Version Control and Comments in vRealize Orchestrator Workflows

When editing a vRealize Orchestrator workflow there’s a default option in the client which prompts you to increase the version of the workflow when you select Save and Close.

While this is intended to be a good idea, since it at least makes people think about version control in their workflows and consequently they are then able to take advantage of some of vRO’s versioning features, it contains a fundamental flaw and makes me cringe when I see someone use it…

…..and then I remember I used to do the same when I first started with vRO because I didn’t know any better.

If you only use this method to increase your version of the workflow, when you go to look at the version history, you will see something like this:

i.e. increased versions, but since there are no comments, then you have no idea what changed between them without comparing two different versions.

A better approach to this when editing the workflow is before saving changes to navigate to the General tab, click on the version number you wish to increment and add a comment.

Now save changes and look at the version history - you will see the comment is listed.