One of the significant enhancements in Digité is the Universal Process Framework, or UPF. Here is a simple explanation of what it is, and what I believe is its true value proposition to customers.
Starting with Version 4.1, Digité supports implementation of quality processes to manage software projects in accordance with CMMI practices. Using the Digité process template functionality, an organization can develop and maintain an array of process models to support diverse project types based on its needs and in compliance with in-house quality management standards. Using the process template, the process lifecycle model may be defined and bound with standard lifecycle activities and/or workflows and metric goals. A logical extension of the process template, the Universal Process Framework (UPF) in Version 4.2 helps model a diverse range of standard software methodologies including RUP®, PMBOK and Agile Processes.
The hierarchical constitution of the UPF is shown in the figure on the left. It is based on the concepts that all methodologies employ a consistent set of practices that execute concurrently during the entire lifecycle of the project. Project Mgmt, Requirements Mgmt and Configuration Mgmt are typical practices one would encounter in most software methodologies. Practices may be hierarchical and contain sub-practices as needed. Each practice has a set of goals to be fulfilled as we step through each of the lifecycle phases of the project, and these goals are expressed in a goal matrix. The practice goals are realized through a set of standard activities that distinguish the practice. The activity matrix defines the standard activities for the practice in a given phase. The role-activity bindings define roles that may perform a specific activity, as established by the methodology. Structured review and approval workflows may be imposed on activities and work products through appropriate e-form item/workflow templates. A reasonable degree of flexibility in the process configuration may be achieved with tailoring guidelines to suit the project and organization context.
The hierarchical constitution of the UPF is shown in the figure on the left. It is based on the concepts that all methodologies employ a consistent set of practices that execute concurrently during the entire lifecycle of the project. Project Mgmt, Requirements Mgmt and Configuration Mgmt are typical practices one would encounter in most software methodologies. Practices may be hierarchical and contain sub-practices as needed. Each practice has a set of goals to be fulfilled as we step through each of the lifecycle phases of the project, and these goals are expressed in a goal matrix. The practice goals are realized through a set of standard activities that distinguish the practice. The activity matrix defines the standard activities for the practice in a given phase. The role-activity bindings define roles that may perform a specific activity, as established by the methodology. Structured review and approval workflows may be imposed on activities and work products through appropriate e-form item/workflow templates. A reasonable degree of flexibility in the process configuration may be achieved with tailoring guidelines to suit the project and organization context. Digité Value Proposition
The software engineering field has attained sufficient maturity to offer a variety of methodologies that address different software concerns to varying degrees. Certain methodologies may suit an organization’s culture, skill profile, development maturity and development services better than others. Even among these, different methodologies might be best suited for different project types. Though RUP® is a flexible methodology, it may not prove to be the best-fit solution for all types of projects. Organizations experiment with several standard and custom methodologies, and over time they evolve guidelines to choosing appropriate methodology for different project types. The constraint here is the cost of enterprise tools needed to implement the different methodologies. Employing Digité, organizations gain by not having to incur a heavy expenditure in process implementation tools, while retaining the flexibility to employ different methodologies for different projects.
Digité is all about frameworks. Beneath every user functionality lie one or more frameworks that help us uniquely customize the application for our customers. The basic frameworks have evolved over the years in meeting the customer needs, and new frameworks have been developed to seize new market opportunities. So what frameworks are we working on now?
Universal Process Framework (UPF): The UPF successfully debuted in Digité 4.2, and has been effectively employed by customers to manage Application Development and Maintenance projects. We are extending the framework to handle other processes such as Service and Infrastructure Management. Just as the current framework is built to support CMMI-compliant development and maintenance processes, the framework extensions will support ITIL compliant services and infrastructure processes.
Reporting Framework: This framework is overdue for a complete overhaul. The new framework is based on open source BIRT tool to quickly develop and deploy high quality reports
Data Analysis Framework: This framework provides access to Digité internal data through a set of OLAP cubes and puts the tools in users' hands to slice and dice data on several dimensions and design dashboard components and reports on the fly. While the framework uses open source tool, integration would be possible with other industry-standard Business Intelligence tools.
These and a slew of exciting functionality built on existing frameworks will become part of the product early next quarter. There are other exciting ideas brewing in the minds of those who constatntly push the envelope where it concerns Digité functionality - and those we can discuss about in the blogs to come...
Universal Process Framework (UPF): The UPF successfully debuted in Digité 4.2, and has been effectively employed by customers to manage Application Development and Maintenance projects. We are extending the framework to handle other processes such as Service and Infrastructure Management. Just as the current framework is built to support CMMI-compliant development and maintenance processes, the framework extensions will support ITIL compliant services and infrastructure processes.
Reporting Framework: This framework is overdue for a complete overhaul. The new framework is based on open source BIRT tool to quickly develop and deploy high quality reports
Data Analysis Framework: This framework provides access to Digité internal data through a set of OLAP cubes and puts the tools in users' hands to slice and dice data on several dimensions and design dashboard components and reports on the fly. While the framework uses open source tool, integration would be possible with other industry-standard Business Intelligence tools.
These and a slew of exciting functionality built on existing frameworks will become part of the product early next quarter. There are other exciting ideas brewing in the minds of those who constatntly push the envelope where it concerns Digité functionality - and those we can discuss about in the blogs to come...
Ananda (AP to all who know him well) is the Director of Engineering and steers the product development at Digité.
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