Tool Mentor: Personalize the RUP web site using Personal Process View or My RUP
This tool mentor describes how to personalize the Rational Unified Process web site.
Tool: Rational Unified Process
Main Description

Overview

Personal Process View or My RUP is the personalization feature of the RUP browser.  Process views that provide a focused, uncluttered look into RUP have been created by your organization and project manager will appear as tabs within the RUP browser tree control.  You can create new tabs containing an even more personally focused view of the RUP process, tailored to your particular roles, needs and interests.  You can even add new elements that provide value in context.

The following steps are performed in this tool mentor:

Select a Process View

A process view is a pre-established, non-editable view of the RUP process configuration that your project manager has created.  The RUP comes with several default role-based views, but your organization or project manager may have created new ones that are particularly useful to the projects you run, and the style of those projects.

To select and review a process view, click on a tab in the tree control in the left-hand panel of the RUP browser.  If your configuration of RUP includes the role-based views, a reasonable starting point is the role view that best describes your duties on the project

Save the Process View as a Personal Process View or My RUP Tab

Having selected a process view to customize, click the save icon on the Personal Process View or My RUP tool bar (it looks like diskette with a name).  Enter a name for the Personal Process View or My RUP tab and click on OK.  A new Personal Process View or My RUP tab will appear in the tree control, and it will be on top of the other tabs.  Notice, it has a picture of a pencil on it.  That indicates that it is a personal, editable view of the RUP.

If you started out with the role view most pertinent to you, you could reasonably save the Personal Process View or My RUP tab with your own name.

Remove Unnecessary Elements from the Tab

The easiest means of creating a customized view of the RUP is to save a process view that has everything you want, then delete the elements that aren't relevant to you.

Select the element, or elements, that you don't want using standard mouse or keyboard controls.  Invoke the right-click pop-up menu and select the 'Delete' option.

The elements are deleted from the view.  There is no undo at present, but you can get elements back in two ways:

  • You can delete the entire Personal Process View or My RUP using the delete icon on the tree control tool bar (a trash can naturally)
  • You can add elements from any of the process view trees.  See the next step for instructions.

Add Important Elements to the Tab

There are two types of elements you can add to your existing tree.

The first are RUP elements in an existing process view that you'd like to see in your Personal Process View or My RUP.  For example, you might be running a small project where you are both Project Manager and Requirements Analyst, and you'd like all of those elements in one view.  

Click on the 'Add from Default' icon on the tree control tool bar (a tree element with a plus-sign (+) beside it).  This will bring up a free-floating tree control dialog.  The selection box lets you choose the process view to use.  You can select one or more elements from the process view and drag them into your Personal Process View or My RUP tab.

The second are resources from outside of RUP, such as web-sites pertinent to your project, or documents stored on accessible disks.

To add this type of link you have two choices.  You can either choose 'Insert New' from the right-click pop-up menu, or you can click on the 'Add New Node' icon on the tree control tool bar (a tree element with an asterisk).  They have slightly different behavior: 'Insert New' will add the element as a child of the selected element, while 'Add New Node' will add the element at the bottom of the tree.

Both have the same dialog for defining the element.  It includes a place to name the element, the location of the element and pointers to the icons you'd like used when the element is opened or closed.  You can browse for the location or the icons by clicking on the '...' icon next to these choices, or you can enter the URL.

Organize the Elements

After ensuring that you have the right elements in your Personal Process View or My RUP tab, you can organize them to provide the greatest value to you.  You could, for example, put roles that you play all of the time at the top of the tree control, with occasionally played roles at the bottom.

To move an element or group of elements up or down one place, select them using normal mouse or keyboard controls, invoke the right-click pop-up menu and choose 'Move up' or 'Move down'.

You can also drag an element or group of elements onto another element to make them children of that element.  This is a good way of keeping information in a Personal Process View or My RUP tab without having it clutter up the view.

Hide Process Views

You have the option of only having one process view visible to reduce clutter further.  To do this, select the process view you would like visible and click on the 'Tree Sets' icon on the tool bar.  Only the selected process view will be visible.