Defining Lifecycle Processes

A process is a command that executes an action.CA Harvest SCM includes a predefined set of process types. You can define a set of processes for each state in the lifecycle. The processes that are defined for a state determine what activities users can perform in that state. Administrators have complete control over which processes are available in each state of the lifecycle, and which users can execute these processes. For example, you can set up the lifecycle to allow check-in and check-out in the Development state, but only allow check-out in the Test state. You can add more than one process of one type to a state. For example, you can have one check-out process for updating items and another check-out process for read-only.

Each process has a type and a name.CA Harvest SCM predefines the process types. A process name is a more precise label that you can specify for added clarity and to distinguish between multiple processes of the same type. For example, promote is one of the predefined process types in CA Harvest SCM. A promote process that has been set up for promoting a package to a QA state could be named Promote to QA. If a name for the new process is not specified, it defaults to Process-nn (nn is the next process record number). The Processes menu in the States folder lists processes in alphabetical order.

You can define user-defined processes (UDPs) to invoke user-supplied programs fromCA Harvest SCM. This feature lets the administrator integrate the use of existing development tools into the lifecycle.

The properties dialog for a process displays associated Access, Pre-Links, and Post-links.

Access shows the type of access that is available to a process: Execute Access.
Pre-Links and Post-Links list the pre-linked and post-linked processes for the selected process.

More information:

Sample Software Development Process

Process Types

The following table provides a summary of each process type. All processes can have UDP and notify processes linked to them with the Pre-Link and Post‑Link options.

Approve: Approves or rejects a specified package for promotion to the next state.
Check-in: Creates a version of an item by bringing the changes made to a file into the current view path, and optionally releases the reserved status of the parent version in the repository.
Check-out: Copies a version of an item to the file system, optionally reserving the version in the current view or on a branch.
Compare Views: Displays item differences between two views.
Concurrent Merge: Merges all the changes a package has made on a branch back to the trunk.
Create Package: Creates a package and form with the same name and automatically associates them.
Cross Project Merge: Merges all the changes a package has made in one project into a package in another project.
Delete Package: Differentiates users who can edit a package from those who are allowed to delete a package.
Demote: Returns a package to a defined previous state in the lifecycle.
Delete Version: Removes the last change made to an item.
Interactive Merge: Shows branch versions, and conflicts between versions so you can resolve them.
List Version: Lists information associated with deltas.
Move Item: Logically moves an item from the current path to another path.
Move Package: Moves a package from a state in one project to a state in another project.
Move Path: Logically moves a path from the current location to another path.
Notify: Sends mail to specified users or user groups.
Promote: Moves a package to the next defined state in the lifecycle.
Remove Item: Logically deletes an item as part of a package's changes.
Remove Path: Logically removes a path.
Rename Item: Logically renames an item.
Rename Path: Logically renames a path.
Switch Package: Moves versions from a source package to a target package.
Take Snapshot: Creates a snapshot view from the working view that includes the current state.
UDP: Executes a user-defined process on the client or server computer.

Process Aspects

A process has the following aspects:

Definition—Process properties dialogs let administrators define processes and establish default values for them during the setup and maintenance of a lifecycle. Each process type has an associated properties dialog.

Execution—Users execute processes by selecting the process from the menu at the state or package context. When the process execution dialog appears, some fields can be populated with default values set by the administrator. Users can accept these defaults or change them before executing the process; however, users cannot change all the properties of the process this way. Some properties are part of the process definition and only the administrator can change them using the process properties dialog.