Workflow

Unlike other project management products, Code Roller has a dedicated work flow that is optimized for software development based on years of industry standard, best practice recommendations. Please review the following traditional activity diagram which documents this work flow.

• All requirements associated with a release show up in the analyst's task list once that release has been marked as frozen.
• The original author of the requirement gets a notification when a requirement gets reviewed.
• Based on the analyst's review, the author of the requirement may make changes and possibly schedule another review which can iterate multiple times. Eventually, the analyst will either approve or deny the requirement.
• This approve or deny is part of what is called change control which also includes an expiration date for records management purposes.
• If the analyst approves the requirement, then that analyst will author one or more associated use-case(s).
• When a use-case gets created, the project manager gets tasked to assign the change control to it.
• Once the analyst freezes the use-case, the architect will see it in his task list.
• The analyst will get notified when the architect reviews the use-case.
• Based on the architect's review, the analyst may make changes to the use-case and possibly schedule another review task which can iterate multiple times. Eventually, the architect will either approve or deny the use-case.
• If the architect approves the use-case, then the architect will author one or more associated design documents.
• When a design gets created, the project manager gets tasked to assign the change control to it.
• At the same time, the QA engineer(s) may start working on their test plans based on the use-case documents.
• When a test plan gets created the project manager gets tasked to assign the change control to it.
• The analyst will get a task scheduled to review the test plan once it is marked as frozen.
• The QA engineer will get notified when the analyst reviews the test plan.
• Based on the analyst's review, the QA engineer may make changes to the test plan and possibly schedule another review task which can iterate multiple times. Eventually, the analyst will either approve or deny the test plan.
• The developer will get a task scheduled to review the design once it is marked as frozen.
• The architect will get notified when the developer reviews the design.
• Based on the developer's review, the architect may make changes to the design and possibly schedule another review task which can iterate multiple times. Eventually, the developer will either approve or deny the design.
• If approved, then tasks will be scheduled to implement the design.
• The QA engineer will get notified once those coding tasks have been marked as done.
• The QA engineer executes the test plans and writes up any defects wherever the coded application differs from the test plan as per the use-case.
• Developers fix defects and QA engineers verify the fixes.
• Eventually, the project leader marks the release as complete.

More on Notifications and Reviews

There are two types of notifications; review notifications and status change notifications. Both can be found under the reviews link.

• A review notification is a reqeust to the system to notify the user whenever the identified defect, detailed design, requirement, test step, or use case part gets reviewed. Such a notification gets generated for you automatically whenever you create a defect, detailed design, requirement, test step, or use case part.
• A status change notification is a request to the system to notify the user whenever the approval status of the identified use case, design, revision, or test plan gets changed. These do not get generated automatically so you must click the appropriate notifications link and add a new notification if you want to see these kinds of notices.

Nuts and Bolts of Reviewing

• navigate to the requirement, use case part, detailed design, or defect that you wish to review
• click the Reviews link
• click the Add button
• fill out the form
  • subject is a brief title or summary of the review
  • body is where the content of the actual review itself goes
• click the Add button

Project Manager

Whenever a use case, design, or test plan gets created, the project manager (whoever created the project) will get a task to manage the change control for that deliverable.

• click on the Tasks link in the upper right hand side of the page
• click the Search button
• click on the appropriate task if applicable
• click on the manage link in the description
• About Change Control
  • If you want the management decision for this release to be a part of a bigger decision, then select the appropriate change control from the drop down.
  • If you want the management decision for this release to be by itself (recommended).
    • click the new change control link
    • fill out the Change Control screen
    • approval Status should be initial
    • fill in and remember the code
    • click the add button
    • click the appropriate link in the Recently Visited box
    • select the newly added code in the drop down for the change control
• click the Add button
• click the task assignment link in the Recently Visited box
• click the task link
• click the edit link
• make sure that the Done checkbox is checked
• click the Save button

In this video, the project manager uses the default change control created by the new project wizard.

There is also a change control for each release that the project manager uses to freeze, approve, reject, cancel, or complete it.

• click on the appropriate project in the green projects box on the right hand side
• click on the Release link
• click the search button
• click on the appropriate release, if applicable
• click the change control link
• click the edit button
• select the appropriate approval status
• click the save button

Content Management

Requirements, test steps, defects, detailed designs, events, entries, use-cases, tasks, designs, and use-case parts can all have attachments. An attachment is a revision to a document. Documents belong in folders as do other folders. Both documents and folders are examples of content. There can be multiple taxonomies, each with a different document and folder hierarchy. When you add a document revision in the content repository, then it will appear in the attachment drop down list available on the previously mentioned screens.

Adding a New Document/Revision

• click the attachments link in the workspace area along the left hand side
• click the Add button
• If this is a new revision to an already existing document, then select that document in the drop down list and skip over the following indented points.
• Otherwise, click the Add Document link.
  • fill out the form
    • access control determines who can access this content
    • the code identifies this document in search results and drop down lists
    • keywords should contain some search terms that you would like this document to appear as part of the results
    • select the appropriate document type for this document
    • the content field holds the name of the content and you should put a brief summary here
    • describe the content in the description area
    • click the Add button
  • click on the revision link in the Recently Visited box
• select the newly created document in the drop down list
• the code identifies this revision in search results and drop down lists
• describe the version of the document that this revision represents
• upload the actual file using the file path field
• click the Add button
• click the display link
• click the Hierarchy link
• click the Add button
• fill out the form
  • the folder is the parent content
  • select a currently existing folder or
  • add a new one
    • click the New Folder link
    • fill out the form
      • access control determines who can access this content
      • the code identifies this folder in search results and drop down lists
      • keywords should contain some search terms that you would like this folder to appear as part of the results
      • the content field holds the name of the content and you should put a brief summary here
      • describe what should go into this folder
      • click the Add button
    • click the ContentHierarchy link in the Recently Visited box
    • select the newly created folder in the drop down list
  • the content is the child content, either document or folder
  • select which taxonomy that this parent/child relationship is a part of
  • click the Add button

Collaboration

Needs, requirements, use-cases, and designs can be rated. Events, teams on a project, or members on a team can all be endorsed. Ratings and endorsements are a way of showing approval or disapproval amoungst the group. They also reflect the ranking of search results. The difference between rating and reviewing is that reviews are a part of the workflow whereas ratings ask for a ranking.

Rating a Deliverable

• navigate to the appropriate requirement, need, use-case, or design
• click the Ratings link
• click the Add button
• fill out the form
  • the review scale is your subjective ranking (bad, poor, OK, fair, great, unknown
  • you can elaborate in the description field
• click the Add button

Requirements, detailed designs, use-cases, designs, and use-case parts can all have associated diagrams. Diagrams are composed of blocks and connectors. You must create a diagram before it will appear in the diagram drop down.

Creating a Diagram

• click on Diagrams link in the Workspace area on the left hand side
• click the Add button
• fill out the form
  • access control determines who can access this diagram
  • the code identifies this diagram in search results and drop down lists
  • keywords should contain some search terms that you would like this diagram to appear as part of the results
  • describe what the diagram represents
  • you can also select the preferred chat room for discussions about this diagram
• click the Add button
• click the Display link
• click the Blocks link
• click the Add button
• fill in the form
  • the code identifies this block in search results and drop down lists
  • you must specify how many pixels from the left hand side of the diagram that this block will be drawn
  • you must specify how many pixels from the top of the diagram that this block will be drawn
  • the body field holds what will be rendered inside of the block
• click the Add button
• rinse and repeat until done
• click the Diagram link in the Recently Visited box
• click the Connectors link
• click the Add button
• fill in the form
  • the from block is the block from which this connector starts
  • the to block is the block to which this connector ends
  • from is how the connector will be labeled closest to the from block
  • middle is how the connector will be labeled in the middle
  • to is how the connector will be labeled closest to the to block
• click the Add button
• rinse and repeat until done
• click the Diagram link in the Recently Visited box
• click the Draw link to see how the diagram looks

Registered users can blog. They can also reply to other users's blog entries.

Creating a Blog

• click the blogs link in the Opportunity section on the left hand side
• click the Add button
• fill out the form
  • the code identifies this blog in search results and drop down lists
  • guest blogs can be seen by unregistered users
  • keywords should contain some search terms that you would like this blog to appear as part of the results
  • you should enter the title of the blog
  • there is also a subtitle available
• click the Add button

Posting a New Blog Entry

• click the Profile link along the upper right hand side
• click the Search button
• click the blogs link
• click the Search button
• if appropriate, click the correct row in the search results
• click the Entries link
• click the Add button
• fill out the form
  • summary is a short description that goes into the syndication feed and search results
  • keywords should contain some search terms that you would like this blog entry to appear as part of the results
  • if published is checked, then this blog entry is available to be viewed
  • the teaser appears as on page where all entries of a blog are displayed
  • the subject appears as the title of the entry
  • the body is where you write the entry itself
• click the Add button

Replying to a Blog Entry

• navigate to the blog entry
• click the Replies link
• click the Add button
• fill out the form
  • the subject should be treated like a title
  • the body is where you write your reply
• click the Add button

Requirements, defects, detailed designs, projects, events, diagrams, use-case parts, and needs can all have associated chat rooms that users can visit for a real time discussion and review.