Re: Rational Requisite and ClearCase for Application Docs?

Subject: Re: Rational Requisite and ClearCase for Application Docs?
From: Amanda_Abelove -at- toyota -dot- com
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2005 18:18:06 -0800


Hi Harry!

First off I'd like to say a GIANT thank you for responding. Your comments
are not off topic AT all. They are exactly relevant to my question. Can
I abuse your response and have you check my logic? (Help me Obi Wan
Knobe... You're my only hope! LoL!)

Part of my job is to help them redo their process so that it is more
manageable. I can do the first half of this by making them do their
meeting minutes and status reports in Requisite, then making them create
action items for documentation changes, or somehow promote changes to
'Documentation' status (I think) in bug tracking so that they can do
updates after a release and not lose track of anything. Any other
suggestions?

Currently, they have all of the documentation lumped into random folders
on Clearcase. I can create a new filing system for all of their various
documents and , but it still doesn't put all project documentation in one
spot going forward, because there is no one spot since they have the
entire suite. But the business dictates that documentation be in one
place and consistently updated. I want *some* sort of "report" that
provides a roadmap as to where everything is and what status it is in.

If the model is in Rose, requirements are in Requisite, change
requests/bugs are in ClearQuest, and the test scripts are in a bunch of
different modules, how do I generate big picture research reports for
production maintenance as they maintain the projects going forward? Do I
have to create a metadata tool or is there a way to create reports across
all the modules per project. Console looked like it has that
functionality, but I can't tell from the user guides and it is not setup.

I can create standard documentation templates... But how do I encourage
them to use them?

The Rational Suite (or what is available from it) is divided as follows:

SUITE
RUP - Essentially an e-book about RUP and a quick reference guide to
getting started with the suite,

DESIGN AND DOCUMENTATION
Rose - UML/Data modeling. Build models of everything for business,
Validates code against model.
ClearCase - File storage, version control, change reporting and recording
of "who did where, what and when"
Requisite - Track requirements. You can actually track anything you want
from a grocery list to meeting minutes and action items, but they are only
using it for requirements.
ClearQuest - Track bug reports and change requests.
SoDA - Not used much. Can look at any Rational product data and help you
generate a report output into MS Word.
Console - Not used. Provides access to all the data in the suite from the
web via user login.

TESTING
TestManager - Automated testing of code. Tied to requirements.
Robot - Automatically tests code from scripts.
TestFactory - Tests an entire GUI &Code application from scripts.
PureCoverage - Looks for gaps in testing.
Purify - Looks for hiccups using scripts.
Quantify - Looks for bottlenecks (load testing) from scripts.

As a side note... I feel your pain when it comes to documenting projects
for government apps. Ugh. I did ONE. And we didn't even have VSS... let
alone a file server.

Thanks!

---Amanda

Amanda Abelove
Technical Writer, (562) 468-6678
amanda_abelove -at- toyota -dot- com
amanda -at- abelove -dot- com
Cell: 310-430-0049




HBacheler -at- aol -dot- com
01/12/2005 07:12 AM

To
Amanda_Abelove -at- toyota -dot- com, techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
cc

Subject
Re: Fw: Rational Requisite and ClearCase for Application Docs?






To All

I am most familiar with the 'challenge' you face. My comments may be
'too
much information (TMI)' but after many years (over 20) in the Information

Technology arena, some time what was TMI is just what is needed 'next
week'.

On my last task with a US Government activity we had the same challenge,
as
well as addressing the effort of applying for assessment for the Software

Engineering Institute Capability Maturity Model (SEI-CMM), Software
Capability
Maturity Model (SW-CMM), and the Level 2/3 assessment.

Talk about traceability of documentation!!! (Show a minimum of 6 months
documentation and its evolution/versions.) And the amount of
documentation that
must be provided to the assessors to back up your claims.

The following is my experience, and my comments are my own, based on this

experience.

The Rational Unified Process (RUP) is divided into 9 'disciplines', and
each
discipline has a place in the 'folder' structure.

When a project is initiated, RUP creates a folder structure for the
Project,
and initially has 9 subfolders. All well, and good. However, RUP is a
development application and not a project management application.

In our effort to address a "Project", and its management, we found that
we
needed to address the project as a whole, and we created additional
folders to
address project management activities.. That gave us 18 folders for each

project. A large number, but it addressed all of the concerns of project

managers. (We ultimately had 15 projects that were committed to use the
folder
structure that was developed). (I led the effort for this, and had some
wonderful people working WITH me.)

The documentation required to address both the SW-CMM and the RUP
environment is extensive. However, the use of generic TEMPLATEs for the
documentation
allowed us to standardize If you a the templates to be used by all
projects.

Each project could modify the TEMPLATES for their internal use. The
standard templates were under configuration management (separate from the
projects)
and under the control of the Duality Assurance team. Each of the
projects
made appropriate modifications for their projects. These documents were
controlled by the project configuration manager using ClearCase for the
project.

The SW-CMM has been replaced by the SW-CMMI. You can get the base CMMI
document by going to http://www.sei.cmu.edu/ and searching the site for
CMMI.
Or, you can search for the Technical Report "CMU/SEI-2002-TR-002".

The full title is" CMMI (service mark) for Systems Engineering/Software
Engineering, Version 1.1, Staged Representation (CMMI-SE/SW, V1.1,
Staged)".

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------

I hope that this helps. My comments above may have been a little
off-topic
as relates to the detail you gave in the original email, but shows how
important it is to address the impact on the "Enterprise" (company you
work for),
when you are dealing with 'many' projects, and their associated
documentation..

I am sure that we all have had to look 'outside the box' for solutions.
Especially where it is important to have two focuses; one, on the project

itself, and two, on ALL of the projects we have to deal with.

BTW, we had over 100+ document 'types' to deal with. And control the
modification of the TEMPLATEs.

If requested, I will provide additional comments relative to this topic to

the TECHWR-L list

Sincerely,

Harry





^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

WEBWORKS FINALDRAFT - EDIT AND REVIEW, REDEFINED
Accelerate the document lifecycle with full online discussions and unique feedback-management capabilities. Unlimited, efficient reviews for Word
and FrameMaker authors. Live, online demo:
http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l

Technical Communication Certificate online - Malaspina-University College, Canada. Online training in technical writing, software (FrameMaker, RoboHelp, Dreamweaver, Acrobat), document & web design, writing manuals, job search. www.pr.mala.bc.ca/tech_comm.htm for details.

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.



References:
Re: Fw: Rational Requisite and ClearCase for Application Docs?: From: HBacheler

Previous by Author: Fw: Rational Requisite and ClearCase for Application Docs?
Next by Author: Fw: Rational Requisite and ClearCase for Application Docs?
Previous by Thread: Re: Fw: Rational Requisite and ClearCase for Application Docs?
Next by Thread: Re: Rational Requisite and ClearCase for Application Docs?


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads