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Package Lifecycle

The change package lifecycle is a rule-based process consisting of actions that you perform and actions automatically initiated by ChangeMan ZMF. These actions guarantee the integrity of changes you make to your production application system. These actions begin with Create Package and usually end with Baseline Ripple. Authority to perform any of these actions is controlled by ChangeMan ZMF and defined in your security system.

The following actions are defined in the package lifecycle:

  • Create Package is the first step in the package lifecycle. A series of ISPF input panels request information that describes the change package and sets control parameters that determine how the package behaves during the rest of the package lifecycle.

  • Checkout Component copies components from a baseline or promotion library into a staging library allocated exclusively to your package. You can also check out components to a personal library, which is tracked by ChangeMan ZMF.

  • Stage Component is where you edit and build package components to meet project requirements. Source components are processed through predefined build processes to create executables and build listings. You can also stage components into your package from libraries outside of ChangeMan ZMF to bring those components under the control of ChangeMan ZMF.

  • Package Audit detects problems that will occur in production if you install your package now in its current condition. Audit detects synchronization problems in relationships between components in your change package and synchronization problems between package components, components in participating packages, components in promotion, and baseline components.

  • Freeze Package locks package information and package components to prevent further changes and to ensure that the components you install into production are the same as the components you tested. You can selectively unfreeze, change, audit, and refreeze components to fix problems found in testing.

  • Promote Package copies package components from staging libraries into test libraries. As a package is promoted from one testing level to the next, package components are removed from libraries in the prior level and copied from staging libraries into test libraries for the next level. Demote Package removes package components from test libraries.

  • Approve Package allows predefined approvers to review package information, components, and test results and approve or reject the package for install. An approver who rejects the package must enter text Reject Reasons.

  • Revert Package removes all previously entered approvals, unlocks package information and components, and reopens the package for development.

  • Distribute Package starts automatically when all required package approvals are received for a package that is scheduled for install at a remote site. The package is transmitted to the remote site, where package records are added to a ChangeMan ZMF P instance running there. Package staging libraries are allocated and populated, then the package is added to the P instance internal scheduler.

  • Install Package starts automatically, either when the package install date and time arrive, or when the last approval is entered. If the application has production libraries that are separate from baseline libraries, current production modules are backed up and new versions are copied from package staging libraries into the production libraries.

  • Baseline Package starts automatically after a package is installed. This process ripples current and prior versions of package components down in the stack of prior baseline versions, then copies package components into the baseline libraries as the new current version.

  • Backout Package removes package components from production libraries and restores the backups made during package installation. Package components that are the current version in baseline libraries are removed, and components are reverse rippled up the stack of prior baseline versions to restore the old current version. This process includes components that have been scratched.