Implementing and using IXIASOFT Dynamic Release Management

Implementing and using IXIASOFT Dynamic Release Management in your deployment involves the following steps:

  • Setting up the documentation structure
  • Adding the documentation to versions

These steps are introduced below. The remainder of this document provides the procedures for these steps.

Setting up the documentation structure

The first step for using the DRM module is to set up the documentation structure, which implies determining the products, releases, and versions that apply to your documentation suites.

When you create the version for a release, you can create an empty version (usually appropriate for the first version in a release) or you can clone an existing version. When you clone an existing version, all the maps in that version are branched to the new version. This allows you to use the existing content as a starting point for the next version.

Setting up the correct documentation structure is a very important step that should be discussed with IXIASOFT to ensure that the structure is optimal for your deployment. Once that structure is set up, it should be communicated clearly to end users so that they understand how they should create their documentation.

Note: Only users with the right role are allowed to create and update the documentation structure. This is configured per deployment.

Adding the documentation to versions

In new DRM deployments, existing content is usually imported into the new structure. If your company is switching from the Standard module of IXIASOFT CCMS to DRM, then IXIASOFT Customer Support might also be involved in converting content and adding it to the appropriate versions.

When the documentation structure is set up and ready for writers, they can add content to versions in the following ways:
  • Creating content: When creating content, writers must assign it to one or more versions. The menus to create maps, topics, images, and resources in the DRM module require the writers to specify the version(s) in which the newly created object will be added.
  • Working on multiple versions of documentation sets: To work on a new version of an existing documentation set, you branch the documentation set by cloning that version. When you clone a version, IXIASOFT CCMS creates a new container and all the maps are branched automatically in the new version.
    Writers can then branch topics, images, and resources as necessary to modify the object used in the new version without impacting the source version.
    Note: You never branch a map. Maps are branched automatically when you clone a version or when you add a map to another version.

    You can also update objects to previous versions so that changes made in a new document version can be applied to the previous versions. For example, if you had branched a topic to document new parameters added in Version 2 and you need to apply these changes to Version 1 also, you can simply update the new topic to Version 1 so that both versions now use the updated topic.