Migrate (Import) a changed dimension

[tiwebber]

Using version 10.2 of Data Manager.  Oracle is the catalogue database.

When using data manager to import a changed reference dimension (from dev -> test or test -> prod), data manager highlights the changed reference dimension template and associated lookup in red and ask us to rename the lookup and template.  The reason it does this must be because we changed the name of one of the template attributes in our development database  and then changed the template to have the correct attribute name.  All this worked fine in the development environment but now when we export/import this dimension into another environment, DM's import highlights it in red and wants (demands really) that we rename it.  We tried this (what else can you do?).  What DM does is create a new template and lookup based on the name we provided (not surprised by this) under the reference dimension.  It leaves the original lookup and template under the reference dimension and our dimension build still references the original template and lookup (which is suprising because the new ones created by the renaming process are the "correct" versions. 

Of course this process wont work.  Our DDL has been changed and the original template is not incorrect.   What we did to work around this "issue" (wont call it a bug yet because I dont know if there is a way to handle this that seems correct...) is delete the reference structure, delete the build and take the build out of a job stream then "import" the exported catalogue again that contains the dimension as if it was never in test (our target environment) in the first place.  Cognos seems to be able to handle this work around but its not elegant and involves alot of steps that it would seem that DM should handle. 

Question is -> what am I doing wrong (if anything)?  Why cant Cognos import a changed reference structure without having to rename it and render the target environment different that the source environment?  Renaming the reference structure (the only option cognos seems to provide) doesn't work because then we would have to edit our target environment directly to fix the problem which is against our migration "practice"  - furthermore dev and test would be different and that is unacceptable too.  Thanks for any help!

[MFGF]

You're not doing anything wrong. When you import objects in a package, the designer compares the objects being imported with currently defined objects in the catalog. If it finds an existing object with a different definition (and which is being referenced by other catalog objects) it will not simply overwrite the object, as this could break the catalog objects which depend on it.

Your options are either

a) import the object with a new name and manually update the original object
b) remove the dependent objects in the catalog and include these in the package so they get imported with the revised object
c) use a full catalog backup/restore instead of package export/import

Cheers!

MF.