Administer Library Objects › How to Prepare the Production Environment for a New Release › Scenario: Export and Import Objects in a Content Package › About Content Packages

About Content Packages

Objects can be exported in the following forms:

• A single object
• A folder
• A folder as a content package

Exporting a folder as a content package is different from exporting a folder in the following ways:

• The release version value of any object that is exported in a folder as a content package cannot be modified after import. (Objects that are exported in a folder do not require a release version value.)
• The release version value of an object that is exported in a folder as a content package cannot be modified after import.

Export a folder when there is no need for assigning a release version to its objects. For example, exporting objects from one design Orchestrator to another design Orchestrator in a folder.

Export a folder as a content package when exporting objects from a design environment to a production environment. Typically, the objects included in a content package represent a release of an automated process. In this case, there is a need to preserve the version of each object as it existed at the time of the release. The content package includes:

• The release version of the process object.
• All objects that the process uses.
• All objects that production users use to start or interact with the process.

A content package is a self-contained unit. A content package contains a folder of objects that are bundled together for export. Before the export, the version of each object being exported is tagged with a Release Version value. This same value is assigned as the Release Version of the folder.

The import process deploys all the objects in the content package to the Library. When imported as current, the object is available for use. Users in the import environment cannot create or change values for Release Version.

The import process for a content package baselines each object. The intent is for the release version of the objects to be used as is. However, it is possible to save an imported object as a new version, change the object, and save the changed object as the current version. In such a case, the baselined version with the Release Version value stays intact. This safeguards those objects from being altered in a potentially harmful way. To reverse any unwanted changes, make the baselined version the current version. The content designers who do troubleshooting can identify the nonmodifiable object versions that were imported to the production environment.

If you import an object from a third-party provider into a design environment that you want to change, make a copy of that object. Then, you can update the object copy and you can assign a different release version.