Management Of Change (MOC)

The Management of Change (MOC) analysis allows comparison of two builds to see changes that have taken place. It is automatically executed with each build. MOC shows deleted, added or changed files. MOC now shows entire folders when appropriate. MOC also analyzes all tags in your databases and shows tags that have been modified, added or removed. From BuildPlus | Tools | Project Options, you can select two builds for comparison. If you keep the project files, you can print the old and new versions from a comparison of two builds.

For more information, see also Management of Change Report in Hyperview Help.

Understanding Management of Change

Each time a build is performed, if the MOC tool is enabled, a file is generated called base<date>-.txt that is used for the basis of comparison between builds. Before the hyperlink compile, the two base files for the current and previous builds are compared and a comparison file MOC<date>-<time>.txt generated with the changes.

We take special pains with files to suppress access dates in CAD files, for example, looking only for content changes.

The base file contains information about nearly every item in the project:

• CADEWS drawings (.cad) - including Composer CLD files
• Conductor models and submodels (.m1, .m2)
• Graphics (.dis, .dr., .dt)
• Graphics symbols (.dy)
• Database records (excluding PI and XLS databases) (.dbf)
• AutoCAD / MicroStation drawings (.dwg, .dgn, .dxf)
• Applications (.txt, .b90, .ab, .rtu)
• Ladder configuration files (.lad)

Information stored in the base file:

• Name of the project file
• Database records: filename, tag name, CRC
• Other: filename, title / key, timedate, CRC

Changes are reported if:

• a database record is missing, new or its CRC has changed
• a file is missing, new or its CRC has changed (a change in the timedate stamp will not trigger a difference)
  

Why might you think MOC means "Mismanagement of Change"?

• If you are practicing management of change, MOC shows you what you already know.
• If you actually find an undocumented change, it means you found one that was mismanaged.

Each run of MOC, after the first initial build, will result in the creation of MOC_DIFFERENCES_<date&letter>.TXT. This file will contain the changes detected between the current build and the old build. BuildPlus processes this file to categorize all the changes into the types of differences and presents it in an easy-to-view and easy-to-use Treeview to allow the user to select specific records or files for printing. The Management of Change report is included automatically in the project file.

Using Management of Change with Scheduled Builds

You will notice that your project files are automatically renamed by default with the current date. Again, by default, the Management of Change report (MOC_Differences_<date>.txt) shows you changes between the current build and the previous one.

Thus, to get even more benefit from MOC, use it in conjunction with a regularly scheduled build, so you get a comparison of the previous build automatically.

For more information, see Running scheduled builds in BuildPlus help documentation.