Managing Model and Data Editions

This chapter discusses administration considerations related to Model and Data Editions management.

Understanding Model and Data Editions

Semarchy Convergence for MDM manages two flows of changes:

A data edition is always based on a given model edition. This means that this data edition contains data organized according to the model structure in the given model edition, and that golden data in this data edition is processed and certified according to the rules of the model in the given model edition.

These two version control mechanisms can be used simultaneously and in parallel threads.

Version Numbers

Model and data editions are identified by a version number. This version number format is <branch>.<edition>. The branch and model numbers start at zero and are automatically incremented as you create new branches or editions.
For example, the first model edition in the first branch has the version [0.0]. The fourth edition of the CustomerAndFinancialMDM model in the second branch is named CustomerAndFinancialMDM [1.3].

Model Editions

A Model Edition reflects the state of the model at a given point in time.

Actions on Model Editions

Model Editions support the following actions:

Refer to the the following chapters for more information about model editions management tasks:

Model Editions Lifecycle

The model edition lifecycle is described below.

  1. The project manager creates a new model and the first model edition.
  2. Developers edit the model metadata. They perform their logical modeling and integration process design activities.
  3. When the developers reach a level of completion in the project, they deploy the model edition for testing, and afterwards update the model edition while pursuing their developments and tests. Such actions are typically performed in a development data location. Sample data can be submitted to the data location for integration in the hub.
  4. When the first project milestone is reached, the project manager:
    1. Closes and create a new model edition.
    2. Deploys the closed model edition or exports the model edition for deployment on a remote repository.
  5. The project can proceed to the next iteration (go to step 2).
  6. When needed, the project manager creates a new branch starting from a closed edition. This may be needed for example when a feature or fix needs to be backported to a close edition without taking all the changes done on later editions.

Considerations for Models Editions Management

The following points should be taken into account when managing the model editions lifecycle:

Data Editions

A Data Edition reflects the state of the data in a data location at a given point in time.

Actions on Data Editions

Data Editions support the following actions:

Refer to the the following chapters and guides for more information on data editions managements:

Data Editions Lifecycle

A typical Data Edition lifecycle (in the context of a Data Location) is described below.

  1. The administrator creates the data location based on a given model
  2. The project manager installs a first model edition (as described in the model editions lifecycle)
  3. The administrator creates a root branch and a first data edition. Integration batches now target this data edition.
  4. The administrator manages data editions:

Important: In production, after deploying a new model edition, remember to create a new data edition based on this model edition or switch the existing data edition to the new model edition. Otherwise, the data edition in place still uses its old model edition. In development environments, when you use the update capability, the existing model edition is overwritten, and as a consequence, the open data edition automatically benefits from the deployed updates.

Considerations for Data Editions Management

The following points should be taken into account when managing the data editions lifecycle:

Defining the Version Control Strategy

The model and data edition feature is a framework supporting the organization of your MDM project.

It is important to perform version control planning according to your needs. The following questions should help this planning exercise:

For example, you may decide as part of the version control plan that: