Product Administration Guide > Releasing Products and Other Versioned Objects >

Releasing Products for Use

To make a customizable product available to users, you must release it. Releasing a customizable product creates a new version of it and makes this version available for use. Releasing a version also refreshes the work space.

When you release a product, the application refreshes it in the current work space first, and then releases the refreshed instance. This means that all released versions contain the most recent information, such as class structure, available at the time of release. You cannot modify or delete a released version of a customizable product. However, after you release a version, the workspace retains the image of that version so it can be used as a starting point for the next version.

Before you release a customizable product, whether it is available to users depends on these fields:

• Start Date. When you release a product, it becomes available to users on the start date, and it remains available until the next start date of a version of the product. Start date is precise to the minute and second. For example, if you release a product with the start date of January 1, 2006 12:00:00 and another released version of the same product has the start date of July 1, 2006 12:00:00, then the newly released version will be available to customers from January 1 12:00:00 through June 30, 2006 12:00:00. This lets you release several versions of a product and have them become available based on dates.
• End Date. The end date for a version is entered automatically, based on the start date for the version that is next chronologically.
• Active. When you release a product, it is only available to users if the Active checkbox is selected.

When remote users synchronize databases, they receive all released versions of a customizable product not already on the local computer.

Observe the following guidelines when using start dates for products with components:

• Carefully coordinate configuration rules that have effective dates with the start date of the customizable product. If you know that you must release a new version of the product because of time-sensitive configuration rules, consider using a version start date rather than effective dates on configuration rules.
• If you want to release two versions such that the second version supersedes the first version on its start date, be sure to fully analyze the possible business impacts of the new version on in-process, and existing quotes.
• The start date cannot be modified after a version is released. Instead, you can release a new version to replace or intercede an existing version.

To release a customizable product

1. Navigate to the Administration - Product screen, then the Product Definitions view.
2. In the Products list, select and lock the desired customizable product.
3. In the Versions list, enter a date in the Start Date field of the Work Space record.
4. Click Release to release a new version of the product.

   A new record appears in the Versions list. Its version number displays in the Version field. The Required State Date field becomes read-only.