              The Application
                                Zeppelin
                                Getting Started
                                Features
                                Learn about the user interface
                                License
                                                End User License Agreement (EULA) 1.0
                                                SqueakJS License
                                                Squeak License
                                Resolving common problems
                                                Configuration problems
                                                Connectivity problems
                User Preferences
                                Preferences

The Application

It is an application to analyze the performance of processes based on data and communicate the relevant aspects to the actors that are part of the system seen as a whole. The instruments it uses for this are basically two:

Morphs/Signals, that communicate signs of change in processes

Story, that communicates arguing based on cases, the detected problems and their possible solutions

The application is based on mathematical / statistical foundations and a socio-technical theoretical framework to integrate other visions in a comprehensive way to the quantitative aspects. It contains several innovations, such as a high-level domain language that allows manipulating data using Smalltalk / Ruby but in a similar way to the well-known SQL

Versions Zeppelin for Jira

It consists of two versions

1- Plugin for Jira: it is installed from the Jira Marketplace like any other plugin, aimed at the end user who receives notifications of signals and / or stories. You can do a scan of the received objects, create your own environment, but you don't have the complete tools of the development environment

2- Stand-alone: development environment that is installed on each Desktop (versions for Windows and Mac) aimed at administrators and developers, contains an interface consistent with the Jira plugin version and other specialized tools to manage a library of indicators, detect Signals, compose and notify Morphs and Stories to end users

Upon request, a special stand-alone version is supplied that allows working with a MYSQL database repository (which consolidates various data sources, not only Jira, including Redmine, Harvest, files, etc.)

Getting Started

The application works, both in its plugin and stand-alone version, connecting to the Jira, which constitutes the data source for the predefined and user-defined KPIs. In the case of the plugin version, it is not necessary to configure the connection (it runs within the session of the web browser), but in the case of the stand-alone version it is necessary to indicate in the Preferences | Connection:

Jira server address: method (http / https), server name [: port] [/ path]
User of the jira to establish the connection with the Jira server
Jira password (encrypted)

In this case (stand-alone), when entering the application, a Login dialog will appear, listing the users enabled to use the application (they must belong to the Jira group defined in the Maps with the key ISSUE_TRACKER_USER_GROUP.ZEPPELIN (1)) , where the user must enter a valid password for Jira.

Depending on whether it is the first time entering the application, a default project will be determined for the user. The procedure allows the application to estimate the project (reading the KPI data for the projects of which the user is the leader and considering those with the highest volume), or allowing the user to select it from the list of their projects. This value can always be edited from Preference | Explorer.

If there are no instantiated Morphs, the application will preselect three, one for each type of graphic representation of the KPIs (linear, bars, circular) and will instantiate an Initial Story with them, requesting the name for it.

Another important setting in this category is Max number of months (0..36; 0 as defined in Global Context ORIGIN, or 5 years failing) to read data from the Jira project.

All the configuration can be saved together with the image so that later it is not necessary to repeat this process. The user can edit the Story, create new Morphs with Signals using the existing or new KPIs created by the user using the RQL language, and notify these objects by email to the relevant actors, who can consult the static information embedded in the body of the email or follow the links to the living objects inside by opening the plugin page in Jira. In addition to being able to save the image locally (in the plugin version it is saved in the stored memory of the web browser) each user has the possibility of saving the Morphs and the Story in the plugin database to be retrieved on demand.

Considerations regarding the data

In addition to the field settings and other required keys explained above, Jira Issues must have certain completed data for the application to consider for analysis. In general the following completed fields are required:

Project Category
Fix Version or Sprint

(1) Another Jira user group can be defined with Maps under the key ISSUE_TRACKER_USER_GROUP.AUTHORS to indicate those users who have permissions to author new KPIs, scripts, etc. (stand-alone version). On the other hand, if the connected user is a Jira Admin, the application also extends its permissions to certain operations reserved for an administrator.

See also Preferences

(1) Another Jira user group can be defined with Maps under the key ISSUE_TRACKER_USER_GROUP.AUTHORS to indicate those users who have permissions to author new KPIs, scripts, etc. (stand-alone version). On the other hand, if the connected user is a Jira Admin, the application also extends its permissions to certain operations reserved for an administrator.

Features

List of Advantages / Features (full version)

Focus on their capabilities and on an improvement path: extensible process framework based on a capability maturity model integrated with a socio-technical systemic view

Do not start with empty hands: complete framework with indicators of critical subprocesses included (Requirements, Elaboration, Reviews / Tests, Quality Assurance, Risks) extensible by several methods, among others the automatic generation of code, the import and dynamic reuse of filters and dashboards defined in other tools, etc.

Adaptable to you: easy quick configuration to different types of processes, sectors and sizes of companies

Be more productive and efficient using a language of specification and consultation of indicators of high level and productivity, IHDSL (Defined in Smalltalk using the technique HOM: high order messaging). Object-oriented and end-user indicators development environment with support for the elaboration of visual scripting (versioning of code and debugging included)

Enjoy a rich and consistent user experience bilingual dynamic user interface, full screen On / Off, help tips, undo commands, textual annotations on graphics, work desktop with shortcuts to indicators (favorites), local or remote shared boards , drag & drop, copy & paste, search engine integrated in all the tools by text, type of signals (including qualitative ones), indicators, projects, color scheme / fonts for people with different visual capacities, etc.

Organize and present information using a known metaphor quickly, flexibly and completely (Stack)

Share, move, copy information in a portable, collaborative manner, oriented to the end user who uses the natural language (bilingual) for the reporting of information and the automatic pre-analysis and navigation of signals underlying the variation of a group of homologous indicators : statistics (dominant, moderate, weak signs, among others), qualitative analogous to the previous ones but based on fuzzy logic (labeled for example little, much, medium, very low, etc.) and V-Statistics (based on mathematics of fractal type to detect "memory" and cycles in pseudo-random processes that can occur in certain phenomena / markets)

Analyze at a deeper level to understand what happens: amount of information (entropy level) associated with the process analyzed by the indicator

Take into account different types of information, not only technical: Socio-technical indicators (several categories), Documentation versioning indicators

Listen to "the voice of the processes" and set overarching objectives: baselines for comparison / evolution, statistical and user-defined thresholds, correlations / fit, trends and extrapolation (linear and exponential), comparisons between homogenous levels of data as a project / phase / weeks and their corresponding organizational aggregates according to the definition of projects defined

Compare projects and groups of similar projects, qualitatively: according to their qualitative performance (using fuzzy logic)

Eureka! relate two indicators and visualize them in a simple way: polimetric (mix of two indicators to obtain a visual comparison of relationships between variables)

Inspect details using a set of tools that do not overwhelm you: frequency analysis (Class intervals, Histograms, Pareto charts)

Consider the context information: complement of numerical data and graphics (purpose of the indicator, objective, form of calculation, data quality, etc)

Obtain data from your critical processes: Import data from multiple sources, including databases, applications, incident handlers, timesheets, engineering / models, requirements, spreadsheets / uploads, http, xml, version repositories, timelines, documents, etcâ€¦

Increase confidence in your data sources: Index of quality of the input data according to source / category of data

Connect with your support tool to processes, workflows and incident management (definition and execution of organizational processes and projects)

Work with your visual workflows

Work as a team, cooperate and collaborate: Specific options to share information and collaborate with stakeholders in the measurement and analysis process

Understand taking into account all aspects: Activity Pattern based on a robust socio-technical theoretical framework (activity systems)

Eureka! design practical and innovative solutions: Unpublished tool to support Innovation based on Innovation Templates

Learn and have assistance with dynamic bilingual online help with guides and user-oriented tips on how to perform a measurement analysis in a context of continuous process improvement

Table of features

    Multidimensional aggregation and allocation
        Domain specific language, ranking, transpose, group by. Indicators with aggregate data (pie, bars)

    Realtime reporting with analytical alert
        Stories - Activity Patterns

    Statistical inference and probabilistic simulation
        Statistical Signals - Extrapolation, Trends - Correlation - Polymetric

    Key performance indicators optimization
        Baselines, Thresholds

    Version control and process management
            Process configuration - Baselines of process performance

    Interactive visualization
        End user oriented, graphs, morphs

    RAD
        Full object-oriented Smalltalk environment - Metadesign morphs, domain specific language (IHDSL based on Smalltalk), server-scripts (RQL based on Ruby)

    Unique knowledge framework for different areas
        Activity Systems framework

    Dashboards
        Stories/Morphs - qualitative natural language summary

    Domain specific applications
        Built-in KPI models - IHDSL/RQL

    Integration
        Integration with issue-trackers (JIRA)

    Authoring tools
        Client and Server scripting IHDSL/RQL domain specific language

    Rich client
        Smalltalk morphic based environment

    Metalayer without depending on IT team intervention
        IHDSL, RQL, Signals, Stories

    Pre-defined or personalized dashboards
        Predefined KPI to RAD - Context info

    Collaboration
        Annotations, Share options, KPI workflow

    Personalization
        Preferences of language, colors, ui look, recent ítems, desks, persistence image-based

Learn about the user interface

The user interface consists of the following elements:

General Menu bar: at the top of the screen, displays a menu "Improvekit" system (icon)

Improvekit Menu: This menu allows you to query the current system version, connect / disconnect to the repository of measurements and exit from the application

Login: To start working with the application, it is first necessary to validate the user, who must belong to a user group enabled for that purpose (only stand-alone version).

Balloon Help menu options: is displayed when the cursor is positioned a pair of seconds in a menu and report briefly on the function performed by this option

Context menu: accessed by right-clicking certain element positioned on the interface. Menu options are always available also from the main menu bar.

Color of tools: allow access by clicking the main application tools.

Morphs : to create a graphic object on the desktop with any indicator you access a repository directly manipulating the same at both visual level and its essential behavior ( using the definition of the indicator specification language IHDSL high level). This lets you have your indicators on your desk and compose information extremely agile. These indicators can be updated by a click ( option menu on your desktop ) or added to a Dsahboard for data signal analysis in depth . You can access all control by targets innovative menu "halo" with the right mouse button

KEYS

    Alt-button mouse: displays context menu (Mac)
    Cmd-button mouse: displays alternative menu / halo (Mac)
    Right mouse button: displays context menu (MS-Windows)
    Middle mouse button: displays alternative menu / halo (MS-Windows)

Note: Cmd key is the Command key on Mac and MS-Windows Alt

Fig. 1. Desktop example

Fig. 2. KPI open as a 'morph'

Fig. 3. Morph halo menu

Fig. 4. Access to several desktops

(*desk version only)

License

End User License Agreement (EULA) 1.0

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
THE SOFTWARE.
You may obtain a copy of the License at IMPROVEKIT SRL

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.

SqueakJS License

The MIT License (MIT)

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.

Squeak License

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
THE SOFTWARE.

Portions of Squeak are covered by the following license

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.

Resolving common problems

Configuration problems

Problems related to application configuration to the specific context of the user.

To configure the system, an user must have Administrator access and use the File menu. The most common errors are:

No capture certain data: Verify that the corresponding configuration key is enabled. With this option you can decide not to process certain information (eg TIMESHEET_CM)

The designation of certain information is not correct: Check all values associated with the configuration keys. Required mappings are:

    CUSTOM_FIELD.CATEGORY_DEFECT.ERROR_1: Failure type 1
    CUSTOM_FIELD.CATEGORY_DEFECT.ERROR_2: Failure type 2
    CUSTOM_FIELD.CATEGORY_DEFECT.ERROR_3: Failure type 3
    CUSTOM_FIELD.CATEGORY_DEFECT.ERROR_4: Custom field value for Data Base defect category
    CUSTOM_FIELD.CATEGORY_DEFECT.ERROR_5: Issue Tracker custom field value for default category External Interfaces
    CUSTOM_FIELD.CATEGORY_DEFECT.FIELDNAME: JIRA custom field name for Defect Category
    CUSTOM_FIELD.CAUSE_DEFECT.CAUSE_2: Issue Tracker custom field value for CM defect cause and Deployment
    CUSTOM_FIELD.CAUSE_DEFECT.CAUSE_3: Issue Tracker custom field value for defect design
    CUSTOM_FIELD.CAUSE_DEFECT.CAUSE_4
    CUSTOM_FIELD.CAUSE_DEFECT.ELABORATION: Issue Tracker custom field value for defect cause Construction
    CUSTOM_FIELD.CAUSE_DEFECT.FIELDNAME: JIRA custom field name for Cause of Defect
    CUSTOM_FIELD.CAUSE_DEFECT.REQUIREMENTS: Issue Tracker custom field value for defect cause Requirements
    ISSUE_TRACKER.CHANGE_REQUEST: Type of Issue for Change Requests
    ISSUE_TRACKER.DEFECT: Type of Issue for Defects
    ISSUE_TRACKER.ELABORATION: Issue type to prepare change orders
    ISSUE_TRACKER.FAILURE: Type of Issue for Failures (production)
    ISSUE_TRACKER.OUTSOURCING_DEFECT: Type of Issue for Supplier Defects
    ISSUE_TRACKER.REQUIREMENT: Type of Issue for Requirements
    ISSUE_TRACKER.REQUIREMENTS
    ISSUE_TRACKER.TESTING_TASK: Issue type for Test tasks
    ISSUE_TRACKER.VALIDATION_FAILURE: Type of Issue for the Failures (User Acceptance Test - UAT)
    ISSUE_TRACKER_USER_GROUP.ZEPPELIN: User Group Name
    ISSUE_TRACKER_USER_GROUP.AUTHORS: Authors Group Name
    LABEL.ISSUE_TRACKER.EMERGENCY: Emergency Priority Value
    LABEL.ISSUE_TRACKER.HIGH: High Priority Value
    TIMESHEET.REQUIREMENTS: Requirements Task
    VARIABLE.TASK_DURATION: Task duration limit (days) to notify exceeded
    WORKFLOW.CLOSED: Issue Tracker Workflow Status Closed

Fig. 5. Application configuration

Connectivity problems

Common problems connecting to data source are:

Can not connect to server: check Improvekit-Connection preferences, Issue tracker server address (please enter http method, host, port, path if needed, for example http://improvekit:2990/jira. Please use server names instead of direct IP Addresses. In stand alone version, also check User name and User password preferences

Invalid User: Verify that you can connect to the incident management tool with the username and password and that belongs to the group of measurements as defined in the application configuration

Note on scope of Jira queries

The plugin makes queries to the Jira database accessing from the server via webservices. The results of the queries (JQL) are stored in a cache memory for better performance. You can clear this memory with the Refresh menu option. The default JQL used incorporates a condition that uses the defined default project, number of months (by default all) and that the issues have FixVersion or Sprint (according to the defined preference). Other preferences control the maximum number of records read, the number of fields for list-type fields, and so on. You can access your preferences from the Preferences | Improvekit-Connection and Improvekit-Explorer

User Preferences

Preferences

You can set your preferences with respect to a number of variable attributes. You can set default values for colors (for example to adapt the range to his own needs), folder names, Servers, Domains, etc.. You can also control certain behaviors to achieve better performance, according to the common use will be given to certain functions.

You can access the preferences from the menu Improvekit (icon to the left of the menu bar).

You can also access from the menus View, Go, Help, etc. To access preferences related to the current context

Initial Setup preferences

Improvekit-Connection

Issue tracker server address (desktop version)
User name (desktop version)
User password (desktop version)
Maximun number of records in each reading to the Repository

Improvekit-Explorer

Group by Sprint
Favority Project
Max number of months

Improvekit-Workspaces

Scripts folder on Jira Server