System Configuration Documentation
// December 3rd, 2009 // Portfolio
The problem: While working on client site, it became a daily chore to ensure that all teams had the current system configuration specifications. One line of business would decide to change a product that impacted another line of business all the time. In addition, we found that stakeholders were constantly using outdated reports.
The Solution: To keep all lines of business and technical teams up to date on the current configuration, I created a set of scripts to generate an easy to read report in HTML from the actual system XML configuration files. This allowed business users, as well as technical users, to view product, security, and workflow data models.
The Technology: Created using XSLT and windows batch scripts, the program would fetch the current system configuration files from Rational ClearCase, generate the HTML using Saxon, and then publish the HTML report to a central location. All team members were able to access the current version at all times, saving many hours of wasted communication and time lost correcting conflicts that could have been avoided if everyone was working from the same set of data.