Managing your application profile from the Application Overview landing page
The Application Overview landing page allows you to manage and document the collection of business-related information that defines your application profile. Supporting the Direct Capture of Objectives (DCO), the landing page enables team members to quickly see and understand the application as it advances through development. Managing DCO information in one location and providing users with common access helps speed productivity and ensures on-target results.
You can use the the features and tools in the Application Overview landing page both before and after you create your application.
- Before you create your application, use the landing page to better understand the application that you will be extending, and determine if there any assets, such as specifications, you will need to import from the framework.
- After you create your application in Application Express, use the Application Overview landing page to better align your DCO assets with the the application's purpose and scope.This includes updating business objectives, adding actors and collaborators, or adding specifications and requirements by creating them or importing them from the application you are extending.
For more information about the landing page's functions and features, see About the Application Overview landing page.
This article provides an example that describes how to use the Application Overview landing page when building a new application. The article also introduces other DCO tools such as Application Express and the Application Profile landing page that are used in the process.
How to manage your application profile
Acme Corporation has acquired the General Purchase Order framework. You and your team will build the organization's Purchase Order application by extending the framework. You will add case types, processes, and DCO information for support requests, which are not in the framework.
Your tasks include:
- In the application you are extending, use the Application Overview landing page to study how the application is designed and determine whether any assets can be reused.
- Run Application Express to create your application.
- Configure your case type structure in the Cases Explorer.
- Add and invite collaborators.
- Update actors and participants.
- Display the framework's specifications that are available in the your new application.
- Add a specification and a requirement.
- Create a sizing spreadsheet and application profile document.
Step 1: Examine the application you're extending
Before creating the new application, you can use the Application Overview landing page to explore and better understand the framework's DCO profile and processes. For example, click Specifications in the Details area to open the Specifications landing page. You identify specifications for collecting customer details and verifying purchase history that you can reuse in the support request processes.
Step 2: Generate the new application using Application Express
- To start Application Express, select
from the Application menu. - In Application Express Step 1, enter the application's description. The description appears on the Application Overview landing page. (Later, you can update the contents on the page.)
- In Step 2, the framework's business objectives are included. Add the third objective, Resolve support requests within 1 day.
- In Step 4, click Create to start the process. When complete, the Application Overview appears on the Home page. Your new application is ready for development. The description and business objectives you defined in Application Express populate the landing page.
Step 3: Create the case types
Add the case types you will need in your new application. In the Explorer area on Designer Studio, select Cases to open the Case Explorer.
The application currently has one top-level case type called Purchase Request (shown in the Application Cases area in the Overview landing page).
You will add a new top-level case type called Support Request and two sub-case types, Product Enhancement and Product Bug.
- Select Add a case type from the Explorer menu .
- Use the Case Explorer Add dialog to specify the new case types. Here is the dialog for adding Support Request:
- Continue to add the sub-case case types.
- When you are finished, the Cases Explorer will look like this:
- Build the processes for each new case type in their Case Designer landing pages. For example, select Support Request to open its page. On the Stages & Processes tab, select the first step under Stage 1 to open the auto-complete field. Select the Create Support Request Case process, which the system created when you added the case type.
Use the stage-based case management features in the landing page to configure the processes. For more information, see Introduction to Stage-based Case Management in Pega 7 .
Step 4: Add and invite collaborators
Before beginning work on the processes, you want to correctly configure the initial set of DCO assets to ensure that everyone has a clear understanding of how the processes can best meet the application's purpose.
- Open the Application Overview landing page. By default, you are the only collaborator. Your first DCO update is to invite people (by email) to work with you as you develop the application.
- To invite a collaborator, click the Collaborators (Invite) link in the Details area to open the Invite Collaborator dialog.
- In the dialog, enter the email addresses and then click Send Invitation.
When the recipient responds to the email, she is added to the list.
For more information, see the Pega 7 help topic Invite Collaborator window — Inviting collaborators..
Step 5: Update actors and participants
Add the actors that will in the business process steps, and the participants to identify the resources the application will require. Use the Actors and Participants links in the Details area to make your updates.
- Click the Actors link to open the Actors dialog.
- Enter the information for the three actors you need in your application and then click Save.
- Click the Participants link to open the Participants dialog. ClickEdit to open the Participants list in edit mode.
- Add a row and enter information about the additional participant, Accessibility Specialist. Click Save when you are finished.
Step 6: Display the framework's specifications
At this point, you want to review the specifications in the application your are extending. When you create a new application, specifications in the framework are not imported into your application but can be reused or copied for specialization.
- Click Specifications in the Details area. The zero (0) indicates that there are no specifications defined in your new application.
The Specifications tab on the Application Profile landing page opens; the list is empty.
- To see the framework specifications, click the Application link in the landing page header and select the built-on application, General Purchase Order Framework.
- Click Apply. The specifications defined in the built-on application now appear.
- To view a specification's settings, click the specification's link to open its Add/Edit Specification dialog.
- In most situations, the built-on application's specifications (and requirements) will be in locked RuleSets and must be copied (Save As) into your current application in order to modify them.
- You do not need to display the specifications on this page in order to make them available to you as you build your processes.
For more information, see How to manage specifications and requirements on the Application Profile landing page.
Step 7: Add a specification and requirement
As you work on the Create Support Request Case process in Step 1 of the Support Request case type, you want to add a specification and requirement to the first assignment, Enter Support Request.
Add a specification
- On the Application Overview landing page, select the Support Request case type link to open the Case Designer landing page.
- Beneath the Create Support Request step in Stage 1, click the Configure process detail link to open the Stage in Process Outline view.
- In the Outline tree, select the Enter Support Request assignment. This opens its properties panel. In the text area beneath the Step Name heading, enter the text "Determine whether request is an enhancement request or a product bug."
- Click Save to create the specification and associate it with the assignment.
- Click Back to stages to return to the Stages & Processes tab.
- Select the Specifications tab to view the new specification item in the list. By default, the system uses the assignment shape label as the specification's short description; the text is concatenated to create the specification's identifier.
- Select the Enter Support Request link to open the Add/Edit Specification dialog.
- In the dialog, expand the Advanced section and select the Resolve support requests within 1 day Business Objective.
Add a requirement
You want to associate a requirement with the new specification. The deadline must be determined using the recipient's local date and time. You will create a new requirement.
- Expand the Requirements section and add a row . Enter the name REQ004 and a short description as shown here:
- Click OK in the dialog to save your updates, create the requirement, and close the dialog.
- Select
To update settings such as status or importance, click the item's link to open the Add/Edit Requirement dialog. to display the Application Profile landing page. The requirement you added to the specification appears on the table.
For more information about the Application Profile landing page, see How to manage specifications and requirements on the Application Profile landing page.
Step 8: Create a sizing spreadsheet and Application Profile document
Using controls located in the Quick Actions area on the Application Overview landing page, you can quickly share information about your proposed application with executive stakeholders by producing a sizing spreadsheet and an Application Profile document.
Create a sizing spreadsheet
- Open the Application Overview landing page.
- Click the Generate Sizing link in the Quick Actions area to start the Sizing wizard.
The Sizing wizard opens as shown here:
- Click Create Project Sizing to open an Excel template.
- After updating and saving the template, click Attach Project Sizing to Application to import the spreadsheet and associate it with your application. You can use the wizard to re-open and update the spreadsheet at any time.
For more information, use the Help link on the wizard or see the Pega 7 help topic About the Sizing wizard.
Create an Application Profile document
In the Quick Actions area, click tocreate an Application Profile document.
This action creates the document directly without having to open the Application Document wizard. The system uses the Application Profile template's default settings.
If you want to customize the Application Profile document, open the wizard by selecting DCO 6.2 - Using the Application Document Wizard.
. For more information about the wizard, seePrevious topic Direct Capture of Objectives Next topic Application Overview landing page