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THE ARCAD SOLUTION...
ARCAD-Skipper is one of the only products on the market (possibly the only one) that can offer 100% automation in all situations, especially without requiring additional targeted developments. This achievement is based on Skipper’s internal macro-language. The product is delivered with standard pre-defined macros that can be used as is. In this situation, the product is plug-and-play and implementation time is greatly reduced. On the other hand, if your company has several specific configuration processes, these can be taken into account by customizing the macros. Customization can be managed in configuration process, exactly like classic software components.
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Operating Principles
Transfer to production occurs when software modifications are complete. The batch (i.e., ARCAD version) created can be promoted first into a reference environment, and then into the production environment(s).
Transfer to production is the object of version closeout and archiving, as well as Repository updating. Unlike transfers to test, this will only be performed once unless an anomaly occurs. Why? Because the next step is deployment onto different production servers. Like a letter once it has been dropped in a mailbox, the ARCAD version’s contents can no longer be modified.
Thanks to this rigor in organization, you only need to monitor application version levels on the sites, rather than having to look at the component level.
Deployment
This is an essential phase that must permit monitoring of version levels directly on the objects themselves--and remotely, if they are distributed onto other servers or partitions. For simple configurations, transfer to reference can be coupled with deployment to production. ARCAD covers both the specific needs of software vendors (patch and cumulative releases) and user companies that have a large number of machines (synchronized deployments). ARCAD has very powerful deployment functions. For more information, see the Deployment section.
Traceability and Security
In the ARCAD-Skipper suite, transfers to test and production are made secure using the key rollback function. Changes can be viewed to the closest (field) level using a graphic interface, with display of both old and new values.
When an error occurs during one of these processes and the cause is not easily identified, you may decide to abandon the process and return to a previous, stable version. To do this, ARCAD provides a mechanism based on database commit/rollback. Actions taken on components are all linked with the same validation ID. If the user decides to roll back, the previous component version (source and/or objects) is automatically recovered from the backup copy. This provides a return to a stable state before analyzing the causes of the anomaly.
This functionality is intended for companies that have one or more production machines. Technically this tool uses a list system. You can select objects and source using combinable criteria. These lists correspond to various modification batches that have been transferred to production. The system allows creation of coherent batches (recovery of logical files that depend on a physical file, programs that use certain files, etc.).
Managing Heterogeneous Components and Configuration Data
The overall multi-platform and data approach is powerful, since it allows synchronized deployment of components and data on heterogeneous servers using the same procedures and the same security levels.
For software vendors, complementary functions such as a deployment portal allow ‘on-demand’ management of patch, CD, and documentation releases.
Openness
If your organization already has one or more versioning tools and you don’t wish to change them, it is simple to recover modification batches with other ARCAD tools and incorporate them into ARCAD versions. You can use this same technique to recover previous software modifications.
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