Before you begin using Windchill RV&S to manage the configuration management projects in your development environment, you should take a careful look at how projects and directories are organized in your repository. The recommended way to use Windchill RV&S is also the easiest. If you follow these guidelines, Windchill RV&S requires no special configuration:

Most sites adopt hierarchical directory structures for related files, because the structure reinforces the relationship between files and makes them easier to locate and work with. A preferred approach in software development is to place the project makefile at the root of a directory tree that includes subdirectories for code files, resources, and header files. This example shows one of the simplest and most frequently used structures.

Windchill RV&S records the location of all members relative to the project directory (that is, the directory where the project file resides) at the top of the project directory tree. When you create a Sandbox for a single-tree project, Windchill RV&S clones the project directory tree in the Sandbox directory and maintains the relative locations of all members.

Problems can arise when separate project trees are located in the same directory for the purpose of sharing archives. As a result, strongly recommends you keep top-level projects in separate directories so that each project can have separate security, configuration, and administrative information controlled by separate ACLs.

You can still share archives across projects that are in separate directories by using shared subprojects or common projects.