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<h1 class="topictitle1">Process Authoring Overview</h1>
<div><p>A development process defines sequences of tasks performed by roles and
work products produced over time. </p>
<p><img src="procauth.gif" alt="" /></p>
<p>Processes are typically expressed as workflows or breakdown
structures. Defining a strict sequence as in a waterfall model is as much
a process as defining semi-ordered sequences in iterations of parallel work.
They just represent different development approaches. Hence, for defining
a process, one can take method content and combine it into structures that
specify how the work shall be organized over time, to meet the needs of a
particular type of development project (such as software for a online system
versus software and hardware for an embedded system). EPF Composer supports processes
based on different development approaches across many different lifecycle
models, including waterfall, incremental, and iterative lifecycles. EPF Composer also
supports different presentations for process, such as work-breakdown structure
or workflow presentations. You can also define processes in EPF Composer that use a
minimal set of method content to define processes for agile, self-organizing
teams.</p>
<p>The EPF Composer screen capture above shows an example of a process presented as
a breakdown structure of nested activities as well as a workflow or activity
diagram for one particular activity, the inception phase. It also indicates
with the two blue arrows that the particular method content task "Detail a
Use Case" has been applied in the process twice; firstly in the inception
phase under the activity "Define the System," and secondly, in the elaboration
phase in the activity "Refine the system definition". You see below each of
these task applications, referred to as a task descriptors in EPF Composer, lists of
the performing roles as well as the input and output work products. If you
look closely, you see that these lists are different for each of these two
task descriptors, expressing differences in performing the "Detail a Use Case"
method throughout the lifecycle. You see different roles involved and changes
in the list of inputs to be considered and outputs to be produced or updated.
These changes were defined by the author that created this process to express
the exact focus of the task performance for each occurrence. In addition to
updating the roles, input and output work products for a task descriptor,
you can also provide additional textual descriptions as well as define the
exact steps of the task that should and should not be performed for this particular
occurrence of the task. </p>
<p>EPF Composer provides you with a process editor that supports different breakdown
structure views as well as graphical process presentations. As a process author,
you typically start by creating an activity breakdown, dividing and breaking
your process down into phases, iterations, and high-level activities. Instead
of creating your activities in the breakdown structure editor, you can alternatively
work in a graphical activity diagram editor that allows you to graphically
create a workflow for your activities. To assign method content to your process,
you then have the choice of working in different process views (work breakdown
structure, work product usage, or team allocation view). Each view supports
a different approach for creating a process. You can define the work to be
done, define the results to be produced, or define responsibilities for your
roles. If requested, the editor updates the other process views semi-automatically
using wizards that prompt you for decisions on selecting method content elements. </p>
</div>
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<ul class="ullinks">
<li class="ulchildlink"><strong><a href="process.html">Process</a></strong><br />
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<div class="relconcepts"><strong>Related concepts</strong><br />
<div><a href="process.html#process">Process</a></div>
</div>
<div class="reltasks"><strong>Related tasks</strong><br />
<div><a href="createareusablecapabilitypattern.html#createareusablecapabilitypattern">Create a Reusable Capability Pattern</a></div>
<div><a href="createadeliveryprocess.html#createadeliveryprocess">Create a Delivery Process</a></div>
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