A project is a dynamic collection of items related to a particular development activity. All item operations are done within the context of a project. Projects provide a way to organize items and control access to them. A project is used to define:
A view for users. Projects are dynamic views of items needed to fulfill a certain purpose—for example, building a new enhancement into the current release or fixing a bug in an existing release.
Folder structure. Within a project items are organized in a folder structure. When items are checked out of a project, corresponding physical folders/directories are created on the hard drive relative to the root folder/directory.
Work area. Each user has a default work area for the project in which they are working that is either a Dimensions CM managed work area or a folder on your hard drive or on a remote node. Dimensions CM performs item file operations, such as update or deliver, relative to the root folder that is referenced by this work area.
Deployment areas. Areas can be associated with a project so that item files are copied to or from those areas when item revisions are deployed to a new stage in the development lifecycle.
Library cache areas. Areas can be associated with a project so that the item files are automatically copied to those areas during certain item operations to improve efficiency when a number of users are accessing items on a remote server.
Project filenames. Project filenames represent the location of an item in the user's physical folder/directory and may be different from the item ID.
A project is a conceptual collection of items. At the physical level, item files are stored in item libraries. They are referenced and arranged within projects into whatever organization suits the project.
Streams are primarily designed for use with Agile working practices, see Working with Streams.
NOTE Your administrator may have configured your database to only allow you to use either streams or projects. For details, see the chapter Miscellaneous Database Options in the Process Configuration Guide.