Model and Use Generic Processes

In different phases of product development cycle, some of the processes are repeated in various workflows. For example, joint review as a sub-process is executed to review different types of work product like a project plan, system design, etc. Although processes will differ, generic processes like review go through same steps to achieve the end result.

In Stages, such processes can be modeled once and reused in workflows which consume the process.

Define a Generic Process

Model the generic process process in a workflow. The details of this process should be general enough for it to be consumed in other workflows.

Joint Review Process is a typical peer review that happens at differents areas of product development lifecycle. It is held within development phases, between milestone reviews, on completion of work products. Defining it as a generic process allows to keep the details of the process consistent and standard across any form of review.

The activities in this process contain generic work products (e.g. work product under review) and roles (e.g. Joint Review Coordinator) which can further be assigned to specific work products or roles in the process where they are consumed as sub-process.

Use a Generic Process

Only activities in a workflow can be linked to generic process. For example, in Project management, 'Review Software Project Plan' activity refers to the 'Joint Review' workflow to show how to perform the review. When a user clicks on this activity, they will view the joint review process below the project management workflow.

To model a generic process into a workflow, select the activity (e.g. Review the Software Project Plan) and navigate to the widget Find Details in and select the generic process (e.g. Joint Review). Additionally, specify the work products, phase, roles and other details for the activity in context of the workflow it belongs.

On the other hand, all the processes that use the generic process can be viewed in the Shows How to Perform widget of the generic process. A Joint Review process contains the peer review details which are used in review activities for different workflows like project management, system and component design, etc.

Use Generic Processes to Simplify Process Architecture

Product Development Process is a complex mesh of processes and sub-processes and same would typically reflect in the process architecture in Stages. Generic processes can be used to bring standardization of sub-processes across products of similar nature.

For example, system and software design workflow is a fairly complex, but standard process. The activities in this process typically remain the same for system and software design phase for different components. System and software design process can be used as a generic process for development of different components of the vehicle.

This can help to greatly reduce the variance in components as well as channelize resources to create a sturdier system and software process.

Use of such processes allows to baseline and release such generic processes in thier own workspace and be reused in other workspaces.