To avoid accidental rule changes or conflicts that might result from multiple developers working on the same rule, perform a check out, so that you can lock the rule and safely make changes to it. By checking a rule out before editing, you avoid unwanted rule changes, and as a result save time and maintain a better quality application.

1. In the navigation pane of Dev Studio, click Records, expand the category that contains the rule that you want to edit, and then click the rule.
2. In the header of the rule form, click Check out.
   Your application places a copy of the original or base rule in your personal ruleset. No other user can check out this rule until you check in your changes.
3. Modify the rule as appropriate.
4. Click Save.
   Your application saves your changes into the checked-out version of the rule. These changes are visible only to you. When you run rules in your application, they resolve to only your checked-out version.

• Standard rule checkout

  The Check out button appears for standard checkouts when all the following criteria are met:

• Private checkout

  You can perform a private checkout of a rule that is typically not available for a standard checkout. For example, you can check out a rule in a locked ruleset to modify it and test the changes.

• Checking out a rule to a branch

  You can check out a rule to a branch so that you can make changes to a rule and then save it in the branch ruleset.

• Viewing your checkouts and accessing bulk actions

  Click the Checkouts icon in the Dev Studio header to open a list of rules checked out by your operator. Rules are organized by type, name, and Applies To class. In the Private overlay, you can perform the following actions:

• Rule checkout notes

  Note the following information when you are checking out rules:

• Rule checkout tips

  You can use several features to determine that you have checked out all the rules in your application You can also use other features to undo changes and to override the default check-in procedure.

• Personal ruleset

  Users who have the Allow rule check out option enabled for their operator IDs can place copies of rule instances into a personal ruleset. The name of this ruleset is the Operator ID, such as [email protected]. The personal ruleset is sometimes called the private ruleset.

• Checking in a rule

  To make your changes available to your development team after you check out and edit a rule, check in the rule. When you check in edited or updated rules, you contribute to the efficient development of your application and avoid errors that might occur when other developers work on the same rule.

• Rule check-in process
• Configuring Project Management Framework (PMF)

• Designing applications for reuse and extension