While the benefits of a centralized Repository are clear, there is also a responsibility to control the contents to avoid the unexpected consequences of a change. For example, a new field validation rule will affect every function which accesses that field. If a field description is changed, it potentially impacts every screen that displays that field.
In order to maintain the integrity of the repository's contents, formal procedures for changes should be set up in advance:
When developing in a client/server distributed development environment, you may have multiple copies of the repository. In this case, it becomes even more important that proper procedures and standards are enforced.
