This topic will be divided into two parts. Part 1 describes the attributes of a comprehensive but easy-to-use database change management system. Part 2 will contain information about using dbMaestro TeamWork Add-in for MS Visual Studio Team System (VSTS) in a .NET framework.

For general information about dbMaestro TeamWork, click this link:
dbMaestro TeamWork | Database Change Management Software

For years, application development organizations have relied on software configuration management (SCM) solutions to ensure seamless updates and modifications to software code.  Although SCM has provided comprehensive tracking of alterations made to application code, it has done little to help manage related changes made to the underlying application databases.

Traditional SCM systems work well with software code changes but are not designed to handle changes to databases. A major disconnect exists between software and database development activities, with software developers using automated tools while database developers struggle with manual processes and workarounds.  As a result, changes made in the development environment are not linked, creating failures in the production environment just after upgrading to a new version.

Additional problems are caused by the fact that SCM solutions save scripts in their repository (the vault) and retrieve these scripts from the repository as opposed to saving definitions in and retrieving these definitions from the database. Therefore, the DBAs must follow a multi-step manual process that requires them to:

1. Export the appropriate object DDL from the underlying database
2. Check-out the object DDL from the repository
3. Update the script
4. Run the script in the database
5. Check-in the object DDL to the repository

What DBAs and their teams really need to successfully manage change is proactive database change management that applies proven SCM principles to the database world and enforces those principles in the database engine.

DBAs and their teams need solutions that follow traditional SCM concepts that:

• Implement Database Change Management (DCM) solutions and methodologies
• Eliminate cumbersome, inefficient, and error-prone manual activities
• Improve collaboration and coordination between software development and database development teams, as well as among individual database developers
• Mitigate the risk of database change loss – a major cause of application failure
• Provide proactive detection of problems that can cause production failures before the changes are implemented
• Facilitate the comparison and successful database schema and data deployment

In order to accomplish this, the next generation of Database Version Control solutions needs to bring the complete array of software change management functionality to the database development environment.  Unlike the current generation of database tools which are little more than “compare and sync” applications, the next generation of Database Change Management solutions must include much more comprehensive capabilities.  In addition to compare and sync, they must deliver object locking, check-in/check-out, baseline setting and comparison, code merging, tagging and labeling, and change rollback capabilities.

Part 2 of this topic will provide information about using the dbMaestro TeamWork Add-in for
MS Visual Studio to provide TeamWork functionality in a .NET environment. Stay tuned for the 2nd installment.

Tags: Change Management Software, database change control, database change management, Database Change Mangagement, database configuration management, database deployment manager, database deployment tool, database management software, database schema control, database version control, DBA, oracle change management, oracle database change management, oracle database version control, oracle db change management, oracle version control, SCM, SDLC, Software Change Management, Software Development Life Cycle

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 12th, 2011 at 10:21 AM and is filed under General. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.