- Industry
- Precision measurement
- Location
- Geneva, Switzerland
- Technology
- Perforce Helix · Eclipse · LabVIEW
- Focus
- Version control, repository migration and collaboration
Historical project: Perforce use began in October 2013, according to the original note.
Precision instruments, practical software needs
Metrolab develops highly precise magnetometers for medical technology, research institutes and calibration laboratories. The original project note describes a small Swiss team that began managing software development with Perforce Helix in October 2013. A search for bug tracking became an opportunity to replace CVS and reorganise the repository.
Choosing tools that fit the team
Metrolab evaluated Perforce Helix alongside Subversion and Git. Integration with Eclipse and LabVIEW was decisive. Centralised management with offline working, a CVS migration tool and the Visual Studio plug-in were further considerations. These integrations are described as part of the historical evaluation, not a guarantee of current compatibility.
Customer perspective
“Our expectations have come true to 100%. We save a lot of time and expenses thanks to Perforce Helix”
Philip KellerMarketing & Product Manager, Metrolab Technology SA, as attributed in the original noteStreams: clearer branching and merging
Metrolab used Streams for branching and merging from the beginning. Philip Keller reported that the visualisation made it easier to see who was doing what and substantially simplified project management. Shelving files in the shared repository also helped the developers collaborate.
Preparation first, productivity next
Metrolab performed evaluation and migration in-house, with support from EVOCEAN and Perforce. Migrating all CVS files took several months. UTF conversion and end-of-line handling required particular care; testing the different scenarios in a separate environment proved valuable. After that preparation, a few hours of training and the Perforce documentation, Keller reported that the whole team was productive within two days. This was the onboarding period, not the total migration duration.
“Careful preparation, a few hours of training, and the self-explanatory documentation of Perforce Helix... within only two days the whole team was productive”
Philip Keller, in the original project note. Migration and preparation took several months.
A repository ready for the next step
The migration gave Metrolab a chance to rethink repository structure and adapt build scripts. At the time of the project note, extending version control to hardware, production and marketing documents was a future goal. Swarm was being considered for code reviews; these plans are not presented as completed deployments.
Explore the expertise
Perforce P4
Perforce solutions
Configuration management
About this story
Adapted from the client-supplied EVOCEAN Metrolab project note. The document is undated and describes historical use beginning in October 2013. Roles and quotations are attributed as published. Perforce Helix is the name used in the source; today’s EVOCEAN product links use Perforce P4. Reported time and cost savings are the customer’s qualitative assessment, not measured savings or a promised result. Photos courtesy of Metrolab Technology SA.