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Lesson 3: Evaluate and duplicate asset types in the sample SOA Model

In this lesson, you will evaluate asset types. Asset types describe the structure of assets, which can be simple or complex. As you read in the introduction, an asset of the "Meeting Minutes" type might not have as strictly defined requirements as an asset of the "Implementation" type. Requirements can be defined by the business problem that the asset was created to solve and can depend on the operating system that it is created for. The information that is associated with different asset types in the repository can vary.

Before you modify the asset types in the sample SOA model, browse the list of asset types that were imported in this sample to evaluate the different types that are shipped with the application. Also, notice that the asset types are listed in alphabetical order. Asset-based development strategists for Rational® Asset Manager advise administrators to name their asset types carefully so that similar asset types are listed as close to each other as possible. One repository can have hundreds of asset types; keeping asset types grouped closely by department or project helps users find the best asset type quickly.

If you are concerned that the number of asset types across your repository may become unwieldy for users or administrators to manage, you could also create a limited number of asset types and use lifecycles and communities to enforce restrictions on assets. For more information, see Policies for lifecycles in Rational Asset Manager.

You can use the asset types that are listed in the sample SOA model as a guide to creating new asset types for your repository. In this lesson, list and modify the asset types for the policy and process assets that will be submitted to the Repository Configuration community and browsed by all signed-in users in the repository.

To open and duplicate the Architecture and Case for Change asset types in the sample SOA Model repository:

  1. In the Repository Administration sidebar, click Asset Types. There are several common sample asset types that are available for you to use as templates for the asset types in your repository.
  2. Duplicate the Test Plan asset type by clicking the Duplicate link that is next to it.
  3. Type a name for the asset type: My Test Plan. The description of this asset type indicates that assets of this type will outline a plan for testing a system.
  4. Click the Constraints tab.
  5. Do not add an artifact constraint. Artifact constraints let you require users to attach artifacts with specific file extensions or file names. For example, if you want to require that users attach a document to the asset, you could create a constraint that says they must attach exactly 1 artifact with a .txt extension.
  6. Configure a constraint that requires users to specify an asset that the test plan is for:
    1. In the Relationship Constraints section, click New Relationship Constraint.
    2. In the New Relationship Constraint window, type or select the following:
      1. Exactly
      2. 1
      3. Select - - Any - - asset type.
      4. In the Relationship list, select Test for.
  7. Add a constraint that requires users to identify a repository user as the contact for supporting the test:
    1. In the Attribute Constraint section of the Constraints tab, click Add Attributes.
    2. Select Support Contact and click Add.
    3. Then, select the is required check box located to the far right side of the row.
    Now, when users submit assets and select the My Test Plan asset type, they will be required to select a user to contact for support before they can submit the asset.
  8. Click OK to create this asset type.
You have now created an asset type using the sample asset types for the repository.

Lesson checkpoint

In this lesson, you learned the best practices for naming conventions for asset types and how to use the sample asset types and duplicate them to help get you started when creating asset types for your repository. You also learned about the different ways to constrain and define asset types in the repository.
In this lesson, you learned how to perform the following tasks:
  • Use existing asset types as templates for new asset types.
  • Define constraints for asset types.
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