Promote Configuration Between Environments

Move a policy type and its related configuration from one BriteCore environment to another without rebuilding it by hand.

Introduction

Configuration Promotion exports a policy type from one environment, such as UAT, and imports it into another, such as production. Product and configuration administrators use it to ship tested product changes. BriteCore packages the policy type with its related configuration, checks the package with a dry run, and applies it in a single transaction.

How Configuration Promotion Works

Promotion has two halves. You export a package from the source environment, and you import that package into the target environment. BriteCore runs both halves as background jobs, so you can leave the page while a job runs.

The page has three tabs.

An environment badge at the top of the page shows which environment you are in. The badge is red in production and blue in every other environment.

Every import follows the same four stages.

1. Load: BriteCore reads the package and shows its source environment, format version, and export time.
2. Dry run: BriteCore compares the package with the target environment and changes nothing.
3. Apply: BriteCore applies the package in a single transaction. Any failure rolls back the whole import.
4. Result: BriteCore shows the totals and creates an audit note.

A package can contain the following content.

BriteCore does not promote every setting. Settings that identify an environment, such as check number counters, stay in the environment where they belong.

Before You Begin

Confirm the following before you start:

• You have write access to Configuration Promotion in the environment where you export or import. Read access lets you view the page only.
• The policy type is ready in the source environment.
• The target environment already has the roles that your task definitions use. BriteCore does not promote roles.
• You know the name of the target environment.

Note: Exporting and importing both require write access. Without it, BriteCore shows a message that the action is not available to you.

Export a Policy Type

Export saves a policy type and its related configuration as a package in the source environment.

1. Go to Settings > Configuration Promotion.
2. Select the Export tab.
3. Search for the policy type. Enter a name or a state, such as texas, or select a filter chip.
4. Select the policy type row, and then select an effective date.
5. Review the Package contents panel.
6. Choose the sections to leave out, if any, under Sections to include.
7. Enter a name in Save as.
8. Select the export button.

BriteCore queues the job and shows its progress. When the export finishes, the page shows the package name, size, and policy type.

Choose what to leave out

A promoted policy type always carries all of its own configuration. You can leave out file content and global sections. Two presets in the Sections to include list speed this up:

• Policy type only: Clears the 10 sections that hold only site-wide configuration. BriteCore still includes the credit tier, authority limit, and task definition rows that belong to your policy type, and the quick codes, subjectivity definitions, underwriting questions, and custom error codes that your policy type uses.
• Leave out all files: Clears the form files and the Carbone templates.

After you select a preset, you can adjust the list. BriteCore refuses a selection that removes a section another included section requires. It warns you when you remove a section that an included section only recommends, such as system tags. For what each section carries, see What each section contains in the Reference section.

Related policy types

Some policy types depend on others. BriteCore shows a Related policy types will be exported too message and lists them. Review the list before you export.

Left-out sections

If you leave out a section that the package still references, BriteCore warns you. Resolve the warning in the target environment, or include the section.

Send a Package to Another Environment

Promote creates a link or a file that you carry to the target environment.

1. Select the Export tab.
2. Find the package in the saved exports list.
3. Select Promote.
4. Copy the link, or download the package file.
5. Log in to the target environment.

The link expires two minutes after BriteCore generates it. If it expires, generate a new link on the exporting environment, or upload the file instead.

Note: Only users with Configuration Promotion access can download a package.

Import a Package

Import loads a package into the current environment and applies it after you review a dry run.

1. Log in to the target environment.
2. Go to Settings > Configuration Promotion.
3. Select the Import tab.
4. Load the package using one of the following methods:
   • Paste the link into Link from the exporting environment, and then select Load package.
   • Drop a .json or .gz file into Package file, or select browse.
   • Select a package under In this environment.
5. Confirm the source environment, format version, and target environment in the Package loaded panel.
6. Select Start dry run.
7. Review the dry run results.
8. Select Continue to apply.
9. Leave Export a restore point first selected.
10. Select Apply to followed by the environment name.

The dry run lists the policy types in the package and counts the items the import would create, update, and delete. Nothing changes in your environment until you apply.

Note: The import deletes existing items for the affected policy types and replaces them with the package contents.

Review dry run warnings

The dry run reports anything BriteCore cannot apply cleanly. Review each warning before you continue. Common warnings include the following:

• A task definition is skipped because its role does not exist in the target environment.
• A setting is skipped because it is not exportable or does not exist in the target.
• An HTML deliverable is skipped because it belongs to a business location outside the package.
• A target-only task definition or global wizard flow stays in place because the package does not contain it.

Apply to production

Production requires an extra confirmation. BriteCore shows You are about to change PRODUCTION. Type the policy type name exactly as shown, and then select Apply to followed by the environment name.

Review the result

After the apply finishes, the Import applied panel shows how many items BriteCore created, updated, and deleted. From this panel, you can:

• Open the audit note.
• Download the JSON result.
• View the import in history.
• Start another import.

If BriteCore could not clear its caches, it shows a Caches were not cleared warning. Clear the caches before you rely on the new configuration.

Undo an Import with a Restore Point

A restore point is a package of the current configuration that BriteCore saves before each apply. Applying a restore point puts the environment back the way it was before that import.

1. Select the Import tab.
2. Expand Restore points.
3. Select the restore point.
4. Run the dry run, and then apply it.

If you clear Export a restore point first, BriteCore cannot undo that import by re-importing the previous configuration. The audit note records that you declined a restore point.

Note: A restore point only describes the environment that took it. A restore point from another environment does not restore this environment.

Review Import History

The History tab lists everything that arrived in this environment, newest first, including dry runs.

1. Select the History tab.
2. Find the import by date, policy type, or user.
3. Select the row to read the audit note.

Reference

What each section contains

A policy type always ships with all of its own configuration, including its items, sublines, rate chains, underwriting questions and rules, subjectivities, quick codes, lifecycles, wizard flows, and HTML deliverables. The sections under Sections to include are the extras that you can bring along or leave out. Most of them hold configuration that your whole site shares and no single policy type owns.

The same list appears for every export. A section with nothing to export in the source environment is empty in the package. The Package contents panel shows how many records the package carries.

Keep these details in mind when you choose sections:

• System tags: BriteCore warns you if you clear this section, because policy types and sublines can refer to system tags.
• Settings: BriteCore never includes settings that are specific to an environment, such as email recipients, credentials, and infrastructure identifiers. Exporting settings needs read access to Advanced Settings, so clear this section if you do not have it. Settings that only BriteCore staff can see export only for staff, and only BriteCore staff can import settings.
• Persistent Builder mappings: These mappings belong to the whole site and not to one policy type, and the package carries all of them. Without them in the target, policies can fail to renew or lose selections when items change names between product versions.
• Credit tiers and Authority limits: If you clear either section, the package carries none of its rows.
• Task definitions: BriteCore does not promote roles, so the roles must already exist in the target environment.
• Form files (PDF): These files can make the package large. If you clear this section, the target environment must already have matching form files.
• Suspensions: BriteCore does not include suspensions that belong to a single agent.

Note: Selecting Policy type only clears the 10 sections that hold only site-wide configuration. Credit tiers, Authority limits, and Task definitions stay selected, but they carry only the rows that belong to the exported policy types. Anything else the policy type refers to, such as system tags, must already exist in the target environment.

Important: Policy type only also clears Persistent Builder mappings. If the promoted product version relies on renamed items or sublines, and the target does not have those mappings, renewals from older versions can drop selections without a warning. Select Persistent Builder mappings after you choose the preset when your product version renames items.

What happens on import

BriteCore treats each section differently when it applies a package to the target environment.

Note: BriteCore deletes a suspension in the target only when the import has a restore point that could undo the deletion. If you decline the restore point, BriteCore keeps those suspensions and lists them in a warning.

History columns

Common messages

See Also

• Export a line of business
• Move product versions across environments
• Policy type settings
• Lines overview
• Add a role overview
• Documents overview