Configuration Management FAQs

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 configurations locally ahead of time and testing and exporting them, so that they are ready to be installed 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 unintended elements, we recommend applying changes in a “fix-forward” approach (ensuring the object is updated and maintained in the future after the initial launch). 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.

The following configurations are not currently included:

• Address book entries

• Email Settings

• Print Settings

Are Pre-Built Configuration Packs Available?

We provide configuration packs to facilitate the configuration of specific functionality. These packs are 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.