Tool Mentor:  Setting Up and Managing the Rational Process Workbench Workspace

Purpose

This tool mentor describes how to set up and manage the process models and process content libraries that you'll be working with in your process development efforts.

This tool mentor relates to the Rational Unified Process (RUP) information:

• Concept: Workspaces
• Activity: Establish CM Policies
• Activity: Set Up CM Environment

Overview

The Rational Process Workbench's (RPW's) workspace is comprised of one or more process models and one or more Component Models inside the Rational Rose modeling space. Each model is contained in a separate package in either Rose’s logical view or component view.

In the general structure of your RPW workspace, an existing process model and component model from the RUP, and one or more process models and component models accommodate your customizations.

Tool Steps

To set up and manage your own workspace, perform these steps:

1. Manage the process model and Process Content Library from the RUP

2. Create your customization workspace

3. Share process material among developers

1. Manage the process model and Process Content Library from the RUP

The process material from the RUP is considered to be read-only (it's not physically read-only because certain modeling can only be achieved if the model is write-accessible) and must be kept separate from your customizations. This facilitates future updates of the RUP without disturbing your customizations.

The RUP material consists of the process model, component model, and Process Content Library (PCL). The first two are separately controlled Rose units, maintained in their own files, whereas the PCL is a regular directory structure in the file system. 

Refer to the topic titled Managing the process model and Process Content Library from the Rational Unified Process in the RPW online Help for detailed information.

2. Create your customization workspace

All of your process customizations must be maintained separately from the RUP material. The basic structure of your customization material will be the same as that of the RUP material. You define your customized process elements in your own process model, specify your customized processes in your own component model, and store all process text you create in your own PCL.

Refer to the topic titled Creating your customization workspace in the RPW online Help for detailed information.

3. Share process material among process developers

Depending on the size of your process development and customization effort, you might want to organize your process material to allow for parallel, yet controlled, process development.

We advise that you avoid sharing your process model among multiple developers, although it's technically possible. We recommend you organize your team in such a way that one person is responsible for the whole process model or, if the team members share the responsibility of the model, only one developer works on it at a time. This also applies to the component model.

The core activity in your process development is authoring the process content. As such, it's important that you set up your PCL so multiple developers can simultaneously work in it.

Refer to the topic titled Sharing process material among process developers in the RPW online Help for detailed information.

For More Information

For detailed information on this procedure, see Chapter 5, "Setting up and managing the RPW workspace" in the Developing Process Using Rational Process Workbench manual.

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