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Reviews in WebEA
Review elements are a convenient way for groups of users to collaboratively discuss one or more model objects and capture those discussions as a formal review. A Review element is a custom element that captures all discussions that you participate in over a period of time. That period begins when you select to 'join' the review, and ends either when you select to leave the review, or when you log out of the current model. You can also return to the review in a subsequent work session and your continuing discussions are also captured. The Review element would typically have a start and end date set to define the duration of the review.
When a Review element is created, a child diagram is also created, automatically. Both Enterprise Architect and WebEA consider any element added to this diagram as requiring comment during the Review. When the properties of the Review element are loaded in WebEA the 'Objects in Review' section will contain a list of all elements that have already been commented on or have been added to the Review diagram. This list provides a convenient way to quickly navigate to each element in the Review.
When the properties of a Review element are loaded in WebEA's Main View, the default feature that is displayed is a 'Review Summary'. This includes the status, start and end dates, number of elements discussed and yet to be discussed, and a breakdown of review topics based on priority and status, as illustrated here:
The 'Review Summary' is followed by the 'Review Diagrams' and 'Objects in Review' sections.
The 'Review Diagrams' section provides links to the diagrams that are associated with the review (i.e. those that are children of the Review element).
The 'Objects in Review' section displays a list of elements to be discussed during the review. Elements that have not yet been discussed are presented first in the list, followed by elements that have been commented on, showing each review topic. The name of the object acts as a hyperlink to that object.
Locating Reviews
There are a number of ways in which to locate existing Review elements to join, or to switch to your Active Review (the review that you have already joined).
To check on recent review discussions, click on the Collaboration button in the WebEA header, then select the 'Reviews' tab. This view provides a history of recent Review discussions. Selecting an item will display the Review discussions for that element in the right panel.
From here you can Join the review and add a topic/reply, or click on the review element name to access the review element's properties.
The name of your active Review is displayed in the WebEA's Status bar, and you can click on the name (in the Status bar) to load the details of the active Review element.
Join a Review
While the property details of a Review element are loaded, the will be enabled.
Clicking on this button will join you to the review and link your discussions to the Review element. The display will automatically be adjusted to the change of state. These changes include:
- The addition of the joined Review element's name to the status bar
- The 'Review' section filtering elements to the current Review element only
- The Join Review button being disabled, and the being enabled
The Join Review button might be disabled, for these reasons:
- You are already joined to a review on a different Review element
- The loaded Review is closed
The Join Review button and Leave Review button are only visible on Review elements when the 'participate_in_review' configuration option is set to "true" for the current model. See the How to Configure WebEA Models Help topic for more information.
Add topics to a Review
When you have opened and read through the contents of a Review element, you can add your own review topics or respond to existing points. To do this you click on the name of the object you want to comment on, then select the 'Discussions' feature button.
Note: Whilst you are joined to a review, the contents of the panel are filtered to show only the review comments for that review.
Add a review topic
To create a review topic on a new point, simply type into the 'Create Review Topic' field. When you have finished typing your message, submit it by clicking on this button:
Note: WebEA does not support editing (or deleting) review comments, therefore you should take care to type messages clearly the first time, and double-check before submitting.
Depending on how the WebEA model is configured, you might connect to it using your personal user ID, or via a single generic User that is shared by multiple people. In the second case, Sparx Systems recommends that each user identifies themselves in each message, either at the beginning or at the end.
Whilst you are adding comments to a review, at any point you can return to a posted topic and add or change its status and priority. To the right of the review topic text are two icons. The first is the 'Status' icon, and the second is the 'Priority' icon. The appearance of the icons depends on the current setting for status and priority. To set a status or priority, simply click on the appropriate icon and select from the listed options. These are:
- Status
- Priority
Add a reply to a comment
If you want to respond to either a review topic or a reply to that topic, click or tap on the appropriate message. A blank field and button underneath the conversation thread will appear; type in your message and click or tap on this button:
Your reply is added to the end of the thread.
Note: Currently the review threads are only read from the model when the page is loaded, which means if other users make additional comments they will not be displayed until the page is reloaded or refreshed.
Review another element
Click on the name of the Review element in the 'Reviews' panel or in the page footer, to display the Properties view for that review element. Select another element in the review from the list.
Leave the current Review
When you have finished contributing to the review, you can either return to the Review element Properties view and click on the , or log out of the current model.
The Leave Review button will only be enabled when the details of the currently joined Review element are loaded.
Creating a Review
Typically, only a Project Manager will create Review elements in Enterprise Architect, notifying the relevant users of their location so that each user can join and leave the review(s) as necessary.
However, a WebEA user might create a Review element as a direction to the Project Manager to set up. In this case you create the Review element by clicking on the 'New' icon in the Package hierarchy view, selecting 'Review' as the element type. The procedure is as described in the Object Creation in WebEA Help topic.
You require specific access permissions to create a Review element; those permissions are totally separate from the permission to join a review.