How are you Handling Change?

[DMT]

I'm wondering if I could get some general feedback about how others are handling changes to the model that they then need to disseminate for review and for updating the team.

My current thought goes something like the following for the initial pass:
1. Generate RTF documentation for version 1
2. Save as a Word document
3. Have it reviewed. The reviewer can use the track changes feature in Word to notate changes
4. Update the model
5. Re-generate the RTF doc
6. Check it into Source Safe, marking it as version 1.

For a revision, it would go something like:
1. Make changes in EA until you're ready for another pass to be reviewed and distributed.
2. Generate an RTF file
3. Overwrite the version 1 file, selecting Word's option to merge changes. This marks all changes as long as you have the track changes feature turned on.
4. Submit for review. The reviewer can just scroll through the parts that have changed.
5. Make edits from reviewer, check in, and distribute the doc. Again, all changes are marked and easily visible in the Word doc.
6. Accept all of the changes in the document before the next pass.

Does anyone have a better option than this?  This seems the only way to communicate each and every change for each new version of the document.

Thanks,
Dave

[Javier]

DMT,

Our company uses a similar process, except that we stopped tracking changes in Word because it was too confusing.

A suggestion for the document part is to keep a version of the original document (1.0).  When 1.01 comes along, save it.

The reason that we do that is because 1.0 may be needed--ISO standards--and it also is a trackable way to find out what changed from 1.0 to 1.01.  What we do is that in the documents we have a table to track the changes.  Yes, we have to fill the changes that we've done, what parts of the design have changed, etc., but it pays off.

Regarding the model, we are not saving to a version control system, although we should.  It seems that by having the "hard copy" in the document we're not too concerned with the changes in the model.

In addition, another part that we do is that we partition a project in iterations.  Each use case then is marked with the iteration when it will be realized.

Regards,

Javier

[DMT]

Javier: Do you use the "Phase" tag in EA to track the iteration?

If so, are there any tips and tricks as far as reporting goes?

Thanks,
Dave

[Javier]

DMT,

Actually, we use a Rational solution...still.  I bought EA to evaluate it over a period of time--say, 6 months--and see if we can get rid of those expen$ive iRational--or should I say eRational?--solutions.

The tools do what we need them to do, but they're expensive and problematic.

Regards,

Javier