Integrated Client Versioning

General Configuration

Integrated Client Versioning provides a version control solution for folders and files located on a Windows file system.  This functionality was designed specifically for providing a Version Control solution for Framework Manager and Transformer projects.

There are 3 specific competitive advantages that Integrated Client Versioning has over other generic file based free or commercial version control solutions.  The first is security.  Users will log into the ICS Client Connector as an IBM Cognos Analytics user.  Their tree based view of the project repository and capabilities will be dictated based on the security applied to folders and projects inside the Project Security table in the administration console. Security can be applied using Accounts, Groups and Roles from any of the security namespace.  The security can be applied at any level in the project hierarchy and can be inherited, similar to administering security in IBM Cognos Analytics Connection.  Account access can be restricted to the ability to:

• Read access, which determines if the user can see and sync the project in the ICS Client.

• Write access, which determines if the user is permitted to check out and check in a project.

• Add and Delete access permit users to add and delete projects and folders.  Note that deleting a folder will obliterate it from the database, whereas deleting a project will preserve the file history and only flag the project as deleted.

The second difference between Integrated Client Versioning and generic version control systems is that that this solution is folder based, not file based.  In a more traditional source control system, individual files are checked out and checked in.  These individual files have their own set of version numbers. This can cause challenges when versioning a Framework Manager project, as many of the files have different version numbers and it becomes difficult to document or indicate which “version number” of the project correlates to a point in time.  With a file-based system, all of the relevant files must be checked out and checked in at the same time and any new files must be manually added to the system.  Forgetting to add new files (especially those that are automatically created by the application) can cause loss of work.

Integrated Client Versioning takes a folder-based approach to solve the problem.  Instead of indicating a file to be versioned, the user will select a folder.  That folder, all files and all subdirectories are now treated as a single versioned artifact.  Checking out the project will check out all the files.  Likewise, checking in will include all existing files and folders as well as new files and folders.  Adding and deleting content, such as screenshots, notes and log files are now transparent to the user.

The third area that Integrated Client Versioning focuses on is centralized configuration and maintenance in IBM Cognos Analytics is the Administration option on the ICS Slide-out.  The administration and maintenance for ICV is managed directly on the Administration.

Project Status

The Project Status section provides feedback to the administrator as to which projects are currently checked out and by whom.  The administrator also has the ability to force an unlock of a checked-out project.  This feature should be used carefully as it may result in loss of work.  This feature is intended to be used when a user’s ICS Client Connector is not accessible, and it is presumed that any work is already lost.

Client Versioning

This allows you to set a max file size for uploads to your Cognos environment.