I've been using NWDI to manage customizations to ESS for several years now, but I still have some nagging questions about the best way to configure tracks for support packs, etc. Yes, I've read the "NWDI for ESS" cookbook (not updated since 2007), and Marion Schlotte's (hope I got her name right) and others' excellent blog posts of a few years ago, and I've incorporated all of those concepts into our track design, and they work.
My real question is about some best practices, especially with regard to the "compare" tracks used during support pack application and re-application of customizations. The compare track has no runtime systems, contains no modifications or customizations; it contains only original SAP-delivered SC's which the developers can then use for metadata compare against our old development track and against the new track with new support packs, and thus isolate where we've made changes, as well as where the support packs introduce changes, and thus decide how best to reintegrate our changes on top of the new support packs.
In this compare track, in the Landscape Configurator, what options do you normally use? Do you include "Source and Archives" for package type, or only "Source"? Do you need to include components for modification at all? Or can you leave those out and just check-in and import the SCA's delivered by SAP? Since it takes so long to import SCs into each track, it's difficult to find time to experiment with different settings to see if they work, and given that we're always under a time crunch, we just forge ahead with "tried and true," i.e. whatever we've done before, knowing that it's possible it's not the most efficient way to go.
Looking forward to opinions and advice.
Best regards,
Matt