Package Import Export

Package Import Export (PIE) is a framework within Aras Innovator designed to manage application configurations as structured, portable AML packages rather than as implicit database state.

In Aras Innovator, all application elements—business objects (ItemTypes and their instances), user interface components (Forms, Views), and executable logic (Methods, Workflows, etc.)—are persisted as items in the database. While this unified data model is powerful, it introduces operational complexity when:

• Comparing different environments (e.g., development, test, production)
• Tracking configuration changes over time
• Merging parallel development efforts
• Migrating customizations to new releases

PIE addresses these challenges by introducing a file-based representation of Innovator configurations.