Revision as of 09:43, 7 September 2011

This effort is being tracked by Bug 243223.

Problem Statement

Current infrastructure (i.e. The Developer Portal) is inadequate.

Multiple, separate data sources.

Portal is separate from the the resources being managed. Requires a context switch to use. Most committers have difficulty (or outright refuse) to make that context switch.

Some management tasks are spread out. Specifying a description for a project, for example, requires that an HTML file be created in the project directory (requires CVS check-in), and then the specification of a URL in the portal. Very difficult to maintain. Very separated from where and how the description is used. As a result, descriptions tend to be poorly specified, and maintained.

Too much information is not included in or managed by the portal. Project proposals, review documentation, IP logs, are all separate.

Technology Choices

Project management is essentially a document-management and workflow problem. Several solutions exist in this area.

The Eclipse Foundation currently uses Drupal for Eclipse Marketplace, Eclipse Live, and the EclipseCon Website. Several Eclipse Foundation employees are already well-versed in Drupal development, and finding temporary resources with the necessary skills in the local area should be relatively easy and cost-effective. Drupal is based on PHP, a language that is known to most of the Eclipse Foundation staff, and is currently in wide deployment by the Eclipse Foundation.

Perhaps one of the features that weighs most heavily in Drupal's favour is the size of the community behind it (which measures in the hundreds of thousands) and the hundreds (perhaps thousands) of plugins that are available to extend it. The availability of plugins, combined with the relative ease with which Drupal can be extended means that the overall amount of custom code that needs to be maintained should be relatively small (as compared to other solutions that may require more customization).

There are several other options that have been considered, including a handful of Eclipse-based solutions (which would allow us to "eat our own dogfood"). After careful consideration, however, we have determined that we do not have the resources to implement these solutions.

Roles

• EMO(ED) - EMO Executive Directory (i.e. Mike)
• EMO(PM) - EMO Project Manager (i.e. Wayne)
• EMO(LC) - EMO Legal Council (i.e. Janet)
• EMO(IP) - EMO Intellectual Property Team
• Proposer
• Committer

Communication Channels

The communication channels used by the system are expected to change with time as technologies and communities evolve. Favoured technologies of the day are Twitter, RSS, and the eclipse.proposals forum.

Core Requirements

• New Project Proposal
• Proposal becomes a Project
• Elect a Committer
• Project Release

New Project Proposal

• Any authenticated user can create a proposal.
• The proposal must contain:
  • Project name, id, parent project;
  • Rich text description (single paragraph);
  • Rich text scope (single paragraph);
  • Rich text detailed description (multiple paragraph, bullets, images, etc.);
  • Rich text "Why Eclipse?" discussion;
  • Rich text "Initial Contribution" discussion;
  • List of initial committers (name, optional affiliation, email address); and
  • Rich text discussion of legal isues.
• All revisions to the document are tracked.
• Only the proposer and EMO(PM) can edit the proposal.
• Proposal is made public only after it has been approved by the proposer, corresponding PMC, EMO(PM), EMO(ED).
• Prior to being made public, the proposal document is only accessible to the proposer, corresponding PMC, the EMO(ED), and EMO(PM).
• Public proposals are listed on the main page.
• Any authenticated user can add themselves as an interested party (either as an individual, or as representative of an organization)
• At any point in time, the EMO(PM) can review the collection of pending project proposals with the power to modify or remove.

Project Creation

• The project proposer can request a creation review:
  • After a minimum of two weeks;
  • Only if all the committers indicated in the proposal have user accounts
• Creation review starts with the approval of the EMO(PM).
• The proposal document cannot be modified during the creation review period (the EMO(PM) can make changes in exceptional circumstances).
• Creation review runs for a week.
• Creation reviews are listed on the main page.
• Creation review declared successful with approval of the EMO(PM).

Proposal Becomes a Project

• New project is created
• Some information copied from the proposal
  • Id, short/long name
  • Description
  • Scope
• Committer/Project Lead/Mentor relationships captured
  • Project id
  • User id
  • Active Date
  • Committer relationships remain inactive until approved by EMO(IP) and Webmaster (indicating that the necessary paperwork/information has been recorded and the corresponding backend configuration has occurred).
• A project retains linkage to the proposal.
• A project is made active when approved by the EMO(PM), Webmaster, and EMO(IP)
• Project's Active Date is recorded

Other

• A project's metadata can be edited by the project lead, or any active project committer.
• Any change to project metadata is tracked (including the date of the change and the identity of the individual who made the change).
• Project id and scope cannot be edited

Elect a Committer

• Nominee must be a registered user
• Any project committer, or project lead can nominate a committer.
• Committer election is successful if:
  • All existing committers vote +1
  • A minimum of three committers vote +1, no committers vote -1, and a week of generally-accepted business days have passed.
• PMC must approve the vote
• Committer relationship captured
  • Project id
  • User id
  • Active Date
  • Committer relationships remain inactive until approved by EMO(IP) and Webmaster (indicating that the necessary paperwork/information has been recorded and the corresponding backend configuration has occurred).

Proposal Use Cases

Authenticated User creates a Project Proposal

• User logs in
• User clicks "Propose a project"
• User is presented with new "project proposal form"
  • Provides proposal information (short name, long name, parent project, description, scope, etc.)
• User clicks "Save"

Authenticated User Modifies an unpublished Proposal

• Proposer User logs in
• User clicks "Browse work items"
• User is presented with a list of proposals they created.
• User identifies project proposal and clicks corresponding "edit" link
• Information is modified
• User clicks "Save"
• A record of the change (including date/time stamp and the identity of the user) is stored along with the modified information

Publish an unpublished Proposal: Proposer

• Proposer User logs in
• User clicks "Browse work items"
• User is presented with a list of proposals they created.
• User identifies project proposal and clicks corresponding "view" link
• User clicks "Approve"
• Corresponding PMC is informed of the proposal (via email) requesting their approval.

Publish an unpublished Proposal: PMC

• PMC User logs in
• User clicks "Browse work items"
• User is presented with a list of proposals
• User identifies project proposal labelled "Awaiting PMC Approval" and clicks corresponding "view" link
  • Label reflects state implied by proposer approval
• User reviews the contents, optionally provides comments, and clicks "Approve"
• Proposer is informed (via email) of the PMC approval.
• EMO(PM) is informed (via email) requesting their approval.

Publish an unpublished Proposal: EMO(PM)

• EMO(PM) User logs in
• User clicks "Browse work items"
• User is presented with a list of proposals
• User identifies project proposal labelled "Awaiting EMO(ED) Approval" and clicks corresponding "view" link
  • Label reflects state that is implied by proposer and PMC approval
• User reviews the contents, optionally provides comments, and clicks "Approve"
• Proposer and PMC are infomred (via email) of the EMO(PM) approval.
• EMO(ED) is informed (via email) requesting their approval.

Publish an unpublished Proposal: EMO(ED)

• EMO(ED) User logs in
• User clicks "Browse work items"
• User is presented with a list of proposals
• User identifies project proposal labelled "Awaiting EMO(ED) Approval" and clicks corresponding "view" link
  • Label reflects state that is implied by proposer, PMC, and EMO(PM) approval
• User reviews the contents, optionally provides comments, and clicks "Approve"
• Proposer, PMC, and EMO(PM) are informed (via email) of the EMO(ED) approval.
• EMO(ED) is informed (via email) requesting their approval.