The Meta-Process

Similarly to what has been done with the introduction of software life cycle, it is possible to identify the phases which characterize the development of a software process: from its creation to its enactment (and, possibly, maintainance).
Such phases represent ``the process which manages process models'', i.e. the Meta-Process [JLC92].
The following list represents the meta-activities supported (or, at least, identified) by EPOS, even though assuming it valid for the PM discipline in general is probably accurate (which does not imply that every PSE allows the distinction or the formalization of all of them). This list was taken from [CFF93] :

• PM0. Provide a Process Support Environment (PSE).
  It must contain a PM methodology, a Process Modelling Language (PML), libraries of reusable process models expressed in the PML, and process tools for acquisition, modelling, analysis, evolution, execution, monitoring etc. of process models.

  PM0 consists of SPELL, EPOSDB, and EPOS process tools mentioned below.

• PM1. Elicit requirements for an informal process model.
  No computerized support is offered for PM1.

• PM2. Analyze and Design a model.
  The Design of the process model is facilitated by the Schema Manager (meta-)tool. It enables the manipulation of the representations of the process elements, according to the EPOS paradigm. This meta-activity is often carried out by browsing, editing and modifying a library of reusable model fragments (types in the case of EPOS).

• PM3. Implement/Instantiate the model.
  The template process model is instantiated to conform to the real process to support. The instantiation is determined by the actual products, tools, schedules and human resources.
  PM3 is supported by the following (meta-)tools:
  • Planner: it is invoked everytime a task must be decomposed in (sub)activities (in short: it builds the ``task network'').
  • Cooperation Manager: it sets up and maintains communication protocols between each pair of isolated working environments (transactions) with overlapping scopes.
  • Workspace Manager: it manages Workspaces. A subset of a bound sub-DB, a configuration, can be checked-out into and checked-in from ``DB-external'' and possibly distributed workspaces with special data representations. This allows easy access by conventional tools, and corresponds to the classic copy-modify-merge paradigm.
    Workspaces stand in a one-to-one relationship with transactions and provide the latter with mechanisms which avoid unjustified access to data outside of their scopes.
  Furthermore, there are some extractor and editor tools to handle the product models.

• PM4. Execute the model.
  This phase consisists of the guided or enforced use the available production tools for accomplishing the goal of the process (e.g. compilers and editors).
  PM4 interprets the model (through SPELL interpreter and Execution Manager).

• PM5. Monitor and asses external process performance. with feedbacks to PM0--PM4.
  This goes in parallel with PM4 on execution.

  EPOS has no other tool support here than the above PM2--PM4 tools. In addition comes human observation and intervention.

Even though this presentation provides the reader with a ``waterfall'' vision of the Meta-Process, such assumption is not necessary.