![](bg4.png)
This information is useful to the future adoption of
the base-case, and contributes for the continuous im-
provement of the process, since cases with greater
success levels will be prioritized in the search engine
results.
3.5 Retention
The retention consists in the incorporation process of
what is useful in a new problem resolution (Kolodner,
1993) (Pal and Shiu, 2004). Retain continually is fun-
damental to increment the repository with new solu-
tions. In this research, that phase occurs after the eval-
uation of the executed process, in such way to extract
the knowledge for later use and to integrate cases in
the repository.
Depending on the user evaluation, the user may
choose to transform reused process in a base-case by
removing its specific project details and leaving only
the suitable information to reuse in other projects and
also store its context representation.
4 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
TOOL OF PROCESS ASSETS
A component to support the proposed approach was
implemented in the context of an existing Process-
centered Software Engineering Environment (PSEE),
called WebAPSEE PRO (QR Consult, 2009). We-
bAPSEE PRO which aims to provide automated sup-
port for software process management, including
process reuse infrastructure and functionalities. We-
bAPSEE PRO was the chosen tool to implement the
proposed approach because it has a complete meta-
model and a graphic formalism that allows to design
a variety of functionalities for the process reuse
management.
The extension proposed by this approach aims to
support the dynamic management of the organization-
al knowledge and continuous incremental learning.
This component allows the definition of the organiza-
tional assets representation, in order to retrieve the
ranking of the most similar and successful base-cases.
In addition, the tool is already support the process
adaptation and allows the evaluation of the reused
process model performance through the metrics pre-
sented in Section 3.4. In this step, a minimum Success
Level can be specified to the executed process. Final-
ly, the retention process is provided to promote the
improvement of the process interpretations in solving
new problems.
4.1 Component Specification
The proposed approach was specified by UML dia-
grams such as use cases, class diagrams and activi-
ties diagrams (Santos, 2009).
The WebAPSEE PRO state machine involves four
states. The draft state consists of the template initial
state. The defined state means standard template,
which allows template reuse. The pending state means
old template version when there is a template in draft
state. And outdated state means old template version
when there is a template in defined state.
4.1.1 Use Case Approach
Table 2: Overview of the use cases approach.
Use Case Description Status
1- Add Scope The user adds the scope used to group th
context representation features of th
software process assets. The approach pre
defined scopes are Process and Project, bu
actually one can add new scopes.
New
2- Add Feature The user adds context representation featur
of the software process assets.
New
3- Make Standard
Template
The user selects the desired template t
ecome standard. After that, the templat
changes its state from draft to define
(WebAPSEE PRO State Machine, Figure 2).
It is an existing functionality (Costa an
Sales, 2007).
Kept
4- Classify
Template
The user registers the base-case contex
classification (Table 1).
New
5- Retrieve
Templates
The system searches for the similar base-case
in the assets repository. It is an existin
functionality which was updated to use th
proposed context representation.
Updated
6- Evaluate
Closed Process
The user evaluates the process after it
closure.
New
6.1- Classify
Closed Process
After its closure, the user registers the rea
context representation.
New
6.2- Evaluate
Reuse
The system evaluates the reuse in th
executed process related to the selecte
process model.
New
6.3- Evaluate
Contexts
The system evaluates the contexts b
com
aring the preliminary and real globa
similarity values.
New
6.4- Evaluate
Success Level
The user evaluates the executed process b
providing a note in the range 1 to 10.
New
7- Retain Process The user chooses to retain the execute
process.
New
7.1- Generalize
Closed Process
The system generalizes the executed proces
and transforms it in a tem
late by removin
the details and instances (Costa and Sales
2007).
Kept
7.2- Create New
Template Version
The user can choose to create a new templat
version. It is an existing functionality (Cost
and Sales, 2007).
Kept
7.3- Create New
Template
The user can choose to create a new tem
lat
(Costa and Sales, 2007).
Kept
7.4- Assign
Characteristics
The system saves the provided templat
characteristics.
New
7.5- Assign
Success Level
The system saves the provided tem
lat
success level.
New
In order to attend the new requirements, the We-
bAPSEE PRO architecture incorporates new func-
tionalities. The main actor of the tool is the Manager
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