A project purpose is a setting that specifies the use of a project and ties it to a set of rules for an update process. Rational Synergy provides the following predefined project purposes:
The Insulated Development, Integration Testing, and System Testing purposes are used for the default methodology as described in the preceding section. The Shared, Visible, and Collaborative Development purposes are for teams that use variations of the standard methodology that enable them to work together more closely. The Custom purpose enables developers to specify the baseline and tasks for their custom projects.
The purposes used most by developers are Insulated Development, Collaborative Development, and Custom. The Insulated Development purpose is the default purpose used when a developer creates a project. When the developer updates a project, the developer gets all of his or her own assigned and completed tasks for the current release. The developer also gets the latest Integration Testing baseline for the current release.
The Collaborative Development purpose is available as an alternative to Insulated Development. Typically, smaller teams use this purpose when the chance of changes by other developers breaking the build is less likely. When a developer uses the Collaborative Development purpose and updates a project, the developer gets all of his or her own assigned and completed tasks for the current release. The developer also gets all completed tasks from other developers for the current release, in addition to the latest Integration Testing baseline for the current release.
The purposes used most by build managers are Integration Testing and System Testing. The Shared and Visible purposes are used by teams requiring an alternative to the default, task-based methodology.
When you create or copy a project, you specify its purpose. Rational Synergy automatically sets up your new project for that purpose by setting the project update properties.
Additionally, the State column shows the state in which the project is created by default for the purpose. For example, a project is created in the visible state only if its purpose is Visible. A project is created in the working state if any of the following purposes are chosen: Insulated Development, Collaborative Development, or Custom. The state also ensures that the project selects the correct members when you update.