Client Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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Contents 1 Purpose 2 Point of contact 3 Summary of Questions & Answers 3.1 Questions asked on July 27, 2007 3.2 Questions asked on June 28, 2007 3.3 Questions asked on April 17, 2007 3.4 Questions asked on April 10, 2007 3.5 Questions asked on April 6, 2007 3.6 Questions asked on March 30, 2007 3.7 Questions asked on March 6, 2007 3.8 Questions asked on February 16, 2007 3.9 Questions asked on February 9, 2007 3.10 Questions asked on January 26, 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this section is to summarize all the questions and answers elicited from the client via email and during other interactions.

Point of contact

The point of contact for this document is Somakala Jagannathan.

Summary of Questions & Answers

Questions asked on July 27, 2007

• Do we need to modify the question or add a question during SMIG maintenance?
  • The user should be given a choice on the server UI to either modify the cat/qn/answer etc. in place or to change the SMIG

• Can we hard code tags for the client template module?
  • Yes, we can use hard coded tags.

Questions asked on June 28, 2007

• Do we need the client to configure the users per engagement? Or should we leave that open and let anyone download any engagement?
  • It should be open. The client sees conditions where people will join in an engagement during the engagement.

• The current data model allows data model to be consolidated without having to do it in a separate page. Do we need user history on the database to enable that?
  • The client is ok with this model where consolidation is done during runtime rather than having a separate UI for consolidation.

• What are the scenarios for sub-questions? What is the use case here?
  • This was a wrong understanding on our part. The sub-questions are the same as the questions trigerred by a particular answer. Grace pointed out the expected responses for the following conditions
    • (Q,A)--> Q
    • (Q, A, A) --> use (Q,A)--> Q (where Q is the one on the top)
    • (Q, null) --> next question in the sequence within the same category. When it is the last question in that category, the first question in the next category will be used.

• Can questions exist without categories in the SMIG today?
  • No

Questions asked on April 17, 2007

• New SMIG information can be entered consistently and that the tool provides hints when inconsistent inputs are received. What is inconsistency in SMIG information? What are the hints which need to be provided?
  • Inconsistency means that there should not be any "orphan" questions and that two potential answers to a question should not be the same.

• We know that a user on the ZEN client neednt choose an answer and can fill in the comment or mark a tag and move to the next question. Can there be no answer while creating the SMIG?
  • Yes, it is possible to have a question with no potential answers. This would be a fully open-ended question.

• From inside SEI there are different kinds of users, so should there be different levels of authentication mechanism?
  • Not authentication mechanisms, but yes roles. For example, I can see one or two of us being administrators, meaning that we have full access, and others being able to just use the reporting capabilities.

• Does the user want the navigation history remembered (atleast) the last question which caused this question to appear, for a crash scenario?
  • Yes. This would be something similar to a feature that Word has that I can't remember how to invoke right now. Basically, by pressing a combination of keys, you can get to the place that you last edited. I can imagine either a combination of keys or an option from a menu.

Questions asked on April 10, 2007

• Different team members have a different understanding of the term "template" as used in the SRS and as used in various discussions with the client. What are "templates" actually and how & where in the system do they play a role?
  • Templates in SMART are different from report templates. Templates are component and service table templates which will be used during the interview and will be filled by the interviewer with data from the customer. It will be generated on the client, usually only one person will generate it and hence there should be no conflicts. A question can be tagged during the interview and this will be added to the component/service table when the template is regenerated. This should not affect the data already saved. (Note: There will be a simple name for the question. A question can be tagged and added to Component or Service table. For this each question will be given a simple name. This will be added when SMIG is created/updated.)

• Is HTTPS needed for communication? Since VPN is the only way to access a SEI server, https is not required? Will this affect customers who might late use the ZEN tool?
  • Https needs to be provided for communication. But the data being sent over https need not be encrypted, because it is a VPN connection. Customers who will use the ZEN tool later need to take care of their own security mechanism. The ZEN tool will provide https access only by default.

Questions asked on April 6, 2007

• Are the browser functionalities dependent on the type of person that is authenticated (i.e. SMIG modification only available to people with the Administrator role)?
  • Yes.

• What data formats do you expect the reports to export data to on the client and the server? One experiment has identified a report application which exports to PDF and HTML. Will this suffice?
  • Client doesn't care about this, as long as she can see the report outputs on the screen and can print them via the printer. PDF is prefers over HTML.

• What is the concept of consolidation?
  • Grace intends to view merged submissions only. On the other hand, Phil suggested to maintain submission history as well. Therefore, it has been finalized that we will display only the latest consolidation on the client but the server will maintain the old consolidation versions.

• Do you need a button to consolidate on the client?
  • No, should be only in the browser.

• What is the role of the client in terms of report generation?
  • In the report generation perspective on the client, you can customize reports but not create them.
  • Changes to reports will not be saved on the client.
  • On the server, client wants to be able to create new reports within a given amount of time using code (having a tool for this purpose is a nice to have).

Questions asked on March 30, 2007

• Are multiple choices for a single question permitted during the interview?
  • Yes. Imagine the question about programming languages where the answer could be a mix of languages.

• After consolidation, should we show who chose what answer for a particular question (in case more than one answer is chosen for a single question by different team members)?
  • Yes. Even if there is agreement and the answer is the same, we want to see everyone's comments.

• On the server located within the SEI, should we encrypt the data stored locally on it? I know that this has been asked before, but the team would like to reconfirm this once again.
  • No. The server is behind the firewall and only accessible to SEI folks. So we should be fine.

• Should there be only one engagement related data on the client? If so, do you want the Zen tool to enforce that only one instance can be active?
  • I think it depends on how you identify engagements. I can easily imagine (as we have now) having done three engagements with the same customer. As long as the project is different, it should be considered a different engagement, even if it's the same organization.
  • Clarification: We mean one engagement as information related to one customer. So should there be information about only one customer at any given point on the client? Can one interviewer be involved in SMART engagements for customer A and customer B at the same time? If not, do you want the Zen tool to enforce that only one set of data be active?
    • View one instance, but be able to view multiple versions.

• Would you prefer an automatic consolidation to be done on the server for the engagement? For example if the system is aware that 6 members have to upload data, then the consolidation will get automatically triggered after the 6th member has updated it.
  • I don't think it's necessary. I would rather explicitly ask it to consolidate.

• Do you have any sample reports which you can share with us?
  • I actually don't, but it's something that I can work on.

• What features are you expecting in reporting? Do you want options to sort columns, apply filters etc?
  • Probably not sort columns, but yes apply filters. For example, I don't want to see everyone's answers, only Ed's.
  • Clarification: Is there a time frame within which we can expect such a sample? Even one sample report would help us evaluate the complexity of reports and for refining the data model.
    • To be discussed with Somakala in a 1-1 meeting, next week.

Compound questions associated with Quality attribute scenario #16: In the event of a system crashes, the application will return to former state within 30 seconds from application start. (need further clarification):

• Does the "system" or "application" cover both *ZEN Client* and *ZEN Server*?
• The measurement (30 seconds) has a dependency on the hardware specification on which the system runs. What is the hardware specification?
• What does the former state mean? Is it the state right before the system crash? (If that's the case, this quality attribute scenario will be nondeterministic because the program does not know when it will crash.) Is it the last saved state before the system crash?
  • If so, application means ZEN Client. The hardware specification is a standard SEI laptop. Mine for example runs Windows XP Professional Version 2002 SP2, 1.80GHz Pentium processor, 1GB of RAM, and an 80 GB hard drive. Is there any additional information? Former state means the last saved state before the system crash. For example, in Microsoft Word, if you open a document and press SHIFT-F5, it will take you the place you were editing when you closed the document.

Questions asked on March 6, 2007

• What type of DB is used by the SEI?"
  • Open licensed MySQL

• If the password to the client is lost, should there be a way to recover access to the client?
  • Yes.

• Can we make our application open-source?
  • No.

• Should the client be able to handle unexpected shutdowns?
  • Yes, see SRS.

• What is SEI's policy regarding data security?
  • Access to confidential data should be 100% secure as per SEI guidelines.

Questions asked on February 16, 2007

• What is the policy regarding client and server logins?
  • Client & server logins SHOULD be ENTIRELY separate

• What about root password and emergency back door access into client?
  • Root password (hard coded) into client is okay
  • There HAS to be a back door (requirement) in order to prevent data loss
  • Agreed that only way to get into a client is with login set @ installation

• What about authentication at installation time?
  • Requiring authentication to install ZEN Client is NOT necessary
  • Local version of install might be necessary

• How are templates created?
  • When answering questions, tags for each table will be defined
  • If a question is tagged, a "short version" of the question title will be used as the header for the table
  • Templates are not saved on ZEN Server

• Should the SMIG be encrypted?
  • No, only information specific to an engagement should be encrypted.

Questions asked on February 9, 2007

• How should the saving functionality be realized in the client?
  • Client prefers an auto save feature because sometimes interviews get so interactive that a user may forget to press the save button.
  • A "save" is supposed to happen when the user moves from answering one question to another; status should update at that time.

• What constitutes an answer?
  • There always has to be a "response" to a question (with a pre-defined answer) even if the response is "not available" or "not applicable"
  • For open-ended questions, comments matter and a comment constitutes as an answer. Tags do not matter.

• What types of changes can be made to answers?
  • It should be possible to make an "answered" question, "unanswered".

• General note about logins:
  • For the server there can be administrative accounts, but not for the clients.

Questions asked on January 26, 2007

• Is maintaining a question/answer history a high priority requirement?
  • Grace stated that answer or question history is not a high priority requirement. (Note, however, this can be a solution to the quality attribute scenario #6.

• General information regarding questions and answers:
  • Questions can be not applicable.
  • Questions are answered if and only if some information is entered.
  • Tags are used for reports.