Fields and controls on the Specification form

The Details tab describes how a specification is processed and provides supporting information such as business objectives and business impact.

  • Status - (Optional) Select the current development state of the specification. You can define custom status values for your project team to use.
  • Type - Select the method by which this specification is implemented. For example, select Human based step for a flow action or Decision for a decision shape in a flow.
  • Complexity - Select the estimated level of effort (i.e., high, medium, or low) to implement the specification. If you do not specify a value, the complexity level is set to blank.
  • Release - Select the target release for this specification. The text you enter in this field appears next to the specification in worksheets generated by the Sizing wizard. Specifying a target release facilitates accurate project sizing.
  • Iteration - Select the target iteration for this specification. The text you enter in this field appears next to the specification in worksheets generated by the Sizing wizard. Specifying an iteration facilitates accurate project sizing.
  • Primary business objective - Select a business objective that is met by this specification. Business objectives are defined on the Application form and are also accessible from the Application Overview landing page.
  • Business impact - Select the relative value (i.e., high, medium, or low) achieved by implementing this specification.
  • Description - The expected behavior of the specification and required steps to complete it. Do not enter information about exception paths. These are defined by other specifications in the application.
  • View/Edit in Microsoft Word - Click to externally edit the specification text in Microsoft Word. Close any other Pega-initiated Word sessions first. After you save and close the Word document, a "Description" file is attached to the specification. The rich text editor is replaced with the message " Specification description was last modified using MS Word on [date] Make all future edits externally in Word until you delete the "Description" attachment or clear the Use as Description? check box in the Attachments section of the form.

> Decision Strategy Manager

The DSM section is visible for DSM type specifications. Select a value from the Subtype drop-down list to indicate how this specification is implemented. Each subtype maps to a tab in the worksheet generated by the Sizing wizard.

Based on your selected subtype, a set of dynamic fields appear. The values you enter in these fields are used to populate the worksheet.

Keep the default Unknown subtype if you do not know how this specification is implemented. Specifications of an Unknown subtype do not appear in the worksheet.

> Comments

Post comments, upload images or add URLs to provide supporting information for this specification.

> Attachments

Specification attachments are typically reference materials, such as Word documents, UML diagrams, PowerPoint presentations, informal sketches, or files from external systems.

This section is collapsed by default. Click the section name to expand it. If your specification has existing attachments, they appear as a list in this section.

> Advanced

The following fields are available once you expand the Advanced section.

  • Trigger - Select an event or access method (how an actor interacts with the system) that triggers the specification.
  • Format - Select a format for the specification based on your application's Project Methodology:
    • For Iterative Waterfall, select Use Case.
    • For Scrum, select User Story
  • Acceptance Criteria - Specify the criteria a user story must meet in order to complete it. Add and remove rows from the list as needed. This section appears when the specification Format is set to User Story
  • Actors - Specify the primary actors that process the work to complete the specification. If you do not specify an actors, a default value of Any is used.
  • Requirements - Review the list of requirements linked to this specification.
    • Expand a row to review details on the requirement or click the requirement name to open it directly.
    • Click the plus sign to create a new requirement, link an existing requirement.
    • Click the trash can to delete a requirement from the list and disassociate it from this specification.
  • Subject matter experts -Specify the names of people or resources who are experts on how this specification is implemented.
  • Pre conditions - Specify the events, criteria, or circumstances that must occur before the steps in the specification can be executed. For example, "The Customer Service Representative must be logged into the system." This section appears when the specification Format is set to Use Case.
  • Post conditions - Specify the events, criteria, or circumstances that must occur as part of the specification's successful completion. For example, "The Customer's account is updated to reflect their change of address." This section appears when the specification Format is set to Use Case.