I met with hundreds of potential customers and Oracle database consumers who all demonstrated their frustrations and dissatisfaction with the way their organization is dealing with development on their database. The part I find amazing is the fact that everyone seems to know there is a huge problem with the way they are working. They know that there is a strong need to deal with the database changes in the same manner that their SCM is dealing with the software code. They wouldn’t dare work without a good SCM solution in place, and yet, somehow ignore this need when it comes to their database.

If they don’t have a good DCM solution in place they are aware of the fact that their development and deployment are not in sync and that they are taking much too much time for their database deployment. In effect it seems that everyone has tons of work on their plate and not even close to enough time to do it all. Everyone has one thing in common, they are short-handed and spending their time fixing things; the way I see it more people are standing in place or even moving backward as opposed to moving forward.

What they don’t realize is that there is a very simple easy to use product, called TeamWork™,  that integrates with their SCM program and will facilitate their change policy and deployment automation with very little effort. The evaluation of the product is painless and does not take a lot of time. The many customers who have already implemented our true end to end database change management solution have finally successfully freed up their time to do what they truly need to do and not spend a majority of their time putting out fires and fixing bugs and repairing errors and investigating the who, what, when and why of everything.

So why not spend some time in order to save time? If you do decide to put some time aside to evaluate TeamWork™ we will make sure that it is fast, easy and efficient – contact me.

READ MORE about what our customers are saying

“Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education uses dbMaestro TeamWork™ to reduce database change deployment time by 95%”

Visit us at Booth 1720 in the COLLABORATE 12 Exhibitor Showcase.

COLLABORATE 12 is designed to help users of Oracle database technologies gain greater value from their Oracle investments.

Come and see how TeamWork™ by dbMaestro can
eliminate your database risks and reduce your deployment costs.

We’ll see you in Las Vegas!

About COLLABORATE 12

The Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG), the Oracle Applications Users Group (OAUG) and Quest International Users Group (Quest) present COLLABORATE 12:

Technology and Applications Forum for the Oracle Community. As an educational conference, COLLABORATE 12 helps users of the full family of Oracle business applications and database software gain greater value from their Oracle investments. Created by and for customers, COLLABORATE 12 offers an expert blend of customer-to-customer interaction and insights from technology visionaries and Oracle strategists. Expand your network of contacts by interacting with Oracle customers, solutions providers, consultants, developers and representatives from Oracle Corporation at COLLABORATE 12.

COLLABORATE 12: IOUG Forum
April 23-25, 2012
Mandalay Bay Resort & Convention Center
Las Vegas, Nevada USA

The goal should be to obtain a complete proactive compliance process that both protects the company’s most valuable database asset and doesn’t accelerate expenses once an audit comes along.

The primary security concerns of the auditor when conducting a database audit include authentication and authorization issues. The issue of authentication and authorization must be covered in an automatic and streamlined process.

We are all looking to reduce the cost and complexity of compliance. Automating control and monitoring is a great place to start, because it adds efficiency and efficacy to the compliance efforts by increasing the accuracy of the audit data and preventing unauthorized activities.

It’s all about automating the process – giving the auditor the information required of who made what changes when to the database – and at the same time saving expenses and precious time.

As the issue of compliance has become a way of life – we must find the right methods and solutions that will provide us with the best way to automate the process.

TeamWork™ DCM is a complete solution that covers the entire process from development through to production. It enforces compliance with change policy through all stages of the development process, from development through testing to production. dbMaestro TeamWork™ enables IT organizations to satisfy database compliance requirements, such as those of GLBA (Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act), SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley), PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) and COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology).

TeamWork™ provides you access to a reliable audit trail for the managed database object definitions as well as the ability to manage content.

With TeamWork™:

• Changes to database objects must be documented and approved
• The audit trail of object changes must be reviewed
• Database changes made in development must be deployed to testing and production

Call us now before you get caught by your next audit

dbMaestro TeamWork™ is the ultimate DCM (Database Change Management) Solution and the only solution available that enables you to:

• Control – Finally Control Your Database Development
• Deploy – Decrease Your Deployment Costs by 95%
• Protect – Enhance your Database Security
• Comply – Ensure Compliance to Regulatory Bodies (PCI, SOX, HIPAA, etc…)

The number of security breaches and intrusions is growing exponentially. As the gatekeepers increase their defensive, the offense (hackers) are becoming even more sophisticated with increased ability to destroy networks and steal sensitive data and information.

It’s no wonder that over 83% of Security and Audit Pros reveal that their databases are not adequately protected.  A large percentage of these professionals are finally recognizing the threat of human error and insider abuse and are seeing security breaches occurring by privileged IT staff and not from outside threats.

The documented costs of these security issues is in the millions however the professionals have indicated that they have no idea of how much their security (or lack of) is actually costing them.

It’s time to add more gatekeepers from the outside gate into the house!

Your Database must be protected from within as well as from without.

One of the greatest documented challenges to the database is human error from within.  The other is abuse of user privileges.  With the number of threats growing it is not enough to detect and prevent unauthorized access to data in a database.  Your organization must have the ability to prevent unauthorized changes to the database structure and the data it contains. It is essential to have the ability to trace the changes being made not only by what the change is but by who has made the change.

You need to know: Who did What to your database, When they did it and Why it was done.

TeamWork™ brought to us by dbMaestro is the first DCM solution that actually prevents unauthorized changes to the database with their Enhanced Security features.

Only TeamWork™:

• Prevents unauthorized changes to your database
• Grants appropriate access permissions to each organizational role
• Ensures that access and changes to database are performed by those with authorization
• Eliminates any unsuspected surprises in production

Without the protection of TeamWork™, anyone with access to the database through the database user account; Developers, QA users and DBAs can change any database object at any time in any environment.

Talk about a breach in security – no wonder over 83% of DBAs are claiming that their databases are lacking in protection measures!

Contact us now so you don’t caught along with the others.

dbMaestro TeamWork™ is the ultimate DCM (Database Change Management) Solution and the only solution available that enables you to:

• Control – Finally Control Your Database Development
• Deploy – Decrease Your Deployment Costs by 95%
• Protect – Enhance your Database Security
• Comply – Ensure Compliance to Regulatory Bodies (PCI, SOX, HIPAA, etc…)

In database development just like in any type of development you are faced with risks that threaten your job and your product. Your environment is a battleground.  You need to build your wall of protection in order to minimize the threats and improve your production cycle.

This line of defense can be described as a safety net that envelops the entire development team. This safety net must be built step by step – as the holes become smaller your protection becomes greater.

Most developers utilize a SCM solution for protection and don’t think about the partial protection they are getting by not covering their database requirements. The holes in their safety net are huge.

As you build your net through the development process – end to end – your level of safety improves and grows.

Your valuable assets must be protected with a true safety net.

Begin with your database development-

Changes are being implemented by your developers –

-          Are these changes in accordance with the business requirements? Are they in line with your roadmap?

-          Are all changes implemented or are your developers overriding each other with their work?

-          Are changes authorized and conducted by authorized developers?

-          Are you in control of your changes?

A true safety net with the smallest of holes must control:

• Change Policy- Enforcement which manages all sequential changes to database artifacts, eliminates out-of-process updates to database structure, code or content and associates technical changes with business activities
• Operational Risk- It starts from the development environment through to production – while enabling version control and rollback, as well as the ability for rapid error recovery it reduces the operational risk involved in change.

The dbMaestro TeamWork™ DCM solution gives you the only available safety net that truly covers your database development with these unique features:

Check In/Check Out

• Check in & Check out database schema objects while locking unchecked objects
• Check in & Check out table content – to prevent accidental change of static, parameter or Meta-data tables

3 Way Analysis

All changes are analyzed, examined, with relevance to previous versions or to a reference environment.

Automatic Conflict Code Resolver

Based on all the analyzed information, TeamWork™ will suggest a combined code. An automatic merge engine then creates the merged code instantly.

Make sure that in case you fall you fall into the right net-

fall into dbMaestro TeamWork™

dbMaestro TeamWork™ is the ultimate DCM (Database Change Management) Solution and the only solution available that enables you to:

• Control – Finally Control Your Database Development
• Deploy – Decrease Your Deployment Costs by 95%
• Protect – Enhance your Database Security
• Comply – Ensure Compliance to Regulatory Bodies (PCI, SOX, HIPAA, etc…)

He searched for a solution that would manage the changes in the database together with a Database Version Control that would support all ALM solutions. That’s when dbMaestro entered his life and changed his sleeping habits. He of course was thrilled that he was now able to get a full night’s sleep.

My question is how does this affect the organization’s bottom line and ROI? I’m sure the company is pleased that their employees are sleeping at home and not during the day in the office. But more importantly is the fact that only one developer is on call during the nights as opposed to all of them. The Managers are spending their expensive time moving forward with their challenges and not constantly looking backwards to; Who did What change and Why. To quote the customer “The dbMaestro DCM solution pays for itself”.

dbMaestro TeamWork™ enables performing the required actions that ensure a smooth and error free deployment.

Only TeamWork™ enables deployment of database changes based on:

• Change impact analysis
• The ability to deploy changes by business requirements (which can include enforcing version control management on the database development)
• Perfected merge conflict platform

The direct benefits gained implementing TeamWork™ into the ALM cycle can be translated into considerably less deployment time (a savings of up to 95%) at a significantly substantial cost savings:

• Increased throughput per person
• Automatic conflict resolution
• Valuable development time devoted to the actual tasks ahead and not to rollbacks

Contact us so we can help you change your sleeping habits too!

dbMaestro TeamWork™ is the ultimate DCM (Database Change Management) Solution and the only solution available that enables you to:

• Control – Finally Control Your Database Development
• Deploy – Decrease Your Deployment Costs by 95%
• Protect – Enhance your Database Security
• Comply – Ensure Compliance to Regulatory Bodies (PCI, SOX, HIPAA, etc…)

• Deploy – Decrease Your Deployment Costs by 95%
• Protect –Improve your database security
• Comply- Compliance to all Regulatory Bodies (PCI, SOX, HIPAA, BASEL II)

In this series of articles we will discuss these unique features. You will quickly come to realize how much time and money you are wasting without the control you need.

Let’s Talk Control

Working in Agile means you have short iterations and you must have good automation processes and tools for testing and building your applications.   You definitely need a good method for Database Version Control.

• In order to try and include all of the iteration changes in your migration scripts you probably either develop your change scripts disconnected from the live database and work in editor or you are changing objects directly in the database.
• Let’s compare these two approaches and  review which approach (if any) gives you the most control.

Developing change scripts disconnected from the live database

Using this approach you have one or more scripts that contain the database commands for changing the table structure, code or lookup data. The challenge in this approach is that the script is tested only when running at the end of the iteration. Once the script executed, it cannot be executed again, so debugging the script is difficult.  Your changes in the development database are being  done in a completely different and unrelated process.  As you have no database change control you will ultimately find that you have  one version in the database and a different version in the change scripts. Think about all the time involved now in going back and fixing this problem or worse if the problem goes into production …

Changing objects directly in the database

Using this approach your team works directly on the database, so the application can be debugged more easily. This is a big advantage compared to the previous approach, but this approach has several challenges as well:

• There is no serialization enforcement when updating database structure or code, so it is very common to find scenarios when one developer accidently overrides his/her colleague’s code without knowing. These code overrides are typically identified at the end of the iteration and the cost to fix issues like this are …. let’s say very pricey….
• A list of objects that has been changed in this iteration is not automatically created. Creating the migration script manually is a critical task however it is an extremely time consuming step…  Almost like writing a book … by hand.

The Best Way to Address these challenges and GAIN CONTROL

Deploy  a DCM – Database Change Management Solution.

DCM- Gain Control- Save Precious Time and Save Money

• Collaboration Enablement – Change Policy Enforcement which enforces sequential changes to database artifacts, eliminates out-of-process updates to database structure, code or content and associates technical changes with business activities
• Reduce Operational Risk - It starts from the development environment through to production – while enabling version control and rollback, as well as the ability for rapid error recovery it reduces the operational risk involved in change.

dbMaestro TeamWork™ the ultimate DCM Database Change Management Solution and the only one that offers all of the above features and much more.

TeamWork™ allows you to:

• Control – Finally Control Your Database Development
• Protect –Enhance your database security
• Deploy – Decrease Your Deployment Costs by 95%
• Comply- Compliance to all Regulatory Bodies (PCI, SOX, HIPAA, BASEL II)

We are proud to announce that a new version of dbMaestro Teamwork™, the leading Database Change Management Solution for Oracle is GA and can be downloaded. This new release exposes many new cool features, such as:

• Allowing to integrate business logic within the automatically generated deploy script. You can read more on this here.
• Allowing deploying multiple schemas at once. dbMaestro TeamWork will create the deploy script(s) based on the objects dependencies even if they from different schemas.
• Adding Labels on Modules. Labels can be used to name a specific revision of specific objects for later reference instead of saving the entire schema snapshot.
• Major performance improvement across the product

Additional fixes in the new version include:

• The internal schema (dbMaestro_teamwork) in the managed database was not refreshed when there was only one schema under TeamWork control.
• Removing the dependency on Oracle User SID.
• Data deployment script is based on tables dependencies.
• Identifying changes of unique and non-unique indexes.

• Known Issue: Add-In will not start when using ODAC 10g on 64bit. Click to see the solution.
• Known Issue: Special characters in Table name.

These tools focus on finding the structure differences of the database artifacts between the source and target schemas, some tools have the option to compare also lookup table content.

Up until now, you could not add your business logic in the automatic generated script. There are many scenarios the script generated automatically by these tools does not answer them. For example:

A column that allows NULL values now has a constraint that it cannot have NULL values (NOT NULL). The generated script will created the proper DDL command to enforce the NOT NULL constraint on this column but will not allow you to add your business logic that makes sure this column does not have NULL values before the constraint is enabled. Without this option, you may execute the script and it will fail in production.

dbMaestro TeamWork™ continues to lead the Database Version Control and the Database Deployment solutions. In the new version coming soon, TeamWork™ users, will be able to add their business logic for any managed objects  (table, view, packages, …) and for many events types.

You can subscribe to our blog and receive the release notification.

Using the Check-Out & Check-In of database resources feature of our innovative database version control solution, dbMaestro TeamWork^TM Management Studio, prevents code overrides and out-of-process changes;

Checking Out and Checking In

From your dbMaestro TeamWork Management Studio console, select the database you want to work with from the tree on the left. Enter your schema password if prompted to provide it.

All of the database objects will be displayed in the center of your console. Right-click the object you want to work on and select “Check Out Object Definition”. Make sure the object you want is selected in the pop-up dialog box, then click “OK”.

Now you can update this object using the Oracle Client IDE of your choice.

Next, go back to the dbMaestro TeamWork Management Studio console, right-click the object that was changed, and select “Check In Object Definition”. When the pop-up dialog box appears, type in information about the changes in the “Comments” pane and click “OK”.

Associating Changes to Change Sets

When you Check-In your changes, you can link the changes to tasks in the “Assign to Changeset” area at the bottom of the screen. Choose the appropriate task to link to from the drop-down menu, and click “OK”.

Later, this enables you to deploy the changes made for specific change-sets while ignoring other changes. For example, you can deploy changes that fix one or more bugs while skipping other changes that are not yet ready to deploy.

Analyzing Schema Structure Changes

To review changes to schema structures, right-click the database object in the center of your screen and select “View History”. When the pop-up dialog box appears, highlight the revisions you want to compare and click the “Compare Revisions” button on the right side of the screen.

A pop-up window will display the changes made in both the base schema and the compared schema. This pop-up window allows you to review and compare changes. You can change the versions being compared by selecting different values in the combo boxes at the top of the pop-up window.

Making Table Content Changes

To change table content, right-click the name of the appropriate table in the center of your console and select “Check Out Data”. When the pop-up dialog box appears, make sure you have chosen the correct table and click “OK”.

Next, update the table’s content using the Oracle client IDE of your choice.

To check in the changed table, return to the dbMaestro TeamWork Management Studio console, left-click the name of the changed table in the center of the screen, and select “Check In Data”. When the pop-up window appears, make sure you selected the right table, then click “OK”.

In order to review changes in the table content, right-click the name of that table again and select “View History”. When the pop up window appears, select the revisions you want to compare and click “Compare Revisions” on the right side of the screen. Another window will display the changes in both the baseline and the compared tables.

Tutorials

To view a video tutorial on using dbMaestro TeamWork Management Studio to perform day-to-day tasks, go to the dbMaestro “How to” video collection on our Web site or visit our YouTube channel.