Introducing Team Development

Enterprise Architect offers a diverse set of functionality designed specifically for sharing projects in team-based and distributed development environments. Project sharing can be achieved through network deployment of model repositories, replication, XMI Import/Export, Version Control, Package Control and User Security.

Network deployment can be undertaken using two different schemas for deployment, using either:

Replication requires the use .EAP based repositories, and cannot be performed on repositories stored on a DBMS server. DBMS server based repositories offer better response times than .EAP files on networks due to the inherent structure of the DBMS. DBMS also offers a better solution when networking problems are encountered, as they have the ability to backtrack transactions caused by external breakdowns.

Replication

Replication is a simple process that enables data interchange between .EAP based repositories (not DBMS) and is suitable for use in situations where many different users work independently. Modelers  merge their changes into a Design Master only as required. It is recommended that a backup is carried out prior to replication.

XMI Import Export

XMI Import/Export can be used to model discrete packages that can be exported and shared between developers. XMI enables the export of packages into XML files which can then be imported into any model.

Package control can be used to set up packages for version control and to enable batch export of packages using XMI. Version Control enables a repository to be maintained by a third-party source code control application that is used to control access and record revisions.

Security

User security is used to limit the update access to model elements.  It  provides control over who in a project can make changes to model elements.

Further Information

For more information regarding the use of Enterprise Architect with shared models and team deployment please see the Deployment of Enterprise Architect white paper available from:
www.sparxsystems.com/downloads/whitepapers/EA_Deployment.pdf.

Note: DBMS Repository support and User Security are only available with the Corporate edition of Enterprise Architect.

See Also