Summary

Version V4.2SP2 (SmartBuild) makes available a new locking mechanism for cover work objects.

Suggested Approach

In versions before V4.2 SP2 SmartBuild, standard activities lock both a work object and the cover object. The cover work object may contain counts, totals, or other derived information that should change whenever the covered work objects change.

This approach works, but prevents two people from updating two distinct work objects that belong to the same cover at the same time.  

Beginning with V4.2SP2 SmartBuild, standard activities lock the covered work object but not the cover. Then, when the processing gets to a point where locking the cover is required (because it's about to be updated), the system checks whether the cover has changed, refreshes it, and locks it. At that point both the cover and covered items are locked, and can be updated.

Using this feature, you can now begin a transaction on one work object, bring another object or objects into the transaction, and commit the modifications without violating transaction integrity.