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| <mainDescription><h3>
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| The Basic Elements
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| </h3>
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| <p>
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| The basic elements of a process website are:
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| </p>
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| <ul>
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| <li>
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| <strong>Work product</strong>: what is produced
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <strong>Task</strong>: how to perform the work
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <strong>Role</strong>: who performs the work
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <strong>Process</strong>: used to define work breakdown and workflow
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <strong>Guidance</strong>: templates, checklists, examples, guidelines, concepts, and so on.
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| </li>
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| </ul>
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| <p>
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| These "basic elements" are the building blocks from which processes are composed.
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| </p>
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| <h3>
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| Organizing Elements
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| </h3>
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| <p>
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| The basic elements are organized using the following elements.
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| </p>
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| <h4>
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| Practice
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| </h4>
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| <p>
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| A practice is a documented approach to solving one or several commonly occurring problems. Practices are intended as
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| "chunks" of process for adoption, enablement, and configuration. Practices are built from the basic elements described
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| above.
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| </p>
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| <h4>
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| Configuration
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| </h4>
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| <p>
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| From the end-user perspective, a configuration is a selection of method content to be published.&nbsp; Most
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| configurations consist of a selection of practices plus some&nbsp;content to tie the practices together. The published
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| configuration is often loosely referred to as a process website.
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| </p>
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| <h3>
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| Details and Examples
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| </h3>
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| <p>
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| The following provides more detail about the basic elements and provides some examples.
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| </p>
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| <h4>
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| Work product
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| </h4>
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| <p>
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| Work products may take various shapes or forms, such as:
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| </p>
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| <ul>
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| <li>
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| Documents, such as a Vision, or a Project Plan.
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| A model, such as a Use-Case Model or a Design Model. These can contain model elements (sub-artifacts) such as
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| Design Classes, Use Cases, and Design Subsystems.
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| Databases, spreadsheets, and other information repositories.
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| Source code and executables.
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| </li>
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| </ul>
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| <p>
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| Work products can be classified as "artifacts" if they are concrete things, "outcomes" if they are not concrete, and
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| "deliverables" if they are a packaging of artifacts.
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| </p>
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| <h4>
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| Role
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| </h4>
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| <p>
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| A role defines the behavior and responsibilities of an individual, or a set of individuals working together as a team,
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| within the context of a software engineering organization.<br />
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| Note that roles are not individuals; instead, roles describe responsibilities. An individual will typically take on
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| several roles at one time, and frequently will change roles over the duration of the project.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| Some examples:
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| </p>
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| <ul>
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| <li>
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| <strong>Analyst&nbsp;-</strong>&nbsp;Represents customers and end users, gathers input from stakeholders and
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| defines requirements.
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <strong>Developer -</strong> Develops a part of the system, including designing, implementing, unit testing, and
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| integrating.
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| </li>
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| </ul>
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| <h4>
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| Task
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| </h4>
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| <p>
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| A task is work performed by a role. It is usually defined as a series of steps that involve creating or updating one or
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| more work products.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| Some examples:
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| </p>
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| <ul>
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| <li>
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| <strong>Develop a vision -</strong> Develop an overall vision for the system, including capturing the problem to be
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| solved, the key stakeholders, the scope and boundary of the system, the system's key features, and any constraints.
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <strong>Plan Iteration -</strong> Define the scope and responsibilities of a single iteration.
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| </li>
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| </ul><br />
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| <h4>
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| Process
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| </h4>
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| <p>
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| Processes pull together tasks, work products, and roles, and add structure and sequencing information.&nbsp; Tasks or
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| work products can be grouped into higher level activities, called a work breakdown structure
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| (WBS).&nbsp;&nbsp;Activities or tasks can be marked as "planned" to identify work that you expect to assign and track.
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| </p><br />
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| <br />
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| <center>
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| <img alt="This is an example work breakdown structure, showing a hierarchy of activities with sub-activities and tasks." src="./resources/wbs_example.jpg" align="center" />&nbsp;<br />
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| Figure 1: Example Work Breakdown
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| </center><br />
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| <br />
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| <p>
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| Diagrams can be added to providing sequencing information.&nbsp; The following example shows an initial activity, "Plan
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| Test Cycle", followed by two activities that go in parallel, "Monitor and Control Test" and "Test".
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| </p><br />
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| <br />
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| <center>
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| <img height="453" alt="Example UML activity diagram, showing a start, an initial activity, then two activities in parallel, and an end." src="./resources/activity_diag_ex.jpg" width="566" align="center" /><br />
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| Figure&nbsp;2: Example Activity Diagram
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| </center><br />
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| <br />
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| <p>
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| Note that a&nbsp;reusable partial process is sometimes referred to as a capability pattern.
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| </p>
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| <h3>
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| For More Information
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| </h3>
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| <p>
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| More in-depth material on these concepts is generally found in articles on EPF Composer and Rational(R) Method
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| Composer, which use these concepts as building blocks.
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| </p>
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| <ul>
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| <li>
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| To learn more about the Eclipse Process Framework Project and EPF Composer,&nbsp;&nbsp;visit <a href="http://www.eclipse.org/epf">http://www.eclipse.org/epf</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/05/1011_kroll/index.html">http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/05/1011_kroll/index.html</a>
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| For more information on Rational Method Composer, see: 
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| <ul>
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| <li>
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| The RMC Product Page on developer works <a href="http://www-306.ibm.com/software/awdtools/rmc/">http://www-306.ibm.com/software/awdtools/rmc/</a>
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| Article: "IBM Rational Method Composer: Part 1: Key concepts" at <a href="http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/dec05/haumer/index.html">http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/dec05/haumer/index.html</a>
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| </li>
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| </ul>
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| For an in-depth explanation of the meta-model on which EPF Composer and Rational Method Composer are based, see:
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| </li>
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| <li style="LIST-STYLE-TYPE: none">
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| <ul>
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| <li>
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| OMG, "Software Process Engineering Meta model," version 1.1, formal/2005-01-06, 2005. <a href="http://www.omg.org/technology/documents/formal/spem.htm">http://www.omg.org/technology/documents/formal/spem.htm</a><br />
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| <br />
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| <br />
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| </li>
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| </ul>
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| </li>
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| </ul></mainDescription> |
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