Reuseable Asset Service (RAS)

Within a large organization, groups of users can be separated by geographical distance be on different networks. This can make it difficult to share common data, standards and modeling structures, without the complexity of using external version control tools or manually distributing XMI files between projects. Enterprise Architect has a Reusable Asset Service (RAS) that provides a simple and convenient mechanism for modelers to distribute or download reusable model structures, information, corporate directives and standards. The shared repository is accessible via a Cloud Service connection, making it accessible for distributed teams. The person who sets up the reusable data can retain governance of the resource or asset, whilst users of the service can easily review the currency of the information and download the latest versions into their models or file folders.

The RAS gives distributed teams convenient access to a single 'source of truth' for shared data, including project milestones, architectural frameworks and industry standards.

Reusable Assets

Reusable Assets consist of:

Packages containing elements, diagrams and structures (as drawn from any point within the Project Browser), and
Files in a range of text, code and graphic formats, including .eap files

An asset can be, for example:

A common Class library or framework
A set of common Requirements or Use Cases
A draft specification document
Marketing collateral

Storage Structure and Use

Reusable Assets are held in a remote registry, accessed through a Cloud Service connection. The registry contains any number of Storages, which can either be left unprotected for any user to create, or change-restricted by an Administrator password. Each Storage can contain any number of Asset Packages holding modeling structures, and files containing textual or graphical information and data. When a user creates a Storage, they can protect the contents from being updated in the Registry or downloaded into a model, using password protection defined by that user.

For each Package, the RAS automatically identifies the:

Version of the Package held in the registry
Diagrams and elements (including child Package elements) contained by the Asset Package
Dependencies on parent Packages of any external elements that the Asset Package references
Dependencies on MDG Technologies

Any user, regardless of password protection, can freely browse and identify the contents of a Package held in a Storage - including displaying the diagrams - without importing the material into a model. A user that has imported an Asset Package into their model can compare their model Package against any version of the Asset Package, to check for and assess any differences between them.

Notes

The Reusable Asset Service is available in the Corporate, Business and Software Engineering, System Engineering and Ultimate editions of Enterprise Architect

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