Managing Packages in the Life Cycle › Move Package Process

Move Package Process

The life span of a package is usually limited to one project; however, you can create packages in one project and then move them to another project to begin a new life cycle. The move package process moves one or more packages from the current project and state to a state in another project. This process moves only the package definition and history, not any changes made in the first project. You cannot move changes associated with packages with this process.

Moving packages is typically used to link a problem-tracking project to a change management project. For example, a customer support group records problems using CA Harvest SCM forms. Packages are created in the support project and associated with various problem forms. These packages can move through different states in the support project until they are ready to be assigned. Rather than creating a package in the development project, the original package with its history intact and any form associations can be moved from the support project to the development project. If multiple packages are selected, they are all moved as a unit.

For the package process to succeed, CA Harvest SCM verifies that all packages selected meet the following criteria:

• No versions associated with the package can exist in the source project.
• A package with the same name cannot exist in the target project.
• If an approval process is in place for a state, you cannot move a package until it has been approved.
• The user executing the process must have access to create packages in the destination project.

The following list indicates what happens to various package attributes in the destination project:

• The package note is retained.
• All form associations are maintained.
• The package groups are not carried across to the destination project because package groups are not global objects. You must edit the package in the destination project to add it to any groups.
• The package history is moved with the package if the appropriate option is selected, and an additional record is added to the history indicating when it was moved.

When you use the move package with the Keep Source Package option, a duplicate of the source package is created in the source project and the same form is associated with both packages. Because the package relationship is maintained by the associated form, a new form property page is also added. Both the packages share the same history and after the move both are independent packages linked only through forms.