Configuration Change Management controls how configuration changes are tracked and promoted across SmartSimple environments. When a configuration change is made in one environment, Configuration Change Management logs that change and makes it available to promote to another environment, such as from a development environment to a testing environment and then to a production environment.
Who: Global administrators and teams managing and promoting changes across SmartSimple environments.
When to Use Configuration Change Management
Use Configuration Change Management when:
- Configuration changes need to move from a development environment to a testing environment before deployment to production.
- Multiple administrators are making changes as part of the same project and need to coordinate work across a shared set of changes.
- Individual changes from a package require selective review and promotion rather than promoting all changes at once.
- Tracking is needed to confirm which environment a set of changes has been exported to across a multi-environment workflow.
How Configuration Change Management Works
Configuration Change Management operates on a project-based model. Changes are not compared between databases in real time. Instead, the system logs each configuration change as it happens and associates that change with a project. Those logged changes can then be exported from the source environment and imported into the target environment, where an administrator reviews and selects which changes to promote.
This approach differs from the desktop tool, which compares two databases simultaneously. Configuration Change Management processes promotions significantly faster than the desktop tool.
The general workflow is:
- A user selects a project in their personal settings to begin logging changes against that project.
- The user makes configuration changes. All changes are logged against the selected project.
- An administrator exports the project changes from the source environment.
- An administrator imports and reviews the changes in the target environment, then promotes the selected changes.
- To promote changes to a production environment, the administrator repeats the export and import process from the testing environment to production.
How Projects Organize Configuration Changes
Configuration changes are tracked on a project-by-project basis. A project is a container for a set of related configuration changes. Multiple users can log changes against the same project, allowing teams to coordinate work across a shared set of changes.
When a project is active and a user has selected it in their personal settings, an orange header appears at the top of the screen confirming that changes are being logged against that project.
What Is and Is Not Promoted
Configuration changes are promoted based on individual objects. If two projects modify the same object, such as a report, all changes to that object are promoted when either project involving that object is promoted.
The following items are not promoted when Configuration Change Management runs:
- Details about the last and next run for autoloaders and scheduled exports.
- Associated organization IDs in signup pages and autoloader configurations.
- SmartFolder content, except for System Folders.
- Question Set Builder fields.
In general, if an item was not copied over using the legacy desktop tool, it continues to be excluded from Configuration Change Management promotions.
Search and Filter in the Change Log
The change log includes search and filter controls that allow administrators to narrow the list of logged changes by user and date range. This is useful when managing large change logs across multiple projects or users.
Target Environment Display
Each change in the change log includes a label indicating which environment that change was exported to. For example, a change exported to a testing environment displays as Exported to Test. This replaces the previous Yes/No exported flag and allows administrators to track where a change has been sent across multi-environment workflows.