Move content from one DB to another DB

David Espinosa on March 24, 2022

Hello ARIS Community,

I would like some business users to be able to create contect in ARIS Cloud in a "DEV" Data Base, the idea is that when that is completed then I could move it to a "PROD" Data Base, but I cannot find a way to do so as I cannot copy from one DB to another... Not sure if Export - Import would be possible for different DB´s. Do you know best way to do so? And, do you manage your business directly in PROD or do you also have a pre-prod DB to try changes and once confirmed you move them to your Prod DB ?

Thanks !

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Martin Schröder on March 29, 2022 - 18:31

...that PROD DB might not be really updated with changes made in DEV as it will "merge" all changes not just update it.

Hello David,

if your merge strategy is "DEV overwrites PROD", you can do so very easily. Just check the necessary settings in Architect's Merge Dialog.

Also it would make sense to let your users have only read access to your PROD db, if your data flow should only go from DEV to PROD.

Regards, Martin

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M. Zschuckelt on March 24, 2022 - 08:52

Hello David,

it really depends on your requirements for the governance of your content. For simple requirements, where the built-in governance workflows might be sufficient, you could do it with just one DB. Model content that hasn't gone through the approval process is not part of a change list. If you set your publication to "Last version" the latest work of your Designer users is not visible in the portal until it has been approved and hence become part of a new version.

If you want to implement peer review by people who are not equipped with a Designer licence this is an indication you have to go for a concept with a second database.

Export/Import is possible between DBs. It can be done manually by people with a certain privilege on the database, but if you want to do this regularly I would advise to automate that with a script - possibly executed in the context of your (custom) governance workflow. There are quite a few considerations and decisions you have to take during such an Inter-database-merge and if you are not consistent here (human factor) you may cause a mess.

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David Espinosa Author on March 24, 2022 - 14:57 as Reply to M. Zschuckelt

Thanks for your answer !

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Martin Schröder on March 25, 2022 - 15:46

Hello David,

if you are going for two DBs the topic to look for should be merging, not export/import. This gives you more control about update cycles from DEV to PROD.

You would need ARIS Architect to access two DBs simultaneously and the Database export privilege for both the source and the target database.

APG Governance workflows (as opposed to the Connect "Mini" workflow "approve content") work with merge and have the necessary scripts (services) already included (DB Governance Automation Models).

Regards, Martin

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David Espinosa Author on March 28, 2022 - 09:52 as Reply to Martin Schröder

Thanks Martin for your answer.

I do have Architect Licence, but what concerns me on the Merge process is that PROD DB might not be really updated with changes made in DEV as it will "merge" all changes not just update it ... I shall give a try though and see if that works. Thanks.

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M. Zschuckelt on March 28, 2022 - 10:55 as Reply to David Espinosa

Hello David,

the only difference between Export/Import and Merge is, that with Export/Import you get an XML file that you have to store somewhere before you import it to the target database. This poses the risk of importing multiple XML files in the wrong order, so you could overwrite younger content with older stuff. A merge is always instantaneous.

Indeed the tricky part both with merge and export is selecting the correct scope you want to merge. There are various options to choose from, which you have to understand thoroughly before merging/importing to your production DB. Otherwise you might not get the result you want to achieve. Also on the import side you have to decide whether you want to overwrite the attributes in the target or just merge what is missing. There are various options for conflict resolution.

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Martin Schröder on March 29, 2022 - 18:31

Best reply

...that PROD DB might not be really updated with changes made in DEV as it will "merge" all changes not just update it.

Hello David,

if your merge strategy is "DEV overwrites PROD", you can do so very easily. Just check the necessary settings in Architect's Merge Dialog.

Also it would make sense to let your users have only read access to your PROD db, if your data flow should only go from DEV to PROD.

Regards, Martin

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David Espinosa Author on March 30, 2022 - 09:54 as Reply to Martin Schröder

Thanks Martin, I will go with the Merge option as you recommend. Thanks!

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