Description Bingxue Xu 2010-08-23 01:43:37 EDT

EPF Composer 1.5.1 shall provide a new mode of process authroing, i.e. configuration free processes. In this new mode, users won't have to have a pre-set configuration defined in order to start authoring new processes (capability patterns or delivery processes).

Requirements:

This REF asks EPF Composer to provide a new type of process, that is, a process without any specific method configuration assigned to the process, that is, a configuration free process.
The main scenario is as below:
„X	Users select the proper menu to create a new process (CP or DP) in a method plug-in he selects
„X	Users specify a name for the process and other descriptions
„X	Then in the WBS/Team Allocation/Work Product Usage editors, users can start creating descriptors without having to selecting a method configuration and assigning to the process first
„X	Users can select any existing method element from the library view to create descriptors based on them in the process editor
„X	Users can select any method element or activity from the configuration view to create descriptors in the process editor.
„X	Users can create new descriptors in the process and then link them back to method elements in the library
„X	Finally users can save the process with the indication that this process is created under no specific method configuration.

Realizing a Configuration Free Process
When users browse a method configuration or publish a configuration, that configuration free processes included in that method configuration will be realized based on the select method configuration.

Design:

To meet the requirements as outlined in the previous section, and the following design and usage flow are propose:
„X	EPF 1.5.1 will provide a new type of configuration free processes (CP and DP). The major difference between this new type of processes and existing ones is that no method configuration will be associated with/assigned to the processes.
„X	Even though there is no explicit method configuration associated with the process, EPFC will maintain an underlying process scope for the process that will remember all the method plug-ins (possibly the packages, need to decide on this late?) from which method elements have been used to create descriptors in the process. This scope will be dynamically maintained by the tool, and no user intervention is needed, and it¡¦s invisible to the users.
„X	Users can directly select any element from any method plug-in in the library view to create descriptors in the process editors. Below are the rules for associating the selected method elements with the newly created descriptors in the configuration free process:
o	If the selected method element is a base element, then EPFC will create a Descriptor in the configuration free process based on the base element, no consideration will be given to all the elements that replaces, extends, contributes, or extends and replaces to the selected base element. The underlying process scope will be updated to reflect the method plug-in/package that contains the selected base elements.
o	If the selected element is an extender, a descriptor will be created based on the extender element.  The extender and its parent base elements and their corresponding method plug-ins/packages will be calculated and added into the process scope.
o	If the selected element is a replacing element, a descriptor will be created based on the replacing element, no calculation for its parents will be done. The process scope will be updated to reflect the plug-in/package that contains the selected element only.
o	If the selected element is contributor, EPFC tool will calculate and find its base element, then create a descriptor based on its base element instead of the contributing element.
o	If the selected element is an ¡§extends and replaces¡¨ one, the tool will behave the same as the extender, i.e., a descriptor will be created based on the selected element.  The extender and its parent elements and their corresponding method plug-ins/packages will be calculated and added into the process scope.

Furthermore in all the four cases above, when the underlying process scope is been updated, all associations in those involved method elements will be examined, and their associated elements and their containing plug-ins/packages will be added into the scope automatically (do we calculate this recursively? The current answer is yes!)
„X	Users can also select method elements and activities from the configuration view to create process descriptors. Since all elements and activities in the configuration view are realized, EPFC will find out the corresponding base, extending or replacing method elements to create the descriptors and update the process scope. Basically, if the element is a base element, then the descriptor will be created based on it. If it¡¦s contributor, then its base will be calculated, and descriptor will be created based on its base element. For extending element or ¡§extends and replaces¡¨ element, the same rules apply, that is, the extending elements and their parents will be added.

The advantage offered by this usage flow is that authors can conduct targeted selection of elements by choosing predefined method configurations with narrower scope in a focused area. Authors can easily locate elements from various configurations by selecting a method configuration from the drop-down box, then using the configuration view as the element selection source. The configuration view also categorizes all the elements which make the selection much easier. Considering a large practice library with hundreds of method plug-ins, it¡¦s very hard to find the needed elements. Note that: in this case, the configuration free process will not change in the process editor unlike those processes with configuration as the drop-down box selection is changed. This is consistent with the configuration free process¡¦ intention, that is, it does not change during authoring in the process editor even the configuration in the drop-down box is changed.
„X	Process variability: EPFC will only allow process Copy, Extend, Deep Copy among configuration free processes. No mixing of configuration required process with configuration free process is allowed. That simply adds confusions and complexity. This may be up-to-debate, and please refer to a question in the last section.
The underlying process scope will be calculated and updated accordingly in those cases.
„X	Activity variability: In the same spirit as the last point, activity variability (contributes, extends, and replaces) are also only allowed among the configuration free processes.
„X	Browse realized configuration free processes under a method configuration: users have to use the browse perspective to see how a configuration free process will materialized / realized under a selected configuration. It¡¦s possible to think of some new UI in the process editor that allows users to browse the realized process under a selected configuration during the authoring process, but we likely don¡¦t have the time to investigate this in 1.5.1
„X	Another extended topic is that: do we need to allow the publishing of configuration free process? We conclude this is a nice to have feature, and recommend deferring it to the future.

Implementation:

Below are some of the implementation suggestions. We will try to minimize drastic UI changes while still providing the new type of configuration free processes.
o	In the Process Create wizard, a new option ¡§¡XNone¡X¡§  will be provided, possibly as the default one.
o	Users still need to choose an appropriate method plug-in and process folder to place their configuration free processes, and no UI change is needed in this case.
o	In the process editor¡¦s description tab for configuration free processes, we¡¦ll disable the section for assigning method configuration to the process. An alternative is to display all the method plug-ins which have been used in composing this process, that is, to display all the method plug-ins in the current process scope. Need more comments on this and make a decision 
o	In the various filter dialog windows in the process editor, we could allow users to select elements from the following sources/scope: (1) the current select the configuration, this is the existing behavior, (2) all the method plug-ins in the library, (3) all the method plug-ins in the current process scope, (4) As in the previous choice with the flexibility allowing users to add more method plug-ins into the process scope.