CMS - Business Criteria tab

Business Criteria tab

This tab allows you to edit existing or create new Business Criteria (i.e. strategic quality indicators - either business oriented or either development oriented) that will govern how the analyzed source code is measured.

The tab is divided into two distinct parts:

a list of Business Criteria
and a separate editor to configure/edit each Business Criterion with various sub tabs

List of Business Criteria

This section simply lists the Business Criteria. The below example is taken from the standard CAST supplied Assessment Model (see Assessment Models view):

To add a new Business Criterion:

Click the button, a new Business Criterion called "My Business Criterion" will be displayed in the list.
Choose the Business Criterion type in the column of the same name - by default the type will be set to Health Factor, but by clicking in the appropriate cell, you can choose between Health Factor and Rule Compliance (note that you can also define this in the Documentation tab described below)
Configure the criterion using the section below

To edit an existing Business Criterion:

Select the Business Criterion in the list
First check that the Business Criterion type is set as required
Edit the criterion using the section below

To remove an existing Business Criterion:

Select the Business Criterion in the list
Click the button - this action cannot be undone. Once removed, an item is no longer part of the Assessment Model and is no longer referenced anywhere (including in the CAST Engineering Dashboard).

Business Criteria configuration editor

This editor allows you to configure/edit each selected Business Criterion - it displays the details of a Business Criterion selected in the above list:

Name

Displays the name of your Business Criterion.

You can edit the field by selecting it and then modifying or replacing as appropriate. Please see Naming constraints for more information.

Active

Use this option to activate/deactivate the Business Criterion. If deactivated, it and any sub items (Quality Rules etc.) belonging to it will no longer be taken into account during the snapshot generation process.

This is designed to be a temporary action, i.e. it can be changed easily and quickly between snapshots.

Detached

This option indicates whether the Business Criterion is "detached" or not. When an item is set as Detached, the link to all immediate child items (i.e. Technical Criteria) has been cut. Use the following options to activate or deactivate this:

Attach > The Attach option is targeted at new items or items that have been "detached" previously. When clicked, the CAST Management Studio will add in one child item (i.e. Technical Criteria) to the Grade Contributors tab (see below), enabling you to define it further or change the Technical Criteria type.
Detach > The Detach option will "cut" the links the current item has to all its immediate child items (i.e. Technical Criteria) in the Grade Contributors tab and the item will no longer be included in the snapshot calculation.

Note that this option cannot be reversed using the "Attach" option as such the item will lose all links to any immediate child items.

The editor is itself divided into several sub tabs, each is explained below:

Grade Contributors tab

This tab governs the Technical Criteria that contribute to the selected Business Criterion. You can use it to determine their Grade Contributions - i.e. their weight and criticality in the context of the selected Business Criterion.

To configure this tab, Technical Criteria must already exist in the Quality Model > Technical Criteria tab.

To add a new Grade Contributor:

Click the button, a new entry with default settings will be displayed in the list
Configure the entry using the section below

To edit an existing Grade Contributor:

Select the entry in the list
Edit the entry using the section below

To remove an existing Grade Contributor:

Select the entry in the list
Click the button

Weight

Set the weight of the Grade Contributor. The higher the value, the more weight the contribution carries.

Note

Some items have negative values that cannot be modified. These are CAST internal values.

Critical

This option allows you to threshold the grade of the parent metric using the grade of the critical child metric.

For example (when selecting the option): a critical metric that obtains a grade of 1.43 at module level would mean that the parent metric could not have a better grade than 1.43.

1) If the parent metric should have been 2.34 (without this option and using the average weighting) then with the option selected the parent metric will obtain a grade of 1.43 (in other words the parent metric cannot have a better grade than a contributing critical metric).
2) If the parent metric should have been 1.01 (without this option and using the average weighting) then with the option selected the parent metric will obtain a grade of 1.01 (in other words the parent metric cannot have a better grade than a contributing critical metric, BUT it can obtain a lower grade).

The main idea behind this option is that a very important or critical metric with a poor grade can be used as the highest level of aggregation.

Technical Criterion

Choose the Grade Contributor you require in the drop down list.

Documentation tab

This tab governs what is displayed in the CAST Engineering Dashboard with regard to the selected Business Criterion. There are various sub tabs:

Name Translations > use this tab to define translations of the Business Criterion name. You can configure translations for German, French and Italian - tick the check box to activate the configuration. Translations of the Business Criterion name will be displayed in the CAST Engineering Dashboard when a CAST Engineering Dashboard user is configured to use one of the above languages.
Description > use this tab to define the Business Criterion type (Health Factor/Rule Compliance - note this can also be configured in the List of Business Criteria section described above) and a description of the Business Criterion - tick the check box to activate the description configuration. You can also define a translation of the Business Criterion description for German, French and Italian. Translations of the Business Criterion description will be displayed in the CAST Engineering Dashboard when a CAST Engineering Dashboard user is configured to use one of the above languages.
Rationale > use this tab to define the Business Criterion's rationale, i.e. why it is important - tick the check box to activate the rationale configuration. You can also define a translation of the Business Criterion rationale for German, French and Italian. Translations of the Business Criterion rationale will be displayed in the CAST Engineering Dashboard when a CAST Engineering Dashboard user is configured to use one of the above languages.
Short Name > use this tab to define the Business Criterion's short name, i.e. a shortened name for ease of display - tick the check box to activate the short name configuration. You can also define a translation of the Business Criterion short name for German, French and Italian. Translations of the Business Criterion short name will be displayed in the CAST Engineering Dashboard when a CAST Engineering Dashboard user is configured to use one of the above languages.

General tab

This tab governs the External ID of the current entity. The External ID is simply a numeric ID that uniquely identifies the entity. External IDs must be unique across all Business Criterion, Technical Criterion, Quality Rules, Quality Distributions, Quality Measures, Sizing Measures and Background Facts.

CAST recommends letting the CAST Management Studio manage the IDs for you:

Existing ID > you should only update an existing ID if you need to resolve an ID conflict:
- Click the Update URL and a dialog box will prompt you to enter the new External ID. If the chosen External ID is already assigned to another item, then the CAST Management Studio will suggest the next available increment and ask for confirmation.
- Note that for in order for the change to be taken into account in correctly in the CAST Engineering Dashboard:
  - Business and Technical Criterion > you need to consolidate any existing snapshots via either the Dashboard Service editor or the Application editor.
  - For all other entities (such as Quality Rules, Quality Measures, Sizing Measures and Background Facts) > you need to generate a snapshot again.
ID at 0 for new Business Criterion > if you leave the External IDs at 0, the CAST Management Studio will assign the IDs when the Assessment Model is synchronized with the Dashboard Service.

Note that IDs are reserved as follows:

ID above 2 000 000	Reserved for customers
ID above 1 500 000 and below 2 000 000	Reserved for field consultants
ID above 1 000 000 and below 1 500 000	reserved for built-in packages created by CAST
ID above 0 and below 1 000 000	reserved for CAST R&D and products

Notes tab

The Notes tab is simply an area that you can use to make notes or remarks about the selected item.