Q&A: Job Service North Dakota on EAE and Microsoft Team
Foundation Serverd
We ended engineering-level support for the legacy, UREP-based EAE version control software on June 30, 2015. In place of the tool, we’re offering an MSSCCI API interface to Microsoft® Team Foundation Server (TFS) to support version control activities in the EAE environment.
One of the first EAE users to make the switch to TFS was Job Service North Dakota. An organization dedicated to providing services that address North Dakota’s current and emerging workforce needs, Job Service North Dakota helps residents find suitable, sustainable employment, works with businesses to recruit qualified candidates, and administers the state’s unemployment benefits program.
We recently spoke with Brian Heitkamp, Database Administrator at Job Service North Dakota, about the transition to TFS and how the new tool has impacted the organization’s version control activities and overall development process.
Developing Agility: Please give us a brief description of your development environment.
Brian Heitkamp: We’re running EAE Developer 3.3.3412 and EAE 3.3.3413 for the ClearPath® MCP Runtime. We have three code repositories. One allows our developers to create and modify objects. One is a User Acceptance Testing (UAT) environment. And the third is a production repository that contains the code running in our production environment.
Our development environment has three gen sets defined and three different generated runtime environments – the code is the same in each, but the data is different. Our UAT environment also has three gen sets and three generated runtime environments, once again with the same code but different data. Because we use Remote Database Backup (RDB), the production environment has three gen sets to support the RDB environment.
DA: How many developers do you have? What’s the size of your model?
BH: We have eight developers currently. A full extract of our model file is 203 MB, and at TFS conversion time, it contained 14,147
versionable objects.
DA: When did you start using TFS with EAE?
BH: We began using TFS in August of 2015.
DA: Tell us a little about how your developers reacted to TFS. What’s been the biggest adjustment for them?
BH: The main difference was learning how to do things they were familiar with when using the UREP-based version control product. For example, adding an object now requires them to do so from the business segment. An object must now be checked out before they can copy it. And there’s a bit of a difference in how the GO command works. These are some minor issues that will be addressed by Unisys soon.
DA: Overall, do you feel that you had to make big adjustments in your environment, as well as your approach to source control and releasing changes?
BH: We did have to make adjustments in our process, but nothing big. Our release process had the most changes because we made extensive use of the UREP labeling feature, which didn’t translate well to TFS branching.
DA: What aspects of TFS have your developers found particularly useful?
BH: Because we use TFS branches to contain our development, UAT, and production code, our developers can see what versions of objects are in which code repositories. They can then use TFS to compare the versions to identify the differences in each.
DA: Looking back, what was the biggest challenge in the process of moving from the UREP-based version control product to TFS?
BH: We ran into some issues around getting ICs installed. We also had some trouble when we did our container operations as part of the process to migrate our existing EAE models into TFS, but Unisys was quick to provide a workaround for that.
DA: What recommendations would you offer to sites that are just now beginning their move to TFS?
BH: It’s a good idea to download and explore TFS first, so your developers have a chance to play with it before going live. Maybe even set up a test environment that uses TFS.
Participating in the Unisys hosted three-day Version Control Workshop was a worthwhile exercise, as well.
It’s also important to understand and document the processes and procedures that you use in the UREP world, so you can quickly and easily convert them to the TFS world. Along those same lines, be sure to practice the steps needed to move to TFS. And don’t wait too long after the workshop to execute the migration.
Thanks again to Brian for taking the time to speak with us. If you’re curious about how TFS can benefit your EAE environment, please email us for additional information.