---
alias: user-guide-change-package-administration
description: "Change Package overview for distributing Master Data through the Global Data Orchestrator"
---
# Change Package
:lock: Administration.**ChangePackage**
## Overview
A **Change Package** is an object created and maintained in a source Critical Manufacturing MES environment that groups changes prepared for distribution to other customer environments.
**Change Packages** support the distribution of Master Data changes between Customer Environments, such as from development to staging and from staging to production. They also support Center of Excellence (CoE) scenarios, where Master Data is maintained in a central Customer Environment and distributed to multiple Customer Environments.
When a **Change Package** is published, the **Global Data Orchestrator** creates a **Transport Package** from the selected **Change Package Items**. The **Transport Package** is an encrypted file that contains the set of changes and makes them available to the destination Customer Environments defined by the **Master Data Deployment Plan**.
The following diagram shows this relationship at a high level: the source Customer Environment prepares the **Change Package**, and the **Global Data Orchestrator** creates and stores the encrypted **Transport Package**. The **Global Data Orchestrator Broker** converts the package for the destination Customer Environment MES Version and triggers its import.
## Key Concepts
The following list summarizes the key concepts involved in creating, publishing, and deploying a **Change Package**:
* **Change Package** - An object that describes a set of changes to be sent to another instance.
* **Transport Package** - The object and encrypted file that contains the set of changes and metadata to be sent to another instance.
* **Owner Instance** - The Customer Environment that owns an object. The owner controls where changes to a synchronized object are made. In some cases, administrators can take ownership of an object. For more information, see [[user-guide-object-ownership]].
* **Synchronized Object** - An object that has an Owner Instance assigned. By default, it can be modified only in the Owner Instance.
!!! info
Entity types that allow local overrides can also be modified in another Customer Environment.
* **Master Data Deployment Plan** - The reusable, versioned definition shown on the **Master Data Deployment Plans** page in the Customer Portal. It defines the destination Customer Environments and their deployment sequence and rules.
* **Master Data Deployment Plan Item** - One destination and its rollout rules within a Master Data Deployment Plan.
* **Master Data Deployment Plan Instance** - One execution of a specific Master Data Deployment Plan version for a specific Transport Package.
* **Master Data Deployment Plan Instance Item** - The runtime deployment record for one destination within a Master Data Deployment Plan Instance.
* **Source Customer Environment** - The Customer Environment where a Change Package is created. It creates and maintains Change Packages and publishes them to the Global Data Orchestrator service.
* **Destination Customer Environment** - A Customer Environment that receives package contents through a Transport Package. It prevents modifications to objects not owned by the current Customer Environment, provides access to Transport Packages pending installation, and can initiate package installation through the Global Data Orchestrator.
* **Global Data Orchestrator** - A service maintained by Critical Manufacturing that manages known Customer Environments and Master Data Deployment Plans. It receives notifications for published Change Packages, creates and stores Transport Packages, coordinates Master Data Deployment Plan Instances, supports visualization of Transport Package contents, and initiates deployments.
* **Global Data Orchestrator Broker** - A component deployed in the destination Customer Environment. It receives and decrypts the **Transport Package** from the Customer Portal, converts it to the destination MES Version, and triggers the **Master Data Package** import.
## Change Package Item
A **Change Package Item** represents one content entry included in a **Change Package**. It can refer to an entity object, a [[user-guide-generic-tables-index|Generic Table]] row, a [[user-guide-lookup-tables-index|Lookup Table]] value, a [[user-guide-smart-tables-index|Smart Table]] row, or another related item required to transport the selected Master Data.
The **Change Package Item** count reflects the number of items currently included in the package.
**Change Package Items** are part of the **Change Package** and cannot be managed separately. They store the information required to identify the selected content, such as the item type, parent item, item number, entity type, entity name and revision, table, row, or lookup value.
When selected content depends on other entities, the system can include required references in the **Change Package** so the destination Customer Environment receives the data needed to load the change correctly.
For more information about adding contents to a **Change Package**, see [[user-guide-create-change-package]].
## Publication and Deployment Sequence
After a **Change Package** is approved, it can be published from the source Customer Environment. The following sequence shows how the publication request creates a **Transport Package**, how the **Global Data Orchestrator** schedules the related deployment, and how the **Global Data Orchestrator Broker** processes the package in the destination Customer Environment.
The publication and deployment sequence includes the following stages:
| **Stage** | **Description** |
|---|---|
| **1. Publish Change Package** | The source Customer Environment publishes the approved Change Package to the Global Data Orchestrator. The service creates the internal Transport Package structure, requests the package payload from the source Customer Environment, stores the payload, schedules creation of the Master Data Deployment Plan Instance, and returns a success or error message. |
| **2. Create Master Data Deployment Plan Instance** | The Global Data Orchestrator creates an instance of the selected Master Data Deployment Plan version for the generated Transport Package. It also creates one Master Data Deployment Plan Instance Item for each destination in the plan. |
| **3. Deploy to a Destination Customer Environment** | The Global Data Orchestrator processes each Master Data Deployment Plan Instance Item according to its sequence and rules. The Global Data Orchestrator Broker receives and decrypts the Transport Package, converts it to the destination MES Version, and triggers the Master Data Package import. The deployment can start automatically or through an authorized user action. |
Table: Change Package publication to Master Data Deployment Plan sequence.
The **Transport Package** keeps traceability information from the **Change Package**, including Name, Description, Release Notes, **Master Data Deployment Plan**, Publisher, Publication Date, MES Version, and the **Change Package** that triggered its creation. This information is stored by the **Global Data Orchestrator**.
The selected **Master Data Deployment Plan** determines the destination Customer Environments and deployment sequence.
The destination Customer Environment can view incoming and previously loaded **Transport Packages** and initiate the installation.
## Lifecycle
Below is a diagram that shows the transitions between different states of the **Change Package**:
```mermaid
graph TD
Start --> |Create| A1[Draft]
A1 --> |Set Effective| A2[Approved]
A2 --> |"If Publication Mode
is Automatic:
publish immediately"| A3[Published]
A2 --> |"If Publication Mode
is Manual:
select Publish"| A3
A3 --> |Transport Package created| A4[Terminated]
classDef mermaid_title color:#000, fill:#fafafa, stroke:#fafafa, stroke-width:0x, font-size:100%, font-weight:200;
classDef mermaid_start color:#000, fill:#fafafa, stroke:#fafafa, color:#fafafa, stroke-width:0x, font-size:100%, visibility: hidden;
classDef mermaid_initial_state color:#000, fill:#d7e4bd, stroke:#92d050, color:#000, stroke-width:3px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_final_state color:#000, fill:#a7e2f2, stroke:#65CDE8, color:#000, stroke-width:3px, font-size:100%;
class Start mermaid_start
class A1,A2,A3 mermaid_initial_state
class A4 mermaid_final_state
```
The table below provides a summary of the key states in the **Change Package** lifecycle and their corresponding descriptions. It shows how a **Change Package** progresses from creation to publication and termination.
| **State** | **Description** |
|---|---|
| Draft | The Change Package is created and can be populated with contents. |
| Approved | The Change Package is approved and ready for publication. |
| Published | The Change Package has been published to the Global Data Orchestrator, which creates the corresponding Transport Package available for deployment. |
| Terminated | The Change Package is terminated by the Publish workflow after the Transport Package is created. |
Table: Summary of Change Package lifecycle and its states.
## Tying Everything Together
```mermaid
graph LR
Source[Source Customer Environment] --- Main[Change Package] --- Items[Change Package Items]
Items --- EntityObjects[Entity Object]
Items --- GenericRows[Generic Table Row]
Items --- LookupRows[Lookup Table Value]
Items --- SmartRows[Smart Table Row]
Main --- Plan[Master Data Deployment Plan] --- Dest[Destination Customer Environment]
Main --> Payload[Encrypted Master Data File] --> Service[Global Data Orchestrator] --> Transport[Transport Package] --> Broker[Global Data Orchestrator Broker] --> Package[Master Data Package] --> Dest
Owner[Owner Instance] -.- EntityObjects
Plan -.- Key[Private Key Secret]
Key -.- Broker
classDef mermaid_title color:#000, fill:#fafafa, stroke:#fafafa, stroke-width:0x, font-size:100%, font-weight:200;
classDef mermaid_start color:#000, fill:#fafafa, stroke:#fafafa, color:#fafafa, stroke-width:0x, font-size:100%, visibility: hidden;
classDef mermaid_businessdata color:#000, fill:#65CDE8, stroke:#65CDE8, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_nonbusinessdata color:#000, fill:#B7DEE8, stroke:#B7DEE8, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_entity color:#000, fill:#FB9F53, stroke:#FB9F53, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_entitylinked color:#000, fill:#FCD5B5, stroke:#FCD5B5, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_context color:#000, fill:#B9CDE5, stroke:#B9CDE5, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_optional color:#000, fill:#B7DEE8, stroke:#65CDE8, stroke-width:1px, font-size:100%, stroke-dasharray: 5 5;
class Main mermaid_entity
class Items,EntityObjects,GenericRows,LookupRows,SmartRows,Package mermaid_businessdata
class Plan,Transport mermaid_entitylinked
class Source,Dest,Service,Broker,Payload,Owner,Key mermaid_nonbusinessdata
click Main "#change-package"
click Items "#change-package-item"
click Package "../../administration/master_data_packages"
```
## Sequence of Steps
The following steps describe the process for preparing and publishing a **Change Package** from the source MES environment. Deployment and installation take place in the destination Customer Environments.
1. Configure the local Customer Environment and confirm that the source MES environment has an active Critical Manufacturing MES license that includes the **Global Data Orchestrator** module.
2. Create the **Change Package**.
3. Define the **Master Data Deployment Plan** on the **Master Data Deployment Plans** page in the Global Data Orchestrator Service (located in Customer Portal).
4. Add the required **Change Package Items**.
5. Verify the **Change Package** contents.
6. Set the **Change Package** effective. Its system state will change to `Approved`.
7. After setting the **Change Package** effective, the system publishes it automatically if the **Publication Mode** is **Automatic**. If the **Publication Mode** is **Manual**, select **Publish** to release the approved **Change Package**. For more information, see [[user-guide-publish-change-package]].
!!! info
When the Change Package is published, the [Global Data Orchestrator](https://portal.criticalmanufacturing.com/Help/global-data-orchestrator/) creates the corresponding Transport Package and schedules its deployment according to the defined Master Data Deployment Plan.
{{ generate_index() }}