About Solution Files

Solution files contain a bundle of process apps created by Serena Software, Inc. For example, Serena Service Manager is delivered with solution files for on-demand customers. These files are available to on-premise customers after Serena Service Manager is installed.

After you import solution files into the repository, process apps and snapshot files in the solution file are extracted. You can then:

Promote the solution's snapshot files into an environment. This is the recommended step for finalizing your solution installation because promotion adds the solution's process apps and configuration data, such as reports, notifications, and more to your running environment. For details, refer to Promoting a Snapshot.
Deploy the solution's process apps into your running environment. If you choose to deploy the process apps rather than promote the solution's snapshots, you will not receive some configuration data, such reports and notifications. For details, refer to Deploying a Process App.
Open the solution's process apps in SBM Composer so they can be customized.

To view and import solution files, select the Solutions tab. For details, refer to The Solutions Tab.

Best Practices for Using Solutions

Consider these best practices for using solutions:

Promote rather than deploy process apps after you extract them from solutions. This ensures that you receive all of the features provided with the solution. In addition, if you first deploy a process app extracted from a solution, you must undeploy it if you decide to promote the process app at a later time.
Snapshots extracted from solutions should be promoted once to install or upgrade the solution. They are not intended to be promoted multiple times per version. On-premise customers who need to promote the solutions to another environment at a later date should follow the instructions in Promoting a Snapshot.
Select the Merge Conflicts check box on the Entities page when you promote snapshots extracted from solutions. This ensures that data in your target environment is merged with data in the snapshot. For a list of entities that are merged, refer to About Configuration Entities.
Do not delete snapshots and process apps extracted from solutions. You cannot recover process apps that are deleted before you promote or deploy them.