An Application Profile is an auto-generated Microsoft Word document designed to help you in the information-gathering phase of a project's life cycle.

The document is created by the Application Profiler -- an automated tool that guides you through a series of input steps to collect organization, use case, requirements, and other application information to produce a comprehensive and professional looking work-based proposal and sizing estimate for your projects.

It also provides the basis for automated input into the Enterprise Application Accelerator that builds the basic structure of your new or extended application.

About the Application Profiler

The profiler supports an iterative approach to information gathering that allows you to create, update, and save profiles, and to generate in-process documents as you collect project data during the inception process.

Profiles are typically produced through the collaborative effort of business analysts, lead architects, and other project team members who gather and define the initial design and processing requirements of the application or implementation you plan to build. On average, it takes 2-3 days of dedicated effort to build and complete a profile.

The profiler is structured to guide you through a series of input and document steps.

• Input steps prompt you for information about the key elements of your application
• Document steps produce and attach project sizing spreadsheets and application profiles

You can save inputs at any point in time and update the profile later when you have more information to enter.  

Launching the Application Profiler

From the File menu on the developer portal, select one of these options:

• • New > Application Profile to create a new application profile
  • Open > My Wizards in Progress > Application Profiles On My WorkList to open profiles on your worklist
  • Open > My Wizards in Progress > Application Profiles I Can Modify to open profiles you have the security to modify
  • Open > All Wizards to open an existing profile from a list of open and resolved profiles

Stepping Through the Process

When you create a new profile, a unique profile object prefixed with AP- is created. The following processing steps appear to the left of the input screen:

• Get Started - describes the organization and project and lists users who can access and change the profile 
• Overview  -  defines the type of application you are building and lists the business objectives
• Frameworks - selects descriptive text for the document when you build an application based on an existing framework
• Actors - lists the actors who perform work in the application
• Requirements – describes the business and operational processing requirements for the application
• Work Types - lists the types of work processed in the application and associates them with use cases
• Interfaces - describes the connectivity to external systems
• Reporting - describes the reporting requirements
• Correspondence - describes the correspondence requirements
• Assumptions - lists the working assumptions for the project
• Participants - lists the number and type of internal and external resources needed to complete the project
• Sizing - creates and attaches a sizing estimate; displays a graphical timeline for the project
• Document - creates and attaches the profile; displays a visual breakdown of application elements

For each input step:

1. 1. Enter the data.

Click on a step to display a pop-up help window similar to the one below that describes how to complete the step.

• Click Next >> to move to the next step.
• Click on a step at any time to return to that step or click << Back to return to the previous step.
• Click Save at any time to save your input. You can open the profile later to add information to steps as you iterate through the process of gathering data and requirements.
• Click Cancel to cancel a profile and resolve it with a status of Resolved-Withdrawn.

Creating Project Sizing and Profile Documents

Sizing and profile documents can be created and attached to the profile any time during the life of the project.

To Size a Project:

1. 1. Click the Sizing step.

1. Click Create Project Sizing to launch Microsoft Excel in a separate window. The sizing sheet pulls in all of the information you have entered in the profile.
2. When the sizing sheet displays, you can review it, edit the data, and save it to a file.

• When you edit the spreadsheet, do not update or modify values that are defaulted from data entered through the steps of the profiler . Instead, change them in the profile step and create the sizing again.
• Adjustments can be made to the hours and other sizing data fields other than what is captured and defaulted from the profile. Changes are preserved in the sizing document if you attach it to the profile.
• Information not maintained by the profiler can be stored in the spreadsheet.
• When you create a new sizing, the last saved version of the spreadsheet is displayed.

• Click Attach Project Sizing to attach the spreadsheet to the profile.
• Repeat this process when you want to resize the project and save the most current version.

To Create a Profile Document:

1. 1. Click the Document step.

1. Select the template.
2. Check the Attach to Profile box if you want to automatically attach the document when it is saved.
3. Select a document option. Options appear when a profile is created for an application built on a framework or an extension of an application. Indicate whether you want to document the full content of the application or only what is changing or added to the application.
4. Click Create Document to launch Microsoft Word in a separate window.
5. Review and edit the document in Word.
6. Save the document.
7. Repeat this process when you want to document and save the most current version of the profile.

Completing the Profile

When you have entered the final data and the profile has been created and attached, click Finish to resolve it. To update the profile again, reopen it.

From the resolve screen, you can select the following options:

• Generate this Application - displays if you are able to check out rule and opens the Enterprise Application Accelerator to create the application using the profile as input. If you select this option, you should no longer update the profile.
• Reopen Profile- reopens the profile
• Package Profile - creates a zip file of the application profile that you can port to a development system at a later time
• Close - closes and saves the profile

Customizing Profile Documents

You can create profile documents to meet your company's document styles and standards.

The default profile document is defined in the Word Template rule PegaAccel-Task-ProposeApp.ApplicationProfile.

To customize the document:

1. In the Find By tool, enter ApplicationProfile. Select the template rule.
2. Perform a Save As to a new name and to a RuleSet that lists the Pega-AppDefinition RuleSet as a prerequisite.
3. Enter a short but meaningful description of the template. The text you enter here is the text that displays in the template selection box on the Document step.
4. Select Application Profile as the category.
5. Click Edit Word Template to display and edit the template.
6. Save the template.
7. Click Upload File.
8. When the load completes, click Save.

For more information about setting up Template rules, see the Knowledge Base article How to use Word Template-based Correspondence Generation.

This article links to the following articles about the capabilities available in the DCO 3.1 release.

• What's New in DCO 3.1
• Enabling DCO Access
• Using the Enterprise Application Accelerator
• Using the Application Document Wizard
• Working with Application Use Cases
• Working with Application Requirements

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