Synthesis Opportunistic Domain Engineering
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
PROCESS DESCRIPTION
INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER ACTIVITIES
The Project Support Activity is an activity of Domain Engineering for
validating Application Engineering Process Support and assisting projects in
its use. Application Engineering Process Support is the application
engineering name for the Domain Implementation. To ensure that the baselined
Domain Implementation is usable and effective, Project Support independently
validates it from the perspective of the product and process needs of the
targeted application engineering
project.
Project Support assists application engineers in effective use of the process
and supporting materials, through delivery and installation
and consultation for the targeted project. Project Support
answers questions about the process, its documentation, and its automation.
Based on issues, problems, and future needs identified by application
engineers, Project Support coordinates feedback to the rest of Domain
Engineering for improvements in the supported process or products of
application engineering. The Project Support Activity is performed for each
work product family in the domain.
The objectives of the Project Support Activity are to:
-
Evaluate the effectiveness and quality of Domain Implementation for use by the
targeted
application engineering
project
-
Provide customer support to the targeted
application engineering project
in the understanding and use of Domain Implementation
-
Provide a conduit by which the needs of the targeted application engineering
project
can influence domain improvements and evolution
The Project Support Activity requires the following information:
-
Domain Definition
-
Domain Implementation
The Project Support Activity requires domain and software knowledge and
experience in:
-
The methods, practices, and solutions of application development in the
targeted project
-
Installing and evaluating software products and their documentation
-
Assisting engineers and managers in the use of process documentation and
automation
The Project Support Activity produces no work products. Instead, it is a
service activity to the targeted
application engineering
project.
The Project Support Activity consists of two steps shown
Figure DE.4-1. Project Support Process
The first, Domain Validation, is ongoing and must certify each baseline Domain
Implementation as it becomes available. The second, Domain Delivery, is
initiated at the beginning of each targeted application engineering project and
continues until that project's termination.
Follow these steps for the Project Support Activity.
Step: Domain Validation
-
- Action:
-
Certify that baselined, deliverable Domain Implementation for the work product
family
will satisfy the targeted
application engineering
project's
needs, as specified in the Domain Definition (available in future releases).
- Input:
-
-
Domain Definition
-
Domain Implementation
- Result:
-
None
- Heuristics:
-
-
Review the Domain Plan and Domain Definition from the perspective of the
targeted
application engineering project.
Ensure that the product and process needs of the targeted project
are properly represented. Advise the rest of Domain Engineering on the
realistic product and process needs of the targeted
application engineering
project.
-
Perform an independent evaluation of each baseline of the Domain Implementation
as it becomes available. Evaluate whether it properly satisfies and balances
the intended mix of general business objectives and specific application
engineering project/customer needs.
-
Perform independent validation, including extensive, scenario-based testing of
the (integrated) Product Implementation and Application Engineering Environment
portions of the Domain Implementation baseline. Evaluate the correctness and
usability of the Application Engineering User's Guide
as it relates
to use of the Product Implementation and Application Engineering Environment.
-
Attempt to build typical products that reflect realistic project experience on
existing systems in the domain. Identify capabilities or characteristics of
those products that the Domain Definition accommodates but that are not
attainable with the provided Domain Implementation baseline.
-
Evaluate the impact of the Domain Implementation baseline on the efficiency and
effectiveness of the targeted
application engineering project.
Identify improvements in realistic and practical Domain Implementation
usability.
Step: Domain Delivery
-
- Action:
-
Deliver Domain Implementation to the targeted
application engineering project, assist with its use, and identify needed
product or process improvements (available in future releases).
- Input:
-
Domain Implementation
- Result:
-
None
- Heuristics:
-
-
Initiate an instance of this activity at the beginning of
each targeted application engineering project; continue this activity until the
project terminates.
-
Provide copies of process documentation (i.e.,
the Application Engineering User's Guide) to the engineers and managers of the
application engineering project.
-
Install the Application Engineering Environment (and subsequent upgrades),
including the Adaptable Components from the Product Implementation, for project
use and check it for proper operation.
-
Explain use of
the Application Engineering User's Guide for understanding and performing the
process of developing draft application engineering work products.
Explain the use of the Application Engineering Environment as described in the
User's Guide.
-
Provide consultation services to application engineers as they perform
Application Engineering. Consulting requires extensive domain knowledge to
answer application engineers' questions accurately and fully. Consultants
should be knowledgeable in all aspects of Domain Implementation. There also
needs to be a core of expert consultants who are sufficiently familiar with
other domain engineering work products to provide complete, detailed, in-depth
information, rationales, and assistance when complex problems are encountered
by a project. In small organizations, the entire domain engineering team may
be called on as a consulting resource.
-
In response to the delivery services provided, application engineers will
identify problems, improvements, and future needs that Domain Engineering
should consider for possible action. Some of these ideas will relate directly
to meeting customers' needs while others will relate to how efficiently
application engineers can use the process and associated domain assets.
Properly record and communicate these ideas and their motivations to the rest
of Domain Engineering as feedback from application engineering. This is a key
part of Project Support and is essential to continual project
responsive improvement
of a domain.
-
- Risk:
-
The needs of a particular application engineering project will conflict with a
simple interpretation of prescribed standards and procedures.
- Implication:
-
The project will be forced to work in conflict with that interpretation and to
be less effective and efficient.
- Mitigation:
-
Try to interpret standards and guidelines flexibly so that they best fit the
needs of the targeted
project. Be aware of variations in the Process Support, particularly in
environment installation, that support different needs. Tailor consultation
and training to the targeted
project's needs.
- Risk:
-
Changes in the circumstances of a project may conflict with the previous
interpretation of prescribed standards and procedures.
- Implication:
-
The project will be forced to work around obsolete support and will be less
effective and efficient than necessary.
- Mitigation:
-
Reconsider the support given to a project whenever circumstances change
significantly. Be prepared to adjust the
environment
and consulting advice to fit current needs better.
-
- Contingency:
-
Application engineers are having difficulty using the Application Engineering
process or Domain Implementation to develop draft work products.
- Source:
-
Process Support Development Activity
- Response:
-
-
Suggest better ways to the project for performing the process within the
prescribed standards.
-
Document the nature of the difficulties and suggest improvements in the
prescribed process or in its documentation or automation.
- Contingency:
-
Particular, noncommon customer requirements cannot be expressed in an
Application Model.
- Source:
-
-
Domain Definition Activity
-
Process Requirements Activity
-
Process Support Development Activity
- Response:
-
-
Identify unrecognized domain variations that application engineers need.
-
Suggest to the project how it can best work around current limitations.
None