Is multiple checkout feasible with Tridion

Question

During one of the business meetings this came up as a requirement. The users want the capability of multiple checkouts for the same component and when anyone checks in, it creates a version in Tridion. For example, if 3 users checkout the component, anyone can checkin and it will create a major version for the component. The business sees it as a common behavior for changes going in within a short span of time as the authors will like to make changes and see the same in preview environment.

AFAIK, this is not feasible, but still wanted to check with the community if this is feasible.

Answer 1

This is not currently possible out of the box. A check out creates an exclusive lock on an item, so only one user can perform the action at a time.

Answer 2

This is not possible. The whole point of a checkout is to avoid the chance that two modifications take place simultaneously, and the second save overwrites the first. If you really wanted this, you could implement it by (automatically) making copies of the component. You could hide the workings in a GUI extension, but first you'd have to figure out the semantics you want for all those conflict/overwrite /merge scenarios. Your business analysis effort would be far better spent figuring out a cleaner solution to your problem. So... no.. not out of the box. Nasty workaround possible, but a world of pain. But, of course, what you want sounds very similar to Experience Manager. Focus first on your functional needs.