When a Working-Set is created, the items in the Working-Set are not copied, but the target Working-Set refers to the version of the items in the source Working-Set. Due to optimized database operations, the time required to create a Working-Set has been significantly reduced.

Relative references are based on the Common ID that remains the same for corresponding items in the Default Working-Set and all other Working-Sets.

Each time a variant for the item is created in a Working-Set, a Local ID is created for the item that is unique across the Codebeamer instance. If another Working-Set is created with the same item, another Local ID is created. Even if Local IDs are created, the Common ID for the item is preserved in the Working Sets, to help identify the item.

For an item in the Default Working-Set, the Common ID and Local ID are always the same. In all non-Default Working-Sets, the Local ID and Common ID of an item are different.

Also, when an item is created in a non-Default Working-Set, a unique Local ID and Common ID are created for the item. When the item is merged into the Default Working-Set, the variant of the item created in the Default Working-Set is given a Local ID that is the same as its Common ID.

The following illustration explains the creation of the Common ID and the Local ID:

To verify that there are no duplicate Common IDs inadvertently created in the database, use the COMMON_ID_JOB_FREQUENCY environment variable that runs a duplication check. The default value is 1 indicating that the check is performed daily. The maximum value is 5. Setting the value to 0, turns off the check. PTC recommends setting the value to 1.

The following are checked:

If duplicate ID values are detected, the first five duplicate ID values are listed on the System Admin page. All duplicate ID values are recorded in the error logs. If you encounter such errors, contact PTC Support.