Importing releases, objects, and processes

When importing a release, process or object, the following rules apply:

  • Import Release, Import Process, and Import Business Object are administrative permissions that allow items to be imported anywhere in the target structure.
  • The permissions applied to restricted groups in the target structure are inherited by any child group and item created in a restricted group during an import.
  • New root-level groups and those added to unrestricted groups during an import, are created unrestricted.
  • Where items with the same name or internal ID are present in both source and target structures, these are highlighted during an import and options are provided for their resolution.
  • See Conflict resolution for further details.

Import permissions

The following role and group permissions required to import releases, processes, and objects.

Action

Required role or group permissions

Import a release

Release Manager > Import Release

Import objects or processes individually or as part of a release.

Object Studio > Import Business Object

Process Studio > Import Process

The permissions are cumulative so, to import a release, users would need to be assigned to a role that granted the following permissions:

  • Release Manager > Import Release
  • Process Studio > Import Process

Permissions required to overwrite objects and processes on import

Depending on the version of Blue Prism, Edit Business Object and/or Edit Process permissions may additionally be required to import objects and processes that overwrite items in the target structure.

The table below shows which Blue Prism releases require edit permissions to import objects or processes that overwrite items.

Permission

6.3

6.4

6.5

6.6

6.7

Edit Business Object

Yes

No

No

Yes

No

Edit Process

Yes

No

No

Yes

No

The correct behavior is displayed in versions 6.4 and 6.5 – edit permissions are not required to overwrite items on import – and this will be reflected in future releases of Blue Prism.

Import scenarios

The examples below show the permissions required to import releases in a number of different scenarios. The examples show the import of processes but the behaviors described are the same for business objects.

To import a release into a structure that is not currently populated with any groups, objects or processes, the following role permissions are required:

  • Release Manager > Import Release
  • Process Studio > Import Process

Result

The full group structure and associated processes are imported.

Source

Target

Result

To import a release that has identical groups and items, the following role permissions are required:

  • Release Manager > Import Release
  • Process Studio > Import Process

Result

The target structure is maintained following the import as the source is identical.

Source

Target

Result

To import a release into a structure where the sub-groups are not present and will be created during the import, the following role permissions are required:

  • Release Manager > Import Release
  • Process Studio > Import Process

In this example:

  • The US-dev group is not present in the target group – the parent Development group is restricted in the target
  • The US-sales group is not present in the target group – the parent Sales group is unrestricted in the target

Result

  • The US-dev group is created during the import, inheriting permissions from the restricted Development parent group
  • The US-sales group is created unrestricted during the import as the parent Sales group is unrestricted

Source

Target

Result

To import a release into a structure where a parent or ancestor group is not present, the following role permissions are required:

  • Release Manager > Import Release
  • Process Studio > Import Process

In this example, the Sales parent group is not present in the target – the UK-sales and US sales groups are at the top level in the processes structure.

Result

  • The Sales group is created during import, containing the UK-sales and US-sales groups and their associated processes.
  • The UK-sales and US-sales groups are stilpresent at the top level in the processes structure.

Source

Target

Result

Conflict resolution

Objects and processes cannot be automatically imported if an item with the same name or internal ID already exists in the database. During an import conflicts are highlighted, prompting users to select an action for each duplicate item.

The following table details the options available when conflicts arise in different import scenarios.

Incoming item location

Existing item location

Available Options

Root level

Default group
  • Overwrite – The incoming item replaces the existing one in the default group.
  • Rename existing – The existing item is renamed and the incoming item is moved to the default group.
  • Rename incoming – The incoming item is renamed and imported into the default group.
  • Do not import – No change

Default group

Default group
  • Overwrite – The incoming item replaces the existing one in the default group.
  • Rename existing – The existing item is renamed and the incoming item is imported into the default group.
  • Rename incoming – The incoming item is renamed and imported into the default group.
  • Do not import – no change.

Other group

Default group
  • Overwrite – The incoming item replaces the existing one in the default group. A reference to the item is also added to match the location of the item in the release package. If the imported group is already present, the contents of the existing and imported groups are merged.
  • Rename existing – The existing item is renamed and the incoming one is imported in its release package group structure. If a group of the same name is already present, the contents of the existing and incoming groups are merged.
  • Rename incoming – The incoming item is renamed and imported in its release package group structure. If a group of the same name is already present, the contents of the existing and incoming groups are merged.
  • Do not import – no change.

Other group

Other group
  • Overwrite – The incoming item replaces the item in the existing group. If the incoming item is in a different location in the release package, a reference to the object is also added to that location. If an imported the group is already present, the contents of the existing and imported groups are merged.
  • Rename existing – The existing item is renamed and the incoming one is imported in it its release package group structure. If a group of the same name is already present, the contents of the existing and incoming groups are merged.
  • Rename incoming – The incoming item is renamed and imported in the release package group structure. If a group of the same name is already present, the contents of the existing and incoming groups are merged.
  • Do not import – no change.

This behavior is similar for items that have the same internal ID. However, for such items, there is no option to rename the existing item.