The Enterprise Merge/Extract capability is intended to prevent the rather common problem, where the same artifact is edited in more than one encyclopedia – and then that information is to be merged again – resulting in the loss of work done in one or more encyclopedias, depending on how many encyclopedias are merged and the collision option selected.
To do this, encyclopedias are constructed in a virtual hierarchy – where one encyclopedia is the master and all others are project or sub-project encyclopedias.
The Enterprise Merge/Extract capability enables the enforcement of control over changes to model artifacts in project encyclopedias. Model artifacts can be edited in only one encyclopedia at a given time. The Enterprise Merge/Extract can be used to allow projects to 1) not see 2) read-only and 3) read-write specific artifacts contained in the master encyclopedia. The master encyclopedia is never directly used by any architects. Instead, the encyclopedia administrator manages updates, additions and deletions to it through a change control process of merging work done in the project encyclopedias and checking them into the master.
What artifacts get extracted for view or checked out for change to a project depends on the needs of the project and approval of that project to view and/or change a master artifact. The following points apply to the Enterprise Merge/Extract capability
•There is a master encyclopedia that houses the model artifacts of record.
•Project encyclopedias are where the work is done.
•Artifacts can be extracted from the master for read-only or for read-write in a project.
•Additions, modifications, and deletions of a model artifact are done in projects and must be managed.
•Multiple projects might be running concurrently.
•Project encyclopedias might need to share some artifacts.
•Only one project can update an artifact at a time.
•All enterprise merge/extract operations are performed in the master encyclopedia.
•Artifacts can be merged back into the master from the projects at any time.
•If a project has read-write to an artifact then that artifact can be deleted, which when merged back into the master deletes if from the master.
Enterprise Merge/Extract goes beyond the capabilities of the basic merge/extract in that System Architect maintains an awareness of those items that have been extracted from the master and therefore only allows those items to be merged back in to the master from the project to which they were assigned. This enforces the concept and management of master and project encyclopedias.
Note To prevent loss of work or conflict, if an item is checked out for change to one project, it cannot be checked out for change to any other project until it is checked back in from the project to which it was assigned.
The selection of what artifacts are extracted for read-only or checked out for change to a project is done by the encyclopedia administrator; this administrator has a fine level of control over what artifacts the extract and/or check-out applies to. Similarly, the administrator has a fine level of control over what artifacts get checked back into the master from the projects. It is not necessary to take all artifact checked out to a project back into the master at one time.