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# Baseline and release templates

In the Administration Console, use baseline and release templates to define the criteria based on which the items are included in baselines or releases.

Note: Templates for items and requests are different in nature. For details, see Use item and request templates.

In this topic:

## Guidelines for baseline and release templates

When working with baseline and release templates in the Administration Console, you can:

- List (query) existing baseline and release templates in the Dimensions CM base database.

- Create a baseline template to determine which items are selected for inclusion when creating a baseline.

- Create a release template to determine which items are included in a release, and the subfolders into which they are copied.

- Assign group names to collections of item types, which may then be specified for a release template rule.

- Edit or delete existing baseline and release templates.

Guidelines for defining baseline and release templates:

- To define baseline and release templates, you need the Manage Baseline and Release Templates privilege.

- The template ID must be unique within the base database.

- Users must have a role on the product to restrict the list of item types when defining or editing a baseline or release template. The template itself is not product- specific.

- To modify or delete a baseline template that has been used to make a release baseline, you need to delete the release baseline first.

- You cannot modify or delete a release template if it is used to make a release.

- You cannot modify or delete an item type group if the group is specified in any release template.

To define baseline and release templates, go to Administration Console > Product Administration > Baseline & release templates.

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## About baseline templates

A baseline template is a set of rules which determines which Dimensions CM items are included and excluded from a baseline.

The following types of baseline templates are available:

Item baseline templates | For an item baseline template, you specify the criteria for inclusion and exclusion of item revisions by defining a set of rules based on the item's type, revision, status, or build stage, and item relationships.
Request baseline templates | For a request baseline template, you specify the criteria for inclusion of item revisions based on a selected group of Dimensions CM requests to which the item revisions are related as In Response To or, optionally, Info. You define a set of rules for the selection of these requests.

Key features:

- Release and archive baselines are defined by their associated templates.

- A design baseline is essentially defined by the absence of an associated template. The baseline includes all revisions of the items from the top-level design part and its subordinate design parts, regardless of their status.

- Baseline templates are unique with respect to the base database. They are not restricted to particular products.

- Release baselines include only one revision of each item.

- Baselines based on a request baseline template are always release baselines.

To define baseline templates, go to Administration Console > Product Administration > Baseline & release templates > Baseline templates.

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## About release templates

A release template defines or modifies the rules by which baselined items are selected for inclusion in a release to an operating system folder.

The set of rules specifies:

- Which parts of the product structure are to be included.

- Which item types are to be included.

- How the selected items are to be structured in the operating system release folder.

To define release templates, go to Administration Console > Product Administration > Baseline & release templates > Release templates.

Key features:

- A release baseline defines a set of user-defined rules or criteria by which baselined design parts are selected for inclusion in a release. This rule is then applied to that design part and its subordinates in the design structure tree, unless and until another rule specifies any such subordinate design part. In this case, that other rule overrides the earlier rule for the subtree, and so on.

  Alternatively, a rule may be applied to all design parts of the product.

  If an asterisk (*) is specified as the design part, the rule is applied to all design parts for which no specific item type rule exists ("select all"). The definition of a default rule in a template ensures that all design parts within a baselined structure are considered for inclusion in the release.

- A release baseline defines a set of user-defined rules or criteria by which baselined items are selected for inclusion in a release.

  If an asterisk (*) is specified as the item type, the rule is applied to all items for which no specific item type rule exists ("select all"). The definition of a default rule in a template ensures that all items within a baselined structure are considered for inclusion in the release.

  If a hyphen (-) is specified as the item type, the rule is applied to no items (this is used to inhibit the selection of items for some subtree of the design part structure).

- (Optional) A release baseline specifies operating system subfolders to be added to the release pathname specified by users (folder into which the above are to be copied). The subfolder must be a relative format (such as xxx/yyy on UNIX or xxx\yyy on Windows).

  If a subfolder is specified, the items of all types specified by the rule, for all design parts selected by the rule, are placed in the subfolder with the leaf node portion of their project file name. If a subfolder is not specified, the items' project file names are used, relative to the operating system release folder that the user requests for the release.

  Dimensions CM creates any operating system folders or subfolders that do not exist, when they are needed (provided that the user has the necessary operating system file access rights).

  The objective of subfolders is to simplify subsequent handling of the release data. For example, a release template can be used to specify that executable code, source code modules, user documentation, and system specification documents are each to be grouped in different subfolders. You can include one item a number of times in a release, provided each copy is assigned to a different subfolder.

- (Optional) A database-unique "group name" can be assigned to a number of otherwise unrelated item types. The group name may then be specified in a template rule, bringing all the associated item types within the scope of that rule.

Note: All release template rules apply only to the items selected by the baseline specified for a release. If a release template is not used, all the items in the baseline are placed in a single release folder, their project file names being used relative to the operating system release folder the user requests for the release.

You can use different release templates with the same baseline to create a number of different release configurations, such as test configurations of subsystems, or to make available different groups of items, such as user documentation.

Where appropriate, the same release template may be used:

- In creating different releases of the same configuration.

- In conjunction with different baselines and for different products.

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## About item type groups

An item type group is a set of item types you set up to help you specify which ones to include in a release baseline.

In Dimensions CM, you can assign a group name to a number of otherwise unrelated item types. You can then use the group name instead of a specific item type in a template rule, bringing all the associated item types within the scope of that rule.

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See also:

- Baseline and Release Templates main window
- Create a baseline template
- Create a release template
- Create and manage item type groups

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