The definition of a lifecycle model consists of specifying basic attributes of the model such as its name and owning organization, the model's states and transitions, user permissions, and the associated asset types and policies. These are described in the following sections.
To define the basic attributes of the model
In CentraSite Control, go to .
Click .
In the field Name, enter the name of the lifecycle model.
In the field Description, you can optionally add a comment that describes the purpose of the lifecycle model.
In the field Version, you can supply a user-defined version number for the model.
In the Organization drop-down box, choose the organization for which the lifecycle model applies.
The organization names displayed in the drop-down box are the organizations for which you have the "Manage Lifecycle Models" permission. If you select one of these names, the lifecycle model applies just to objects belonging to the selected organization.
If you have the "Manage System-wide Lifecycle Models" permission, you will be able to select the "All" option, meaning that the lifecycle model is a system-wide lifecycle model.
Important:
Set the system-wide property
("All") with care. You cannot change this assignment
after the lifecycle model is created.
To define the states and state transitions of the model
Click the tab, if it is not already selected.
Click .
In the field State Name, supply the name of your state.
In the field Description, you can optionally enter a comment that describes the purpose of the state.
In the area labeled Transitions, specify a state than can be reached as a result of a transition from the current state. In the column Target State, you can select the target state from a drop-down list containing all of the states defined so far.
Note:
You may find it more convenient to define all of the states before
you start to define the state transitions.
If you wish to define more than one target state from the current state, select the "+" icon to create a new line.
If you have more than one target state, select one of the target states as the default target state by choosing the radio button in the column labeled Default.
You can show or hide the transition area for a state by choosing the triangle icon in the header line of the Transitions area.
Use the button to define additional states as required.
When a lifecycle model is assigned to an asset type, and the lifecycle mode is activated (i.e. set to the state "Productive"), all existing assets of this type in the user's organization are assigned to the first state of the lifecycle model. Also, each subsequently created asset of the given asset type in the user's organization will be automatically associated with the lifecycle model and will be initially set to the first state of the lifecycle model.
An asset type can only be associated with one lifecycle model at a time. If a lifecycle model includes an asset type that is already associated with another lifecycle model, an error message will be displayed when you try to activate the lifecycle model.
If you need to add another asset type to a lifecycle model that is already in the "Productive" state, you must create a new version of the lifecycle model and add the asset type to the new version. For information about creating a new version of a lifecycle model, see Updating a lifecycle model.
To assign a lifecycle model to an asset
In CentraSite Control, go to .
In the list of lifecycle models displayed, click the required lifecycle model to display its details page.
Select the Associated Types tab. This displays a list of available asset types that can be associated with the lifecycle model.
To define that a particular asset type should be associated with the lifecycle model, select the appropriate asset type from the list shown in the box Available Types, then use the arrow buttons to copy the asset type into the box Selected Types.
Asset types that are already associated with another lifecycle model are displayed with the name of the lifecycle model beside them. For example, if the asset type Application is already associated with the lifecycle model MyModel, this will appear as "Application (MyModel)".
Asset types that are associated with a system-wide lifecycle model will only appear in the list of available asset types if you have the "Manage System-wide Lifecycle Models" permission.
Note:
If you apply a lifecycle model to an asset type that
has virtual types associated with it, the model will automatically be applied
to those virtual types that meet the following conditions: 1) the virtual
type's Inherit Base Type LCM option is enabled and 2) the
virtual types does not have a lifecycle model assigned to it. For more
information about how CentraSite applies lifecycle models to base types and
virtual types, see Applying Lifecycle Models to
Virtual Types.
Now you define the user and group permissions associated with each state of the lifecycle model. Each permission defines whether a user or group can move assets into a particular lifecycle state. Such permissions are referred to as state permissions.
If you leave the list of users and groups empty, CentraSite grants state permissions to all users and groups. If the list contains at least one user or group, permissions are denied for all other users and groups who are not in the list.
To define the user and group permissions associated with the
model
Start by selecting the tab.
Click to display the list of currently defined users and groups.
From the list of displayed names, choose a user or group for whom you wish to grant or deny permission to change the lifecycle state of an asset.
Select the states into which the user or group is allowed to move an asset. You can either check the checkboxes for the states individually, or select them all by checking the corresponding box in the ALL column. To deselect a state that is already selected, uncheck its checkbox.
Note that there is no column corresponding to the initial state of an asset, because all assets under control of this lifecycle model are automatically put into the initial state.
Repeat the previous steps for additional users or groups as required.
To define policies associated with the model
Finally, you can define that one or more policies will be triggered when a state in the lifecycle is entered.
Before proceeding, click to ensure that the model that you have defined so far validates (i.e. contains no inconsistencies).
Return to the States tab and click the button for the required state. This displays a list of the currently defined policies for the state, and whether or not the policies are currently active or inactive.
A policy can be assigned to a particular state when you create a policy.
See the document Working with Design/Change-Time Policies for details.
In the CentraSite online documentation see the document Working with Design/Change-Time Policies for details.
If you want to see the details of any of the given policies, select the policy name. This opens the Policy Details dialog.
A lifecycle model can contain one or more stages. Typically, stages are used to represent a clearly-defined deployment scenario within an object's development cycle. You could, for example, decide to use the lifecycle model during various stages of a product lifecycle such as "development", "test" and "production". The individual stages are also usually deployed on different physical machines, which is normal practice if for example you have a test environment and a production environment. Each stage you define contains all of the states of the model.
To create a lifecycle stage, proceed as follows:
To create a lifecycle stage
In CentraSite Control, choose .
Click . The Add Stage dialog opens.
Enter values for the dialog fields as follows:
| Fields Name | Contents |
|---|---|
| Name | The stage name. Here you can enter any text string as the name of the stage. |
| Description | (Optional) A description of the purpose of the stage. |
| Host Name | The name of the HTTP host machine where the lifecycle stage is deployed on a CentraSite installation. |
| Host Port | The HTTP port number of the CentraSite installation on the host machine where the lifecycle stage is deployed. |
| Use SSL | Mark this checkbox if the communication with the specified host machine should use the SSL protocol for secure communication. |
Click .
After you have defined your states and state transitions, you can define a stage transition from an end state of the current stage to one or more new stages. An end state is a state that has no transitions to other states.
The term promotion is used to describe the transition of an asset from one stage to the next stage.
To define stage transitions
In the details page of the lifecycle model, click the button beside the appropriate state name.
From the list of stage names displayed, select the stage or stages that can be the target of a transition from the selected state.
Click .
When you have completed all of the above steps, click . When you do this, the model is validated. If there are no validation errors, the lifecycle model is stored. If any part of the model is invalid, this will be indicated by an appropriate error message.
A model is valid if:
it consists of at least one state, and
there is a possible transition path to all of the states except the first state.
