Understanding how objects are managed in DRM

IXIASOFT CCMS Web manages objects differently depending on which module (Standard or IXIASOFT Dynamic Release Management) is enabled in your deployment.

Standard

In Standard, IXIASOFT CCMS Web stores all the objects together in the repository. Think of it as a giant open warehouse where all the objects are stored.

When you open a topic, you will see a Breadcrumb path indicating the Context Map associated to the object and the object's title.

Figure: Example of the Breadcrumb path
Breadcrumb path in Standard module

IXIASOFT Dynamic Release Management

In IXIASOFT Dynamic Release Management (DRM), the repository is organized into release management collections. Think of it like a storage unit warehouse, where each product and release has its own room that is filled with only its objects.

In DRM the collections are referred to as Products and Libraries, and these are versioned through Branches:

  • A Product is a collection of objects that is not shared with other collections.
  • A Library is a collection that contains objects that are intended to be shared with other collections.
  • A Branch is a collection of objects all for one Product, which are intended for one user manual, release cycle, or so on. One Product can have multiple Branches at the same time, and these Branches can share objects.

Writers use these to manage the documentation for several products across more than one release cycle.

When you open an object in DRM, you will see a Breadcrumb indicating the Product or Library and Branch to which the object belongs.

Figure: Example of the Breadcrumb path in DRM
DRM breadcrumb path