Workspace example scenario: Emergency fixes

This scenario assumes that workspaces are already enabled, as workspaces must be enabled when the authoring server instance is created. This scenario also assumes that the quick publish target is set correctly.

To complete the emergency fix:

1. The Workspace Manager creates a workspace.
2. The Workspace Manager creates a task group.
3. The Workspace Manager creates new tasks.
4. The Workspace Manager activates the new task group.
5. The Workspace Content Contributors work on their tasks.
6. The Workspace Content Contributors test their changes.
7. The Workspace Content Contributors mark their tasks as complete.
8. The Task Group Approver approves the completed task group.
9. The changes from the task group are quick published.

The Workspace Manager creates a workspace

Because emergency fixes are probably an ongoing issue for a site, the workspace manager creates a new, persistent workspace. This workspace keeps the emergency fix workspace available even if there are no new or active task groups in the workspace.

The Workspace Manager marks the workspace as an emergency fix workspace. This mark allows people in the workspace to override the set workspace locking policy and fix managed assets even if they are locked.

Using one workspace for emergency fixes also keeps information about the fixes in one location. You can go back into the Workspace Administration tool or Workspace Management tool and view a history of emergency fixes.

The Workspace Manager creates a new quick publish task group

Because these fixes are emergency fixes, they must be committed to the production-ready data and published to the production server as soon as possible. The Workspace Manager creates one new, single-use, quick publish task group. The Workspace Manager adds the Product Manager as the approver for the task group.

By selecting the quick publish option when creating a task group, the Workspace Manager ensures that both the commit to production-ready data and the publish to the production server will happen as soon as possible after the task group is approved.

The task group is single-use because the task group is specifically for this emergency fix and does not need to recur.

If this emergency fix is similar to a previous fix, the Workspace Manager might have a task group template available and instead of creating a task group, the Workspace Manager creates the task group from a template. The Workspace Manager can also save the task group as a template to use when creating task groups later.

The Workspace Manager creates new tasks

The emergency fix can be done by one person, so the workspace manager creates one task for all the work required for the emergency fix.

If this emergency fix task is similar to a previous fix, the Workspace Manager might have a task template available and instead of creating a task, the Workspace Manager creates the task from a template. The Workspace Manager can also save the new tasks as templates to use when creating tasks later.

The Workspace Manager activates the new task group

Now that the Workspace Manager has the workspace, task group, and task in place, the Workspace Manager activates the task group so that the Workspace Content Contributor can work on the task.

An e-mail message is sent to the Workspace Content Contributor.

The Workspace Content Contributors work on their tasks

After receiving e-mail notification that their tasks are active, Workspace Content Contributors log on to either the WebSphere Commerce Accelerator or the Management Center, select their tasks, and work on them.

The Workspace Content Contributor tests their changes

While working on their tasks, Workspace Content Contributors can test their changes with the Preview function available in either the WebSphere Commerce Accelerator or the Management Center

The Workspace Content Contributors marks their tasks as complete

When Workspace Content Contributors finishes all the work required to finish their assigned tasks and test their changes, they mark their tasks as complete.

When all tasks are completed, an approval task is generated and assigned to the Workspace Task Group Approver.

The Workspace Task Group Approver approves the completed task group

The Task Group Approver receives an e-mail indicating that the task group is ready for approval.

Before granting approval, the Task Group Approver reviews the changes made and confirms that they are correct. The Task Group Approver uses the store preview function to check the store.

If the Task Group Approver is satisfied with the changes, the Task Group Approver can approve the changes in either the WebSphere Commerce Accelerator or the Management Center.

The changes from the task group are quick published

After the task group is approved, the task group data is committed to the production-ready data. When the commit is completed, the task group data is published to the production server.

If your WebSphere Commerce environment is federated and you are publishing managed files, EAR updater is triggered as part of Quick Publishing the Managed File. If your WebSphere Commerce environment is not federated, you must manually copy your files.

If you have a non-federated environment, you can configure your EAR Updater for FTP. Quick Publish now has a forceEARUpdate option. By setting this option to true, Quick Publish can call the EAR Updater to FTP the managed file to the production environment. For more information about setting the forceEARUpdate option, see configuring Quick publish to call EAR Updater for non-federated environments.