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What software or process have you seen to be successful in tracking business dependencies?
For example, we have a PowerPoint macro that executes and downloads dashboard images from our main ASP.Net app and builds a sales presentation. The PPT rarely gets touched by development so we do not usually think about it when we need to change something about the dashboard images.
We have many, many dependencies like this between our many different processes and applications. We have a main web site, some other supporting websites (like SSRS), SSIS, a few windows services and some console apps. Trying to remember or know what is affected by a change in the main app is getting to be very challenging.
How have you approached this problem? I hope I have explained it clearly enough. How do you track dependencies so that an update to one system does not end up breaking another?
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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We use a combination of Jira with CI tooling (JetBrains TeamCity) and source control. When an assembly changes, the build process tracks *every* application that builds off it and the CI processes rebuild those applications. We have policies to enforce pre-commit builds so that builds cannot be broken.
This space for rent
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Thank you. I'll look into that.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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A big whiteboard?
cheers
Chris Maunder
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I have pondered this issue as well.
I am part of a group that works on a large data collection application; there are 70+ installations with a few million data points.
On each server, there may be calculations that are dependent on other data points - how to track those? Change a data point, such as rename it, and break the calculation.
Then, there are data points that are copied to other servers for various business reasons; a point may be copied from 'A' to 'B' to 'C' because there is no direct path from 'A' to 'C'; again, change any of them and break the chain. How to track those?
And, of course, where are the data points consumed?
I'd like to build an automated system to track the dependencies with SQL Server, but.. don't think that is gonna happen...
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Tim Carmichael wrote: to track the dependencies with SQL Server
I think there are tools to track dependencies within SQL as there are within Visual Studio code, but I really need something that covers all of them including documents or just processes, not just code.
Tim Carmichael wrote: don't think that is gonna happen...
I think to build what I need would be pretty massive, not only to build the software to do it but also to input the data. That would be pretty overwhelming.
Thanks for the feedback though.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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Overwhelming... yes.
What happens now is, point get renamed... eventually someone notices a break... we fix it.
I would MUCH prefer to fix it all at one time...
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Take up smoking. You'll need a lot of fag packets*.
* "Cigarette boxes" for the heathen forringers.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Whenever I do a software update I pray to the great overlord Cthulhu and hope nothing breaks.
Dependency tracking is for wussies 
Seriously though, good question.
We have the same problem, although most issues are found before release through failing Jenkins builds/unit tests that are triggered when a dependent project gets updated 
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A long time ago, we added it to the MAKEFILE that ran notepad on the text file that required updating.
The timestamp of the text file with the reminder in it. LOL. Resaving the file after addressing the potential issue stopped the message from coming up again until next time.
In todays worlds, I would probably build a spreadsheet that had was setup as:
FileName,DateTimeUpdated,ISSUE_FLAG,,,OtherDependencyName1,DateTimeConfirmed1,OtherDependency2,DTC2,....
Such that the powerpoint that can break is one of the dependencies of the file in question.
In fact, multiple files, if changed, can break the dependency.
The issue Flag is simply set if the DateTimeUpdated > Min(DTC1,DTC2,DTC3...)
Now, you could simplify it by repeating the row for each filename, and only having one dependency per row.
A Simple macro to lookup the date time stamp of the files in question.
The upside is that this is simpler, easier to update, and finally easier to make notes of what the dependency is so you know what to double check.
It gets down to WHY track the dependency. Our Text File had the instructions for testing/validating.
It was included with the source control. And served as a good reminder when committing changes to make the same changes back into production.
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Visio.
You can have hyperlinks between pages and elements; allows for "drilling down". You can effectively generate a (documentation) web site (html export).
Like the "whiteboard" suggestion, but more manageable (IMO).
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Hm. Interesting. I'll look into that. Thanks.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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You got moderated.
On the other hand... this can degenerate quite fast... maybe moving it to soapbox?
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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I survived three years on a highschool in El Paso, but had to do so without a gun.
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a f***ing golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?"
"You mean like from space?"
"No, from Canada."
If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns.
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You would not believe it
The school was so fancy that even the mice in the kitchen had to wear a tie.
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a f***ing golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?"
"You mean like from space?"
"No, from Canada."
If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns.
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CDP1802 wrote: even the mice in the kitchen had to wear a tie.
Now, that is just the worst!!
Were you studying an MBA or something nefarious like that?! 
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No, just the fanciest private school El Paso had to offer. My father's employer paid part of the tuition fees to spare us kids the overfilled public schools.
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a f***ing golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?"
"You mean like from space?"
"No, from Canada."
If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns.
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I predict a decline in the number of working teachers... 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Why? They allowed to get guns too...I would say we will see a change in teaching methods...And exams will carry out more like an interrogation...
Skipper: We'll fix it.
Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?
Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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Would you want to stand in front of 30 teenage boys armed with concealed weapons and hand out bad grades? 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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OriginalGriff wrote: teenage boys
??? It's about 21 and over!!! Not that it much more safe, but the teacher can start that 'hand-out' process by loading the chamber of his/her own 'toy'...
Skipper: We'll fix it.
Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?
Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter wrote: loading the chamber of his/her own 'toy'
And the show begins!
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