Work on the Same Participant in Different Workspaces
You can work on the same participant in different workspaces at the same time.
For example:
-
Two different developers need to work on different parts of a configuration model at the same time.
-
You like to use the same participant in more than one workspace to test out different sets of structures, rules, and user interfaces that meet the needs of different market segments, different sets of customers, and so on.
Consider an example where two different developers need to work on the same configuration
model at the same time. Atsuko
uses workspace 1, and Valerie uses
workspace 2.

Here's how it works.
-
Monday.
Atsuko
imports the 4 Door Sedan model from the Product Information Management work area for the first time.The import creates version 0 the model, creates
Atsuko's
workspace, adds the model toAtsuko's
workspace, then immediately releasesAtsuko's
workspace. Version 0 is an exact copy of the model that Product Information Management has.Atsuko
can't modify version 0, but instead modifies version 1 of the model inAtsuko's
workspace.Atsuko
specializes in the user experience, and starts using workspace 1 to design the user interface that customers will use to configure the 4 Door Sedan. -
Tuesday. Valerie creates workspace 2, then adds version 0 of the 4 Door Sedan model to workspace 2.
Valerie is a software engineer and starts adding the rules that the model needs to implement the user interface that
Atsuko
is creating. -
Wednesday.
Atsuko
finishes designing the user interface and releases version 1 of the 4 Door Sedan model.Configurator automatically updates the model in Valerie's workspace from version 0 to version 1.
-
Thursday. Valerie uses the rules from
Atsuko's
workspace to implement the user interface thatAtsuko
created. This feature helps to make sure that Valerie is usingAtsuko's
latest work, and avoids having to manually update the workspaces to keep them synchronized.Valerie releases version 2, and Configurator updates the model in both workspaces from version 2 to version 3.
-
Friday.
Atsuko
tests the user interface and makes sure that the interface and rules are working together correctly. Hopefully they do, thenAtsuko
releases version 3 of the model into production.
Effective Start Date
Make sure the effective start date in your workspaces aren't the same.
Assume you add the 4 Door Sedan model as a participant x to Atsuko's
workspace. If you add participant x to Valerie's workspace, then Configurator displays a
message that tells you another workspace already has participant x. If
Atsuko's
workspace has the same effective start date as Valerie's
workspace, then you can't add participant x to Valerie's workspace because it would
cause a conflict when both drafts go into effect. You must change the effective start
date for Atsuko's
workspace. Alternatively, change the effective start
date for Valerie's workspace, then add x to Valerie's workspace.