Creating baselines in configuration-enabled applications

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A baseline is a read-only set of versioned artifacts. Create baselines to capture the state of a stream at a specific point in time and to define a starting point for new work. For example, create a baseline of a stream and use it as the basis of a new stream for new work. A baseline of a stream can be created at the current timestamp or at some earlier point in time. A baseline of a stream created before is referred to as a historical baseline.

Before you begin

  • Ensure that you are logged in to a project.
  • Your current configuration must be a stream.
  • You must have the configuration lead role or have permission to create baselines.
  • Understand how your organization uses streams and baselines that are based on how many teams need to work in parallel on different versions of the same artifacts. To learn more, see Patterns for stream usage on Jazz®.net.
Note: A baseline of a stream cannot be created with a timestamp that precedes the stream's creation date and time. In addition, the timestamp cannot be after the current system time.

About this task

A baseline captures the current versions of artifacts in a stream. A baseline is a repository object that you can use to return your stream to an earlier configuration.

For example, you can preserve the state of a stream when you released a project for testing.
Tip: If your team uses global configurations, you can create a baseline of a stream from the configuration tree view in the Global Configuration Management application. For more information, see Creating baselines of streams contributed by other IBM® Engineering Lifecycle Management applications.

Procedure

  1. On the toolbar, click the current configuration name, and then click Create Baseline.
  2. Enter the Name and the Description of the baseline.
  3. Click Create.

Results

The current state of the stream that you are working in is captured.

What to do next

You can create new work stream by using the versions of the artifacts in this baseline. To provide a view of all artifacts that are used in a version of your product or system, add the baseline to a global configuration. You or your configuration lead for the GCM application can execute this task provided you have the necessary permissions.

To navigate to the baseline later, switch to it. For more information, see Selecting a component and configuration

At any time during the project lifecycle, you can compare the baseline to a stream to see whether they contain different versions of artifacts.