Lifecycle of a Business Space Version

As work on the configuration of the application evolves the business space version undergoes certain stages in its lifecycle.

When a business space version is initially created its state is always NEW. A version in a NEW state may not be deployed for the end users nor can it be tested. It exists purely as the working version of the configurator. The Configuration Tool displays the business version in the NEW state in green. Once the configurator is happy with the contents of the version she can make the version available for testing (or even publish it straight away, although publishing without testing is strongly discouraged) – see Testing Business Space Version.

Once the version has been made available for testing its state becomes UNDER TEST. A version in this state can be tested by the configurator in the Operation Mode (see Testing Mode). The purpose of testing is to ascertain that the configured system works as expected. The operation data created during testing is stored in a separate database and does not affect operation data of the end users. There may only be one business space version in the UNDER TEST state in a business space – if there is already a version in the UNDER TEST state it will move back to the NEW state after a new version has been made available for testing.The Configuration Tool displays business space versions in the UNDER TEST state in pink.

If the configurator finds some problems with the version during testing, she can start editing the version under test (which moves the version to the NEW state) or create a new minor or major version (see Creating Minor Version and Creating Major Version) from the version being tested, correct errors in this new version and then make the new version available for further testing. Once the configurator is finally happy with the version she can publish (deploy) it so that it can be used by the end users (see Publishing Business Space Version). When the version is published its state becomes CURRENT. There may only be one version in the CURRENT state in a business space. If there is already a CURRENT version it is moved to the OBSOLETE state after the new version has been published.

Once the version has been published it may not be changed by anyone. If further changes to the version are required a new major or minor version may be created from the current version and the changes may be introduced in this new version.

The Configuration Tool displays business space versions in the CURRENT state in black.

A business space version currently used by the end users is made obsolete when the configurator publishes a new version. The new version moves to the CURRENT state and the previously used version is moved to the OBSOLETE state. A version in this state may not be modified, however, it can be published again (if for whatever reason the configurator decides to go back to the old version). It is also possible to create a new minor or major version from the OBSOLETE version and then make changes to the new version (see Creating Minor Version and Creating Major Version). The Configuration Tool displays a version in the OBSOLETE state in grey.

A version in this state indicates that the business space is running in a multi-developer mode when several developers are working on the same business space version concurrently. The Configuration Tool displays business space versions in the IN DEVELOPMENT state in orange.