Configuration Management FAQs

Note

This article answers some common questions related to the configuration management of Autoform DM (versions 9 and 10).

What Are Some Common Use Cases for This Feature?

Support may want to use the export tool to get extracts of customer configuration to triage issues. Implementation can be streamlined by building configuration locally ahead of time, testing, and finally exporting ready for installation on the customer site.

Change rollout between environments can be reproduced automatically to reduce human error. The configuration .json file can be easily backed up or stored in version control (separate from the Autoform DM database) and used in cases of system replication.

What Happens if an Import Contains Breaking Changes?

The import process ensures that Autoform DM never ends up in a broken state. If there are any failures during the import, all changes will be rolled back. However, we still recommend using the Validate feature before importing to review what will be changed and ensure it matches expectations.

If the wrong changes are applied or the export contains something unintended, we recommend applying changes in a ‘fix-forward’ (ensuring the object is updated and maintained in the future after the initial launch) style approach. However, if the previous version of the full configuration is stored in version control, it can be re-applied using the following strategies in order to revert:

• Existing Item Strategy – DELETE

• Existing Relationship Strategy – REPLACE

Is There Anything Configuration Management Does not Handle?

Configuration management in Autoform DM is focused on the core configuration set, excluding the document state and anything relevant to it. For this reason, any changes that would destroy document data, such as deleting in-use document definitions, will result in a validation or import failure.

Client applications contain a large binary component and, therefore, cannot be installed via configuration management. However, the user or group access to them can be exported and updated.

Users also require some manual interaction within CREATE to provide a temporary password.

The following configuration is not currently included:

• Address book entries

• Email Settings

• Print Settings

Are Pre-Built Configuration Packs Available?

We will provide base configuration packs to facilitate the configuration of specific functionality, such as Autoform DM Client applications. These packs will be documented in the application configuration manual and provided with each app release.

Note

If a pack is not provided for your required feature, or you have a pack that you think should be shared, contact us.