The model export capability allows you to export the whole version of a model from Model Explorer to file.

You may want to do this either to:

Locks are taken automatically before the export starts in order to ensure that it can run to completion. Note also that when using sandboxes, you can only import and export trunk models. This is because sandboxes make use of delta information from the previous version for storage efficiency. Model import and export is not constrained to require that you need the previous version in the target database before you import. Instead it will export the whole model so that the model can be reconstructed in its entirety.

From Model Explorer, right-click the model version (not sandbox) and click Export. An exported model version can be imported into a separate database using the Import command in Model Explorer.

Remote availability: Model versions can be exported into a different Modeler database. This is useful for sending a snapshot of the model to an external site for read-only review purposes.

Scalability: Importing models using Model Explorer is more efficient than importing using Package import and export or the Component Sharing Wizard as it does not require the merging of new data with existing data.

Consistency: Importing and exporting a complete model results in a more consistent view as it ensures that the model is fully consistent with itself. Importing and exporting Packages increases the risk of version skew.

Note that the latest version of a model (the tip) is writable. When delivering a model to another team you want to send them a fixed version of the model not the tip. To do this you should first version the model in Model Explorer and then export the protected version of the model.

After you have exported the model, you can email it to other sites or check it into CM as part of a project baseline.

It is not possible to export all versions of a given model en-mass using model import and export. Although it is possible to script the export and import of a hierarchy of models (v1…v11 etc), it is important to note that the import of these models into a different database will result in a copy of the model data for each version, rather than a view of the same data. This could thus be prohibitively expensive in terms of storage space and import time. If it is necessary to move the full history of versions to another machine then the preferred mechanism is to save and restore the data as a whole database, rather than separate models, as this will result in more efficient storage utilization and transfer times.

In the event that you want to export a model from a sandbox it is possible to use the Component Sharing Wizard instead. This will require you to create a single root Package for your model. For more information, see CM uses cases - Sharing components and packages between teams and CM.