Three Ways Roundtable TSMS 11.6 Says “We Get You”

Director of Business Development Jaclyn Barnard shares how Roundtable TSMS 11.6 demonstrates their ongoing commitment to deliver “real value” to its end users.

Your favorite (and repeatedly proven) best-practice software configuration management solution for Progress OpenEdge development has done it again. This August Roundtable Software announced the latest release of its flagship product Roundtable TSMS. If one were to sum up the efforts of Roundtable TSMS 11.6 and Roundtable TSMS 11.5 put together, it would be: “We get you.”

Roundtable TSMS is built on and specifically designed for the Progress OpenEdge development platform. It is the only solution of its kind that is seamlessly integrated with the Progress OpenEdge development platform and makes it a mission to continually evolve with the Progress OpenEdge development platform. This commitment is backed by a one-of-a-kind technology partnership with Progress Software. Beyond this (as if this weren’t impressive enough), Roundtable TSMS is managed with Roundtable TSMS. Its developers are also end-users. As fellow end-users, they want to see features that deliver real value.

Roundtable TSMS 11.6 Testimonial

Roundtable TSMS 11.6, released in August 2016, introduces two new features.

So what’s new in Roundtable TSMS 11.6? And how is it evident of like-minds delivering real value?

1. Roundtable developers hate losing WIP code too.

Consider this statement by Gerry Winning, Senior Programmer at Wolters Kluwer: “Nothing is more demoralizing than re-doing the same changes or knowing I had already solved an issue but accidentally blew the WIP code away.”

Gerry Winning, we get you.

Roundtable TSMS 11.6 introduces the Backup feature. WIP code is now automatically saved in the Roundtable repository. If something happens to you, your local drive, or those glorious lines of code, it can be recovered: there’s no more wasting countless man-hours recovering lost WIP changes.

To see how the Backup feature works, watch the brief video below.

2. Roundtable developers table projects too.

It’s nice to think that all work we start is seen to the finish, but that’s not always the case. What do you do with brilliantly crafted code that no longer has an immediate use (and therefore no place to live) in the software development lifecycle? What do you do with brilliantly crafted pieces of code that have more use beyond their original purpose? We all like to save what matters. The question is where.

Roundtable TSMS 11.6 introduces the Shelf feature. The Shelf creates a designated place in the Roundtable repository for each user to “put stuff.” One can store items on and share items from his/her shelf as well as browse items on the shelves of others . How’s that for convenience, improved team collaboration, and (because it’s in the repository) disaster recovery?

To see how the Shelf feature works, watch the brief video below.

3. Roundtable developers like parallel development too.

Have two or more members of your team ever needed to modify the same object at the same time? How do you manage that?

There was (and still is) good reason for the Roundtable TSMS policy of pessimistic locking. A lot of what some may have viewed at first as workarounds (e.g., creating different versions of an object specific to different Workspaces rather than continuously accessing the same one) have been proven to be a better practice for many. There are fewer check-out conflicts. Pessimistic locking ensures that no one unintentionally clobbers another’s committed changes. Still there are times when this one-at-a-time methodology, even with an improved strategy, causes delays. This is why the Roundtable team was thrilled to introduce the Lab feature.

The Lab is not a new feature. It has been available since Roundtable TSMS 11.5. Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning again. If you find yourself tinkering away on a project like a mad scientist, and you must check out a number of objects simultaneously and for an extended period of time, you can now do so without feeling like you are delaying the progress of others.

The Lab feature allows for a soft check-out of the things you need. While you work away on your extended project in a secure, comprehensive, and fully managed environment, others may formally check out/in the same objects to accomplish more immediate goals. If an object officially changes while you have it in the Lab, the Lab will indicate so. You may review those changes and appropriate your work accordingly. The Lab allows everyone to continue working productively and without inadvertently clobbering code.

P.S. All WIP items in the Lab are also securely saved in the Roundtable repository thanks to the new Backup feature (see item #1).

To see how the Lab feature works, watch the brief video below.

And this one too, which is more scenario focused.

 

In summary … Do you like what you see here? Contact your account representative (or click here to contact us directly) to request the latest release today. Roundtable TSMS 11.6 is compatible with OpenEdge versions 10.2B and higher.

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