IBM SC34-4499-03 manual Defects and features, Processes

Defects and features

A defect is a record of a problem to be ®xed. A feature is a record of a request for a functional addition or enhancement. Both may be associated with a work area, and both follow the processes de®ned for the component and release that are associated with the work area. TeamConnection tracks both objects through their life cycles as developers change and commit parts.

You can use defects and features to record problems and design changes for things other than the products you are developing under TeamConnection control. For example, you can use defects to record information about personnel problems, hardware problems, or process problems. You can use features to record proposals for process improvements and hardware design changes.

For more information, see ªWorking with defects and featuresº on page 38.

Processes

An application changes over time as developers add features or correct defects. TeamConnection controls these changes according to the processes you choose for your application's components and releases. A process enforces a speci®c level of control to part changes and ensures that actions occur in a speci®ed order.

Two separate types of processes are de®ned: component processes, which can be different for each component within a family, and release processes, which apply to all activities associated with a given release. Component or release processes are built from a number of lower-level processes, or subprocesses, that are included with the TeamConnection product.

A defect or feature written against a component moves through successive states during its life cycle. The TeamConnection actions that you can perform against it depend on its current state. The component processes de®ne these actions. You can require users to do some, all, or none of the following for tracking defects and features:

dsrFeature

Design, size, and review changes to be made for features

verifyFeature

Verify that the features have been implemented correctly

dsrDefect

Design, size, and review ®xes to be made for defects

verifyDefect

Verify that the ®xes work

At the release level you can require some, all, or none of the following subprocesses:

track This subprocess is TeamConnection's way of relating all part changes to a speci®c defect or feature and a speci®c release. Each work area gathers all

10User's Guide