Creating new method configurations

Method libraries can be comprised of content from many types of methods and whole families of different processes. A method configuration defines a logical subset of a method library. You use method configurations to define the scope of your authoring work and when publishing or exporting content.

About this task

For example, when you create a process you must specify at least one method configuration that this process is authored against. See Method configurations overview for more details.

You use the method configuration editor to create and modify method configurations. In this editor, you select which method plug-ins, content packages, and categories of elements you want to include to or exclude from the method library into the method configuration. The selections that you make restrict the scope of the content that you use as a basis for defining your process. These selections also determine the content of the published Web site.

Method configurations are assigned names and are saved so that they can be reused at a later date. In addition to creating new method configurations, as described below, you can also simply copy and paste a configuration by right-clicking the method configuration that you want to copy and right-clicking the top-level Configurations folder and clicking Paste. You will get a complete copy of the configuration with a new name that you can modify for your needs.

To create a new method configuration:

Procedure

In the Library view of the Authoring perspective, right-click the Configurations folder and click New > Method Configuration. Your new configuration is created and the configuration editor opens.
In the configuration editor, type a name and description for your configuration. You will see your new configuration name in the Configurations folder in the Library view tree.
Click File > Save to save your new method configuration.
At the bottom of the editor, click the Plug-in and Package Selection tab.
The method configuration selection section on the left shows a list of all method plug-ins, their content packages, and processes. Use the check boxes to add or remove plug-ins, packages, and processes to or from your configuration. Expand each plug-in to select and clear individual packages and processes. You can use the Expand All and Collapse All buttons to browse the hierarchy.
Select categories to be added to or removed from the configuration definition. In addition to selecting method plug-ins and packages, you can refine your configuration definition with the two list boxes on the right. You can add or remove elements that have been categorized with standard or custom categories. On the right are all of the method plug-ins that were selected on the left. As you browse, notice that the sub-trees list all categories that are defined in these plug-ins. When you select a category, all elements that were in this category are added to the configuration, regardless of whether the content packages where these elements are stored were selected in the list on the left. You can add elements to your configuration based on “logical” criteria. For example, you might want to add all of the Template guidance that was in a category called “High Ceremony” to your configuration regardless of which content packages these templates were stored in. When you select a category in the bottom box, then all elements that were in the category are removed (or subtracted) from the configuration; regardless if the content packages in which these elements are stored were selected in the list on the left or not. This allows you to systematically remove content that was categorized in a certain way from your configuration.
Click File > Save.
Define the views for the method configuration. A view is a navigation tree browser in a published method configuration. Every published configuration can have several views that are displayed as tree browser in individual sliders. The structure of the view is defined as a Custom Category.
1. In the Configuration editor, click the Views tab.
2. Click Add View.
3. If needed, click the plus (+) sign to expand the Custom Categories folder, and select the category that you want to use as your view. Click the (+) sign to expand your chosen category and view its contents. Press and hold the Ctrl key to select multiple views.
4. Click OK. The window closes and the views that you selected are added to the configuration.
Select the view that you want to display as your method configuration's startup view and click Make Default. The startup view is the first view shown when a published configuration opens for the first time.
Click Order to open a window so that you can change the order of how the views are displayed in the published site.
Click File > Save All.
Click the Publish General Options tab to select the method configuration content that you want to publish. You can choose between publishing the entire configuration or select a subset of processes to be published. When you select processes, you will only publish the method content elements that are referred to by these processes. All other content will not be published independent of what packages and categories were selected in the Plug-in and Package Selection tab. In this tab, you also select if you want to publish a glossary, in addition to which Tags shall be used for publishing. For information about tag-based filtering, see Filtering work product fulfillment with tags.
Click the Publish HTML Options tab.
1. Select options for Titles and links:
  - Title: The title is displayed in the title bar of the browser showing the published site.
  - About content: Select a text or an HTML file that contains the text that will be displayed when the user clicks About in the published site.
  - Feedback URL: Add an email address for feedbacks, for example, mailto:rupfeed@us.ibm.com. For more information about the feedback URL, see Changing feedback addresses.
2. Select the option for Index. Select the Publish index check box to generate an index section.
3. Select options for Look and feel.
  - Skin: From the list, select a skin to be used for publishing. Skins are stored in the home directory for the user (such as C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\MEC\Skins). The first time that you publish from Engineering Method Composer, a default Skin directory is created that you can copy, paste, or modify to create your own skins.
  - Publish banner: Select this option to create a banner at the top of the published content. Use the Banner image field to select a graphic file that contains your banner. If you do not enter anything here, Engineering Method Composer will use its default banner.
4. Select options for Validation.
  - Check external hyperlinks: When this option is selected, Engineering Method Composer checks all hyperlinks before publishing. Clear this option if you are not connected to the Internet or need to use a Proxy server.
  - Convert broken hyperlinks to plain text: If the Check external hyperlinks finds broken links and this option is not selected, Engineering Method Composer prefixes each link with a broken link symbol. The same is true for links to content elements that are not in the published method configuration. If this option is selected, all links are converted to plain text instead and no broken link symbol is used.
5. Select options for Diagrams.
  - Publish activity detail diagrams that have not been manually created: When this option is selected, Engineering Method Composer publishes an activity detail diagram for every activity. It creates these diagrams and publishes them with a standard layout. If the option is cleared, then only the activity detail diagrams that a user has manually created in the process editor and saved with a custom layout are published .
  - Publish activity diagrams for unmodified activity extensions: By default, activities that are extensions of other activities are not published with an activity diagram, but only the work breakdown structure. If this option is selected, extending activities are published with the diagram of their base activities if these extending activities do not define their own sub-elements, that is, are pure pattern applications without providing their own modifications. If these activities define their own elements, you should create a local activity diagram for the extending activity that will then be published.
6. Select options for Layout.
  - Show relationship sub-folders in navigation trees: If this option is selected, it will publish elements, such as task with its related elements (input and output work products), in separate sub-folders. If cleared, it will publish related elements as sub-elements. It will also list a subset of these related elements in the tree; for example, only output work products for tasks and not the inputs.
  - Show task descriptors in navigation trees: If this option is cleared, Engineering Method Composer creates a breakdown for all activities for published processes in the tree-browser. If selected, it also includes the descriptor level into the tree-browser. Selecting this option has an impact on publication time and performance of the published site.
  - Include method content in descriptor pages: If this option is selected, it hides the distinction between method content elements and descriptors from the users of the published site. All descriptors are published without using the word “Descriptor” as their type and all textual content and guidance relationships of the related method content elements.
  - Replace descriptor page with linked content element page: When this option is selected, element descriptors that are process specific will not be published. Instead, links to the original elements are published.
  - Publish process usage in role, task and work product pages linking to related descriptors: When this option is selected, all method content pages include an additional section called “Process Usage” that lists all occurrences of the method content elements in all processes of the published configuration. This provides a quick overview to see the processes and where in these processes that the method content elements have been used. When this option is selected, you can also select the option “Show all indirect (green) occurrences in extended patterns” which determines how many process occurrences are shown for a method content element. If the option is not checked, then only direct usage of the elements is shown (recognizable by using a black font for these elements in the process editor's breakdown structure). If the option is checked, then also all indirect occurrences are shown. Indirect usage means that the element has not been applied directly to the process, but indirectly by applying a capability pattern that had this element applied (recognizable by using a green font for these elements in the process editor's breakdown structure).
  - Default tab for activity pages: Published activity pages comprise four tabs. This option allows selecting which of these tabs is presented first by default.
Click the Publish Doc Options tab.
1. Select the publishing options. These options will be used to customize the look when publishing the method configuration as a PDF or Word document. The Report library needs to contain a path to a valid report library file. Engineering Method Composer ships with different report library files that you can find in the installation directory. If you select the option to specify a report template for each element type, your window will look similar to this:
  If you select all other options to publish, for example the cover page, the list will include additional elements and templates.
2. Each of the element types has a default template that will be used in the published output. These templates can be changed by clicking any of the entries in the Template Name column. A pull-down menu opens next to the template name. This menu lists the possible templates that can be used to customize the display of the published configuration.
3. Select the template from the list.
4. Select File > Save All.

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