In STEP, historical versions of objects are stored as revisions, providing a historical 'snapshot' of an object. All versions of a revisable object are automatically preserved. Each time a change is made by a different user, a numbered revision is created and logged. Revisions allow users to revert back to a previous version of a revisable object, identify who has made changes to an object (including what changed and when), and support overall auditing functionality within the system.
Revisions are maintained for the following object types: business rules, workflows, integration endpoints, products, entities, classifications, assets, standard standalone event queues, and Web UI configurations. Although each of these object types have their own unique features, the overall functionality of creating and maintaining revisions is universal across objects.
Revisions and Approvals
While revisions and approvals are related, they should not be confused.
- Objects that are workspace revisable are subject to approvals, and approving an object automatically generates a revision of it. For more information on approving objects, see the Approval of Objects section of the Getting Started / User Guide documentation
- Objects that are globally revisable, such as System Setup objects like workflows or business rules, are not subject to approval. This means that they can have revisions made, but only via the processes described in the Generating Revisions topic here.
- Most object types are either strictly workspace revisable, or strictly globally revisable, with no option to change the revisability handling. The exception to this is entity object types, which have a Revisability parameter that allows for configuration of the revisability type. More information on this, see the Revisability on Entity Object Type topic within this guide here.
Important: It is critical to consider revision handling for each system. Implement appropriate processes to purge old revisions and ensure that the number of revisions does not exceed the expected capacity of the system, which can cause performance issues.
The following topics explain how to work with revisions: