, lifecycles, item-library, CM Rules etc.

29 Dimensions Architecture Project (formerly known as Workset) Folders and Items What is a Project? A Project is a view within a Dimensions Product, which shows a subset of the configuration items of that particular product. One Project per Release For Software Configurations, Project are usually used to reflect a release branch Design Part Structure vs. Project Folder Structure Part Structure is a logical structure Project Folder Structure reflects the physical directory structure (therefore it is recommended that the folder structure is to be as close to the runtime / publishing structure as possible)

30 Dimensions Architecture Request (formerly Change Documents) Requests What is a Request? Request is a workflow object type, which is mainly used to track Problem Tickets, Change Requests, Work Orders, Defects etc. Relationships Besides having Parent-Child relationships within Request, such a Change Order may result in several Work Orders, Requests can also be used to create new Baselines (revised Baselines). A Request can be related to the item revisions, which are planned to be changed (affected) or which are going to be removed from a revised Baseline CM Rules Using the CM Rules, Parent-Child behavior can be defined, i. e. that is only possible to Close a Change Order, after all related Work Order have been finished.

31 Dimensions Architecture Work Area / Explorer Integration What is a Work Area? A Work Area, formerly known as the Workset root directory, is the "private" work location on local drive or a shared drive, where Check outs / Fetched Item are stored. The Work Area is known within the Explorer Integration as Working Location. Therefore it is also the physical mapping of the external location, where the Explorer Shell Integration is able to check out and check in items by a Right-click. Work Areas can be different platforms In order for Dimensions to be able to communicate with a Work Area cross-platform (i. e. from Windows to Solaris), only the Dimensions Listener needs to be running on the target

32 Dimensions Architecture notification What is the notification? notification is available since Dimensions 10 for many different events, such as Create Baselines Create / Delete Item Item needs merge and many more

33 Dimensions Architecture The Dimensions Web Client Product Working Location Product:Project Logged-in User

34 Dimensions Architecture The Dimensions Desktop Client

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