Adoption of CalVer Naming and New Schedule

Dear Customers and Partners,

We are thrilled to share with you significant changes in our development process, designed to improve the clarity, predictability, and efficiency of our products. These changes reflect our commitment to meeting the evolving needs of our clients and partners.

 

New Naming Strategy: CalVer

To align the naming of our products, we are adopting the CalVer (Calendar Versioning) strategy.

This approach allows us to name our versions more intuitively and in sync with time. For example, a version labeled “2024.1” might include Manager (6.0), Author (6.0), Publisher (3.0), Viewer (2.0), etc.

Besides simpler correspondence with our contracts and commitments, this will help you, our clients, and partners, to better understand and anticipate updates to our products.

 

Schedule with Fixed Dates

We are introducing a deployment schedule with fixed dates to make our release cycles more predictable. This will allow IT Departments to prepare more effectively for deployments and avoid delays due to last-minute adjustments.

 

Versioning Policy: Major, Minor, Maintenance

  • Major: A major update will be released once a year. This approach aims to minimize the efforts required by IT Departments by limiting infrastructure changes, while ensuring the security and updating of our applications.

  • Minor: Also once a year, these updates will be spaced six months apart from the major versions. They will offer an opportunity for specific client projects, based on a stable version, without incorporating major changes.

  • Maintenance (OCM): We will offer a monthly version during the first three months following a release, then a quarterly version. A 4D CONCEPT committee, combining technical and functional aspects, will determine the eligibility of features and bug fixes for each version.

We also offer our clients the opportunity to test the Release Candidates (RC) before the official launch, thus contributing to the early stabilization of versions.

 

Provisional Schedule

We are confident that these developments mark a turning point in how we develop and deploy our solutions, with an emphasis on transparency, reliability, and your satisfaction.

We look forward to your feedback and are ready to answer any questions you may have.

 

The ADAM Support Team

Optimization of Release Notes in the ADAM Suite: A Functionality-Centered Evolution

Dear users,

 

We are thrilled to announce a major evolution in the way we manage our Release Notes. This transformation is part of our commitment to enhance your experience and effectively meet your documentation needs.

 

1.  Centralization of information for a global view

Say goodbye to multiple Release Notes for each update and bugfixes. From now on, a major version benefits from a single Release Note which is updated with each minor version. Whether you consult version 5.6.0 or 5.6.2, you will be greeted by the same note. This centralization offers you an overview of the new features and the evolution of bug corrections.

 

 

2.  Total transparency on version support

Knowing the lifespan and support of a version is essential for planning your deployments. That’s why we have made this information accessible by displaying the support dates for each version.

 

 

3.  Intuitive navigation with Search and Filtering

Navigating through the Release Notes has never been simpler. Thanks to our advanced search and filtering system, quickly access relevant information, without having to browse through long pages.

 

 

4. Improved readability by distinguishing the Release Note and the Changelog

The distinction between a Release Note and a Changelog is crucial. The Release Note focuses on the new features, improvements, and corrections made to a specific version to inform and guide users. The Changelog, on the other hand, offers a detailed technical history of the changes made to the source code over time.

With this update, we have taken measures to clarify this distinction in the ADAM software suite:

  • Release Note focused on Functionality: We have redesigned our Release Notes to be focused on functional aspects. They highlight the new features, improvements, and bug corrections of each version. Their goal is to provide users with a clear and concise overview of the updates, without overwhelming them with technical details.

 

  • Changelog for Technical Details: The technical information, previously partially integrated into the Release Notes, has been moved to the Changelog. It offers a detailed tracking of technical changes. It is mainly aimed at developers, testers, and anyone wishing to have a deep understanding of technical changes.

 

5. The same approach for the entire ADAM Suite

This evolution of Release Notes management will be deployed across the entire ADAM software suite, ensuring uniformity and clarity in all our documentation.

 

 

In conclusion, this overhaul of the Release Notes reflects our desire to provide you with quality documentation, aligned with the current standards of software development.

You will find:

  • Release Notes:
    • on the support site, under the “documentation” section
  • Changelog:
    • In the deliverables, under the “installation guide” section
    • On the support site, under the “documentation” section

We look forward to receiving your feedback and suggestions.
Your feedback is essential for us, as it helps us to continue innovating and improving our software products.

 

Warm regards,

 

The ADAM team.

The ADAM SUITE is undergoing a technological evolution.

 

 

ADAM SUITE must follow the versions made available on its technical base to respond to security, performance, and obsolescence issues. This evolution of the technical components is expected to occur in the first half of 2024.

Our clients have their limitations and IT strategies, and our teams will work together to tackle them. Hence, our teams will be eager to provide guidance on the optimal deployment alternatives provided by these advancements. You can rely on us.

 

Updated components

 

What are these new features bringing?

Spring Boot will facilitate deployments and expedite the installation of new versions by utilizing these technologies and techniques. We will provide you with the following options:

  • Around Tomcat. We will provide two deployment solutions:
    1. “Standalone” with Spring Boot technology and the Tomcat server embedded in the application.
    2. “Expert” under Tomcat to retain customization possibilities.
  • With ANSIBLE version 2. We recommend implementing this scenario as it offers numerous advantages.
    We will furnish deployment scripts that customers can modify to their environments to enhance automation.

Not only that, but we will also do a webinar about these innovations in the coming months. This communication aims to prepare CIOs who oversee operating applications for these methods.

The ADAM team.

 

About ANSIBLE

Ansible is an open-source automation tool that is used for various IT tasks, including configuration management, application deployment, and task automation.

Here’s a brief summary of Ansible’s key features and capabilities:

  1. Automation: Ansible allows you to automate repetitive and complex tasks, making it easier to manage and configure systems and applications.
  2. Agentless: Unlike some other automation tools, Ansible is agentless, meaning it doesn’t require any software to be installed on the target systems. It communicates with remote systems using SSH, making it lightweight and easy to set up.
  3. Declarative Language: Ansible uses a declarative language to define the desired state of systems. You specify what the end result should be, and Ansible takes care of figuring out how to get there.
  4. Playbooks: Automation tasks in Ansible are defined in YAML files called playbooks. Playbooks describe the tasks to be performed on specific hosts or groups of hosts.
  5. Idempotent: Ansible playbooks are idempotent, meaning they can be run multiple times without causing harm. If a task has already been completed and the system is in the desired state, Ansible won’t make any changes.
  6. Extensible: Ansible can be extended through modules, which are reusable units of code that perform specific tasks. A vast library of Ansible modules is available to support a wide range of operations.
  7. Inventory: Ansible uses an inventory file to keep track of the target hosts it manages. This file can be static or dynamic, allowing for flexible host groupings and organization.
  8. Role-Based: Ansible promotes the use of roles to organize and reuse sets of tasks. Roles can be shared and reused across different playbooks.
  9. Community and Ecosystem: Ansible has a large and active community, contributing to its extensive library of roles and modules. It also integrates well with other tools and systems.
  10. Security: Ansible employs secure communication via SSH, and it doesn’t require a centralized server for operation, making it a secure choice for automation.

Ansible is widely used by DevOps teams and system administrators to streamline and simplify infrastructure management and application deployment processes, making it a valuable tool for modern IT operations.

 

RELEASE NOTE – NEW VERSIONS OF ADAM AUTHOR AND MANAGER

Our team has just gone live with important new features for ADAM Author and Manager.

 

ADAM Author, the technical authoring tool, has been completely redesigned with a brand-new graphical interface. The user experience has been rethought with an innovative ergonomic design that guides authors in the execution of their tasks.

 

ADAM Manager is now equipped with innovative features that have a direct impact on users’ ability to manage their workflow and make the viewing and publishing processes more fluid.

 

“These latest versions of Author and Manager are definitely major improvements to the ADAM Suite, strengthening its authoring and publishing abilities.”

Alexandre NIO – Product Owner – ADAM

 

As these updates facilitate exchanges between Author and Manager, the ADAM suite provides you with many useful improvements:

 

 

  • WORKFLOW: Make it easier to set up one or more workflows on S1000D documentary units.
  • PERFORMANCES: Save time with a thumbnail display of illustrations and their asynchronous loading, optimisation of data module loading time and enhancement of the Author view style sheet.
  • PREVIEW: Read your contents easily in ADAM Author and Manager with an HTML preview.
  • PUBLICATION: Create filtered publications directly from Manager.
  • DEPLOYMENT: Maximize your deployments with external services.
  • REFERENCE: Open references straight from Author

 

 

Contact our sales team and find out about all new features of the ADAM suite.