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A
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activity
- process element which supports the nesting and logical grouping of related process elements such as descriptor and sub-Activities, thus forming breakdown structures.
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activity detail diagram
- Diagram depicting all the process elements within the scope of an activity Activity (Role descriptors, Work Product Descriptors, TaskDescriptors, sub-Activities). This diagram also depicts input/output relationships between Task Descriptors (or Activities)and Work Product Descriptors, as well as responsibility relationships between Role Descriptors and Task Descriptors. Activity Detail Diagrams are used to provide a complete summary of an activity and thus improve their comprehensibility.
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artifact
- A formal Work Product that:
1) is produced, modified, or used by a
task,
2) defines an area of responsibility
3) is subject to version control.
An Artifact can have multiple forms including a model, a model element, or a document.
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B
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breakdown element
- Any element modeled in UMA that is part of process structure.
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breakdown structure
UMA construct that specifies a process as the hierarchical composition of breakdown elements.
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C
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capability pattern
A Capability Pattern is a special Process that describes a reusable cluster of Activities. Capabilities Patterns express and communicate process knowledge for a key area of interest such as a Discipline and can be directly used by process practitioner to guide his work.
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content element
- Any element modeled in UMA that is part of method content.Content Elements providestep-by-stepexplanations,describing how very specific development goals are achieved independent of the placement of these steps within a development lifecycle. They are instantiated and adapted to the specific situation within process structures.
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customer
- A person or organization, internal or external to the producing organization, who takes financial responsibility for the system. In a large system this may or may not be the user. The customer is the ultimate recipient of the developed product. See also: stakeholder.
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D
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deliverable
- An output from a process that has a value, material or otherwise, to a customer or other stakeholder .
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delivery process
- A Delivery Process is a special process describing a complete and integrated approach for performing a specific project type. It provides a complete lifecycle model that has been detailed by sequencing Method Content in breakdown structures.
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descriptor
- Abstract generalization for special breakdown elements that reference one concrete content element. Descriptors are the key concept for realizing the separation of process from Method Content. A Descriptor can be characterized as a reference object for one particular Content Element. In addition, a Descriptor has its own relationships and properties whose purpose is to modify the semantics of the Content Element it refers to.
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discipline
- A collection of related tasks that define a major 'area of concern'. In software engineering, Disciplines include: Business Modeling, Requirements, Analysis & Design, Implementation,Test, Deployment, Configuration & Change Management, Project Management, Environment.
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document
- A document is a collection of information intended to be represented on paper, or in a medium using a paper metaphor. The paper metaphor includes the concept of pages, and it has either an implicit or explicit sequence of contents. The information is in text or two-dimensional pictures. Examples of paper metaphors are word processor documents, spreadsheets, schedules, Gantt charts, web-pages, and overhead slide presentations.
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domain
(1)An area of knowledge or activity characterized by a family of related values.
(2)Refineable hierarchy grouping related Work Products.
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F
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Feature
- An externally observable service provided by the system which directly fulfills a Stakeholde Need .
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G
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guidance
- Generalizes all forms of content whose primary purpose is to provide explanations about other UMA elements. Guidance being itself a content element, it is possible to associate Guidance to other Guidance.
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I
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input
- A Work Product used by a task See: static Work Product.
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M
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Method Content
Describes generic UMA methodological concepts and guidance which provide step-by-step explanations, describing how specific goals are achieved independently of the placement of these steps within a process lifecycle. UMA separates Method Content from its application in process.
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model
A semantically closed abstraction of a system; a complete description of a system from a particular perspective (complete means that no additional information is needed to understand the system from that perspective); a set of model elements. Two models cannot overlap.
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model element
- An element that is an abstraction drawn from the system being modeled. Contrast: view element.
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O
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outcome
Primarily describes intangible Work Products that are a result or state. An Outcome can also be used to represent an informal Work Product.
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output
- (1) Any Work Product that is the result of a task. See: deliverable.
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P
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process
(1) A general structure for particular types of development projects. Processes take content elements and relate them into semi-ordered sequences that are customized to specific types of projects. Thus, a Process is a set of partially ordered work descriptions intended to reach a higher development goal, such as the release of a specific software These work descriptions are organized into a hierarchical breakdown-structure A Process focuses on the lifecycle and the sequencing of work in breakdown structures.
(2) The part of UMA that models processes.
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R
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Requirement
A requirement is a specification of an externally observable behavior of the system; for example, inputs to the system, outputs from the system, functions of the system, attributes of the system, or attributes of the system environment.
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role
- A definition of the behavior and responsibilities of an individual, or a set of individuals working together asa team, within the context of a business organization.
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S
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stakeholder
- An individual who is who is materially affected by the outcome of the process (i.e. the deliverables the process produces).
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Stakeholder Need
- The business or operational problem (opportunity) that must be fulfilled in order to justify purchase or use.
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static work product
- A work product that is used, but not changed, by a process.
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step
- content element used to organize tasks into parts or subunits of work.
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T
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task
- A unit of work a role may be asked to perform.
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tool mentor
- guidance that explains how to perform specific task or steps using a specificsoftware tool.
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U
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UMA
- Stands for Unified Method Architecture. UMA is a state-of-the-art architecture for the conceiving, specifying, and storing of method and process metadata.
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V
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view element
- A view element is a textual and/or graphical projection of a collection of model elements.
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W
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work product
- content element that represents anything used, produced, or modified by a task.