Reusable Asset Service

[Graham_Moir]

The 'Reusable Asset Service'  looks as though it could be handy to support re-use and avoid duplication of architectural frameworks, model elements and structures, but has anyone used this for real?  If so, can you answer these questions:

1)  If I copy a reusable asset into my model, can that asset copy then be edited, essentially compromising the centralised original?
2)  If the central reusable asset is updated (updates will be few and intermittent but will happen) what is the process to update the previous version that has been copied into models elsewhere?   (I see in the help that I can compare my copy of the asset with the latest version in the asset server, but what do I do if I find differences?)
3)  if I create relationships from my model to the re-usable asset that I've copied, can I get a holistic view/report of where the re-usable asset is being applied/used or am I creating a mess because I can never reconcile where the copied re-usable asset is being used ?   

thanks.

[PeterHeintz]

Here are my answers, as far as I know.

   1) No, your copy can never compromise your data on the asset server. Import is a simple copy with same guid’s. However after reimport the assets all your changes on the copy are gone.
   2) This is my process I use, which work for me as long as “used” assets are still in my asset model.
      a) Transfer SQL Repository to eap (just to have a backup)
      b) Baseline the Project related content within the project repository (all my project related stuff is under one root view)
      c) Import the relevant new package versions from asset service (located in an other view of my repository)
      d) Restore internal baseline
   3) You need some kind of generic scripts to find out what elements of this package are used outside. Such a script is useful anyway even without using assets.

[Uffe]

1) The local copy can be edited. If the storage is set up without a complete access password, or the password is given out to everyone, the local changes can be fed back to the storage.

2) There is no generic answer to the question of how to handle changes. If a new version comes out which you don't want in your project, don't import it.
Why you would or wouldn't want the new version is entirely dependent on the model content and the situation in your project.

3) There is no way to track usage of a reusable asset specifically. There is no "asset" once it's been imported, it's just another package.

The RAS facility is usable, but could do with quite a few improvements. Sadly, there is no RAS API so we'll just have to wait for Sparx to make whatever changes they think suitable as and when.


/Uffe

[Graham_Moir]

Thanks guys !