We have globally deployed both OPM and OPPID, and currently are struggling now with the most-recent updates to the SS5 series because there are backbone schema updates that have occurred. We have a global dataset which we have deployed for our projects, thus allowing us to make singular updates to apply to the breadth of our projects. With the current OPM refresh update, there is a great fix with respect to Consistency Checker, but to get that fix we need to upgrade our schemas to account for any additions / alterations made over the past 18 months. THEN, once we've upgraded the schemas, we need to either update our dataset and see if it works for both old and new projects, or create a new version of the dataset just for new projects, etc.
OPPID is even more challenging because we have active projects dating back to 2010, using SS3, SS4, SS5, and now SS5 refresh 1, and also SS5 refresh 2. We grew accustom to the schema changes across major SS versions, but now there are updates within the refreshes. Deployment is a nightmare for OPPID not only for new project setups but for the ability to potentially leverage content across projects which carry similar data requirements.
Has anyone else experienced these schema update challenges? Schema Differencing is a "treat"...any ideas on a potential EASY button? Is it possible for updates to simply have new supplemental schemas with updates thus not requiring updates to base schema files? (I know some changes cannot be made without modifying the base, but maybe updates of that nature should be restricted to major releases)?
Not sure there is a point to this posting, but I hope it generates some virtual discussion...
Thanks Scott and Brent for bringing out some very good points. We have received similar requests and as mentioned few CRs were also logged to enhance not only the user experience but add capability and functionality for administration tools. It not only is related to schema differencing, upgrades but also towards other areas of project setup, configuration and administration during the project life cycle.
This actually aligns with our planned product development roadmap, and to cater for this exact need, we have been working on creating a brand new tool "OpenPlant Project Administrator". I would encourage you to join a introductory webinar on its upcoming release. You can register at:
http://pages.info.bentley.com/webinars/
With this tool you will find many improvements in project creation, configuration, tagging (defining expressions on ec properties) and schema management.
Schema differencing and upgrade is something we are currently working on and is not part of the early Q2 release. The schema update feature is planned for late July 2015 release. The idea is to present users with change sets or lists the fixes, enhancements for which any schema change occurred. So instead of trying to figure out individual changes, all schema upgrade will be automatically done based on your choice of opting to include an upgraded feature or not. All of your existing changes are retained and any clashes (if properties are changed in our new version of out of the box schemas) are reported and resolved. In this way you will not need to select individual schemas as you do now with class editor but for a particular feature change all schemas changes will be automatically done through an interface which will show you all the changes and details. It may be a good idea to engage you more and show this in more detail once this is part of certified alpha builds and get feedback.
I appreciate the comments provided looking forward to you using OpenPlant Project Administrator.
Regards,Abbas
That’s exciting news Abbas. Looking forward to giving it a try.
We have had success with a similar process of comparing the delivered workspaces for each version to create a delta file which includes only changed classes and properties. We can then review to determine if we will accept changes or not and update our 4 business line configurations accordingly. This works well when updates to the OPM and OPPID tools are delivered separately but can become frustrating when we are updating both tools such as with the OPM 440 and OPPID 523 release. We have found that the common files delivered with both tools (Open plant and supplemental) are not always identical. I assume that these files branched when development of the next build started but were not conformed before being packaged into the delivered workspace. The result is two copies of the same file showing different changes.
Ultimately, I am still hoping that you will consider making OPM and OPPID honor the priority of customer created supplemental files rather than hardcoding functions to read specific supplemental files. This would allow us to segregate a high percentage of our changes to a set of corporate, business line, and project supplemental files.
Kris Wishart
Lead Mechanical Admin
Black & Veatch