This document defines the overall approach to PROMCODE (PROject Management of COntracted DElivery) based on the Open Services for Lifecycle Collaboration (OSLC) Core 3.0 [OSLCCore3] Specification. PROMCODE specification constitutes the approach outlined in this document and interface definitions referenced in other documents.
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Global software delivery is commonplace today. With ever increasing pressure on the delivery of software projects for faster delivery, lower cost, and improved quality, it is becoming common for software delivery to be performed with collaboration of multiple organizations. Effective collaboration between multiple organizations requires activities to be managed and data to be shared across organizational boundaries. The management of software delivery can be highly challenging due to the diversity of the development processes, methods, tools and platforms used by organizations participating in a project [SPMC]. Management data and management practice are usually unique to each organization. Typically, manual operations are performed in exchanging proprietary management data and in coordinating activities, resulting in inefficient, error-prone and inflexible operations. As the number of organizations involved increases in a software delivery, the need for more systematic and standards-based data sharing and coordination becomes critical.
To address the need of systematic sharing of project management information, the PROMCODE consortium was created in Japan with seven member organizations consisting of Nanzan University and six IT service companies which are IBM, Hitachi, Fujitsu, NEC, NRI, and NTT Data. The consortium worked on defining standard information for management of contracted software delivery and published a specification document in 2013 [PROMCODE13][PROMCODE14]. The work was built on the OSLC framework and the technical content was based on the OSLC Core specification at that time. As a center of OSLC activities moved to OASIS, some of the core members of the consortium decided to bring its content to OASIS for global standard creation, and created the OASIS PROMCODE project. The main difference of the OASIS project from the work done by the consortium is an extended scope in OASIS and synchronization with the evolution of the OSLC Core specification [OSLCCore3]. The consortium work focused on minimal set of resources considered at that time. When each company implemented the specification, it was recognized that more resources were needed to reflect the general practice used in the industry. In particular, when two collaborating organizations do not share the management environment, one organization sends to another organization a status of all relevant project information as a report. This is a common practice and the consortium specification did not address that. The OASIS project decided to address that with addition of further resources needed.
1.2 Goal and Solution
The PROMCODE specification is intended to provide a common interface to exchange project management (PM) data across organizational boundaries. Figure 1 illustrates a generic model of collaborative software development. A set of organizations, including A, B1, …, Bn, C1,1, …, C1,m, …,Cn,m, are working together to deliver a software system. Each organization employs own management process, tools and a model of management data. Therefore, we assume a model of management data and management tools used by each organization are different from those of other organizations. As a generic collaboration model, the two roles are assumed between any two organizations working together, that is, acquirer and supplier. The goal of the PROMCODE specification is to provide an open standard interface to exchange the management data between an acquirer and a supplier. In many real situations, each organization uses its own management data schema and management tools.
Fig. 1
Collaborative Software Development
To meet the goal, the PROMCODE specification defines a solution of two layers as illustrated in Fig. 2. The left-hand column represents the project management space and right-hand column does the corresponding OSLC Resource Definition in RDF [rdf11-concepts]. The upper layer is the PROMCODE specification and the lower layer is the Project-Specific Definitions. The PROMCODE Domain Model is an abstract definition of the structure of the project management data to be exchanged. The PROMCODE Domain Model is formulated for contracted delivery, derived from the project management knowledge [PMBOK] and practices of contracted delivery of software [PROMCODE13], [PROMCODE14]. The PROMCODE Resource Definition is a representation of the PROMCODE Domain Model in terms of OSLC Resource Definition in RDF. For a specific project, the PROMCODE Domain Model is specialized to the Project-Specific Model, which extends the PROMCODE Domain Model. Similarly, the PROMCODE Resource Definition is specialized to the Project-Specific Resource Definition for a specific project. By this framework, different data in the different project management tools can be exchanged through the Project-Specific Resource Definition.
Fig. 2
PROMCODE Solution
1.3 PROMCODE Software Architecture
The PROMCODE software architecture is a typical software architecture that implements the specification. Since the PROMCODE specification is based on the OSLC Core 3.0, the architecture assumes an implementation of OSLC Core 3.0 [OSLCCore3] as an underlying platform. The goal of the PROMCODE software architecture is to enable exchanging project management data through the PROMCODE specification between multiple organizations that may use different data models of project management with different tools and methods.
The architecture is illustrated in Figure 3. As the figure shows, the PROMCODE clients and servers coordinate mapping of the organization-specific data instances from and to the Project-Specific Resources that are the instances of the Project-Specific PROMCODE Resource Definition. The interaction between the clients and servers takes place in the Resource-Oriented manner [ROA] with HTTP operations[HTTP11]. For example, supplier B1 and supplier B2 transform their respective B1-specific PM (Project Management) data and B2-Specific PM data, to the project-specific PROMCODE resources through their PROMCODE servers. Then, acquirer A can translate project-specific PROMCODE resources to A-specific PM data through either its PROMCODE client or its PROMCODE server. Note that the project management data of suppliers B1 and B2 may be defined as data of two separate data models, but it is possible to transform them to the data of a single model used by A. In this way, the PROMCODE specification can avoid the combinatorial explosion of transforming data across different data models.
Fig. 3
PROMCODE Software Architecture for Project Management
1.4 RDF Namespaces
PROMCODE defines the namespace URI of http://open-services.net/ns/promcode# with a namespace prefix of oslc_promcode.
In addition, PROMCODE uses the following prefixes:
1.5 Typographical Conventions and Use of RFC Terms
The key words MUST, MUST NOT, REQUIRED, SHOULD, SHOULD NOT, RECOMMENDED, MAY, and OPTIONAL in this specification are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].
2. Normative and Non-normative
As well as sections marked as non-normative, all authoring guidelines, diagrams, examples, and notes in this specification are non-normative. Everything else in this specification is normative. Specifically the following list indicates normative and non-normative sections in this specification.
Introduction: non-normative
Normative and Non-normative: normative
Terminology: normative
PROMCODE Domain Model Specification: non-normative
PROMCODE Service Specification: normative
PROMCODE Resource Definitions: normative
Conformance: normative
Appendix A. Change History: non-normative
Appendix B. Acknowledgments: non-normative
Appendix C. References: normative and non-normative
3. Terminology
Terminology is based on OSLC Core 3.0 [OSLCCore3], W3C Linked Data Platform [LDP], W3C's Architecture of the World Wide Web [WEBARCH] and Hyper-text Transfer Protocol [HTTP11].
Acquirer
Acquirer is an entity to acquire software.
Supplier
Supplier is an entity to supply software to be delivered to an Acquirer.
Project
Project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create unique software [PMBOK].
Project Management
Project Management is an application of knowledge, skills, tools, techniques, to project activities to meet project requirements [PMBOK].
PROMCODE Resource
PROMCODE Resource is an OSLC Resource [OSLCCore3] to represent project management data.
PROMCODE Service
PROMCODE service is a service to exchange project management data defined by PROMCODE resources.
PROMCODE Server
PROMCODE Server is an OSLC Server [OSLCCore3] that also supports the capabilities defined by the PROMCODE specification. See Server [OSLCCore3].
PROMCODE Client
PROMCODE Client is an OSLC Client [OSLCCore3]that also supports the capabilities defined by the PROMCODE specification. See Client [OSLCCore3].
4. PROMCODE Domain Model Specification
This section is non-normative.
4.1 Domain Model
Fig. 4
PROMCODE Domain Model
illustrates PROMCODE Domain Model denoted by a UML class diagram.
Fig. 4
PROMCODE Domain Model
In this figure, if no multiplicity is shown on an association end, it implies a multiplicity of zero to unlimited (0 .. *). The multiplicity of an attribute is also omitted for simplification. While its default is a multiplicity of zero to one (0 .. 1), there are exceptional cases where the multiplicity is exactly 1 in which it will be explicitly described as such in the subsequent part of this section.
4.1.1 ScopeItem
A scope item represents a scope of work from the acquirer's view of a software development contract. It represents a unit of value to be accomplished by the software supplier in the contract. For example, it may represent a function required, a use case in which the software will be used, a requirement which the acquirer expects, or a screen which will provide some concrete functions to the user of the software. A scope item is not an activity and therefore, cannot be started nor ended.
A ScopeItem entity has the size property that is used to determine the size of a contract between an acquirer and a supplier. This property is not used to track the progress of work. In this sense, a ScopeItem entity is different from an Artifact entity or a WorkItem entity.
An acquirer can use a set of ScopeItem entities as managed units to manage a whole scope of development. Both an acquirer and a supplier also use a set of ScopeItem entities to track the size of development. Attributes plannedSize and actualSize of a ScopeItem are used for the purpose. There should be agreement between an acquirer and a supplier on what kind of ScopeItem entities should be used and on how large each ScopeItem entity is. Change of a ScopeItem entity or its estimated size needs a change of the agreement. A ScopeItem entity can be decomposed into finer-grained ScopeItem entities to be used in detailed management. In that case, a coarse-grained ScopeItem entity may be used to aggregate a set of finer-grained ScopeItem entities.
Super Class
ManagedItem
Attributes
plannedSize: Decimal [0 .. 1]
An estimated size agreed by both an acquirer and a supplier. The metric and the unit of size should be preliminarily agreed on between an acquirer and a supplier. They can be specified as metricOfScopeItemSize and unitOfScopeItemSize of a Project entity if necessary.
actualSize: Decimal [0 .. 1]
An actual size agreed by both an acquirer and a supplier.
Links
isPartOf: ScopeItem [0 .. 1]
An ancestor of this ScopeItem entity.
4.1.2 WorkItem
A work item describes an activity to be performed in a software development contract. It adds details to the description of the work that is described by a scope item. These details typically include cost, schedule, and resource requirements. The set of all work items in a project forms a work breakdown structure.
A WorkItem entity represents the supplier's internal activity. For example, it may represent a development phase such as analysis, design, implementation, or test. It may also represent a finer-grained activity such as document writing, reviewing, or coding. A WorkItem entity is a managed unit of activity required to implement a ScopeItem entity or to produce an Artifact entity.
Progress of a WorkItem entity is managed by comparing planned and actual dates on which it is started and ended.
A WorkItem entity can be decomposed into finer-grained WorkItem entities to be used in detailed management. A coarse-grained WorkItem entity is used to aggregate a set of fine-grained WorkItem entities.
Super Class
ManagedItem
Attributes
plannedStartDate: DateTime [0 .. 1]
A planned date to start this WorkItem entity.
actualStartDate: DateTime [0 .. 1]
An actual date to start this WorkItem entity.
plannedEndDate: DateTime [0 .. 1]
A planned date to end this WorkItem entity.
actualEndDate: DateTime [0 .. 1]
An actual date to end this WorkItem entity.
Links
representedBy: Person [0 .. 1]
A person responsible for the progress of this WorkItem entity who may or may not actually do this WorkItem entity.
isPartOf: WorkItem [0 .. 1]
An ancestor of this WorkItem entity.
requiredBy: ScopeItem [0 .. 1]
A ScopeItem entity which this WorkItem entity is required to implement.
requiredBy: Artifact [*]
Artifact entities which this WorkItem entity is required to produce. For example, producing specification documents requires interviewing users, writing the initial version, reviewing, reflecting the review comments, approving, and so on.
4.1.3 Artifact
An artifact is a work product that is produced in a project such as design documents, source code, test report, and so on. An artifact may be physical or digital. An artifact is produced for a work item or a scope item.
An Artifact entity can be measured using Measure entities, and their measured values may vary at each point of time on a project. The quality of an Artifact entity is managed by comparing targeted and actual Measure entities.
An Artifact entity can be decomposed into finer-grained Artifact entities to be used in detailed management. A coarse-grained Artifact entity may be used to aggregate a set of finer-grained Artifact entities.
Super Class
ManagedItem
Links
isPartOf: Artifact [0 ..1]
An ancestor of this Artifact entity.
producedFor: WorkItem [*]
WorkItem entities which require to produce this Artifact entity.
producedFor: ScopeItem [*]
ScopeItem entities which require to produce this Artifact entity.
targets: Measure [*]
Measure entities planned for this Artifact entity. Before project execution, the acquirer and the supplier determine which measure should be used. Once determined, the measures are used as targets of the Artifact entity until project completion. An Artifact entity can have zero or more Measure entities as targets.
4.1.4 Risk
A risk is a potential problem that must be controlled before it occurs in order to meet the objectives of a project. Failure to control the risk may result in a situation that can negatively impact the project, such as a schedule delay and quality problems. If a risk actually causes the situation to occur, it typically becomes an issue.
Super Class
ManagedItem
Attributes
identifiedDate: DateTime [0 .. 1]
An identified date of this Risk entity.
Links
identifiedBy: ManagedItem [*]
ManagedItem entities which identify this Risk entity. A Risk entity may be identified by one or more ManagedItem entities.
stateOfRisk: State [0 .. 1]
A state of this Risk entity.
4.1.5 Issue
An issue is a situation that must be resolved to avoid negative impact to the project. Failure to resolve the issue may result in negative consequences to the project, such as a schedule delay and not meeting quality goals.
Super Class
ManagedItem
Attributes
raisedDate: DateTime [0 .. 1]
A raised date of this Issue entity.
Links
raisedBy: ManagedItem [*]
ManagedItem entities which raise this Issue entity. An Issue entity may be raised by one or more ManagedItem entities.
stateOfIssue: State [0 .. 1]
A state of this Issue entity.
4.1.6 ManagedItem
A managed item is one of a scope item, a work item, an artifact, a risk, or an issue.
ManagedItem is a super class which abstracts five classes, that is, ScopeItem, WorkItem, Artifact, Risk, and Issue.
Attributes
identifier: String [1]
A unique identifier of this ManagedItem entity.
sequenceNumber: Decimal [0 .. 1]
A unique number which represents an order of entities in each subclass of this ManagedItem entity.
title: String [0 .. 1]
A name of this ManagedItem entity.
description: String [1]
A text which describes of this ManagedItem entity.
source: String [0 .. 1]
A ManagedItem entity may be created as derived entity of another ManagedItem entity as a source entity. In that case, this property links from the derived entity to the source entity. The value is a string such as a URI that uniquely identifies the source entity.
4.1.7 Plan
A plan is a collection, or a snapshot, of managed entities which is agreed on between an acquirer and a supplier at the project initiation and on the timing when a plan is changed.
A Plan entity is a ManagedItemCollection entity which is a collection of planned ScopeItem, WorkItem, and Artifact entities together with targeting Measure entities.
Super Class
ManagedItemCollection
4.1.8 Report
A report is a collection, or a snapshot, of managed items which is created by a supplier for project monitoring.
A Report entity is a ManagedItemCollection entity which is a collection of ScopeItem, WorkItem, and Artifact entities together with associated Measurement entities and Measure entities. It represents the situation of the project on a specific date.
Super Class
ManagedItemCollection
Links
correspondsTo: Plan [0 .. 1]
A Plan entity of this Report entity. A Report entity is created to the corresponding Plan entity. If the Plan entity is changed, a Report entity is created to link to the new Plan entity.
includes: Measurement [*]
Measurement entities that are included in the Report entity.
4.1.9 RiskCollection
A risk collection is a collection, or a snapshot, of risks.
Only Risk entities can be collected in a RiskCollection entity. It may collect all Risk entities of the project on a specific date, all Risk entities of some categories such as those in certain state or those with priority above some value, and all Risk entities related to the specific ScopeItem entity.
Super Class
ManagedItemCollection
4.1.10 IssueCollection
An issue collection is a collection, or a snapshot, of issues.
Only Issue entities can be collected in an IssueCollection entity. It may collect all Issue entities of the project on a specific date, all Issue entities of some categories such as those in certain state or those with priority above some value, and all Issue entities related to the specific ScopeItem entity.
Super Class
ManagedItemCollection
4.1.11 ManagedItemCollection
A managed item collection is a collection of managed items. Four kinds of such a collection are used: a plan, a report, a risk collection, and an issue collection.
ManagedItemCollection is a super class which abstracts four kinds of collections of managed items, that is, Plan, Report, RiskCollection, and IssueCollection. A ManagedItemCollection entity must collect managed items belonging to only one project.
Attributes
identifier: String [1]
A unique identifier of this ManagedItemCollection entity.
title: String [0 .. 1]
A name of this ManagedItemCollection entity.
description: String [0 .. 1]
A text which describes this ManagedItemCollection entity.
date: DateTime [0 .. 1]
A date on which this ManagedItemCollection entity collects ManagedItem entities. More specific definition of date is left to a project.
source: String [0 .. 1]
A ManagedItemCollection entity may be created as derived entity of another ManagedItemCollection entity as a source entity. In that case, this property links from the derived entity to the source entity. The value is a string such as a URI that uniquely identifies the source entity.
Links
collects: ManagedItem [*]
ManagedItem entities included in this ManagedItemCollection entity. A ManagedItemCollection entity collects any type of ManagedItem entities such as ScopeItem, WorkItem, Artifact, Risk, and Issue entities.
belongsTo: Project [1]
A Project entity which this ManagedItemCollection entity belongs to. A Project entity has multiple snapshots until completion. Sometimes a supplier or an acquirer may operate multiple Project entities in parallel. The supplier or the acquirer needs to identify which Project entity each snapshot belongs to.
4.1.12 Measure
A measure is an observation of measurable attribute of an artifact.
A Measure entity has a metric such as "number of lines of codes (LOC)", "number of found bugs", and so on.
It also has a unit which defines the unit of the numbered value, for example, "1" means one line or one kilo lines. A Measure entity must be either targeted by one Artifact entity or observed by one Measurement entity.
Attributes
identifier: String [1]
A unique identifier of this Measure entity.
title: String [0 .. 1]
A name of this Measure entity.
description: String [0 .. 1]
A text which describes this Measure entity.
valueOfMeasure: Decimal [1]
A value of this Measure entity.
Links
metricOfMeasure: Metric [0 .. 1]
A metric of this Measure entity.
unitOfMeasure: Unit [0 .. 1]
A unit of this Measure entity.
4.1.13 Measurement
A Measurement entity links between an Artifact entity and its actual Measure entities. It also represents the date on which the Measure entities are taken.
Attributes
identifier: String [1]
A unique identifier of this Measurement entity.
title: String [0 .. 1]
A name of this Measurement entity.
description: String [0 .. 1]
A text which describes this Measurement entity.
date: DateTime [1]
A date on which an Artifact entity is measured.
Links
observes: Measure [*]
Measure entities measured by this Measurement entity. One Measurement entity can measure zero or more Measure entities.
measures: Artifact [1]
An Artifact entity measured by this Measurement entity.
4.1.14 Project
A software development project is a collaborative activity to be executed in a fixed time period to produce software systems and/or products.
A Project entity represents the information of the whole project such as the name of the project, the descriptions of the project, and progress of the whole project. A Project entity also specifies a Metric entity and the unit of size of ScopeItem entities because they should be unique in a project.
Attributes
identifier: String [1]
A unique identifier of this Project entity.
title: String [0 .. 1]
A name of this Project entity.
description: String [0 .. 1]
A text which describes of this Project entity.
plannedStartDate: DateTime [0 .. 1]
A planned date to start this Project entity.
actualStartDate: DateTime [0 .. 1]
An actual date to start this Project entity.
plannedEndDate: DateTime [0 .. 1]
A planned date to end this Project entity.
actualEndDate: DateTime [0 .. 1]
An actual date to end this Project entity.
source: String [0 .. 1]
A Project entity may be created as derived entity of another Project entity as a source entity. In that case, this property links from the derived entity to the source entity. The value is a string such as a URI that uniquely identifies the source entity.
Links
metricOfScopeItemSize: Metric [0 .. 1]
A metric of size of ScopeItem entities in this Project entity.
unitOfScopeItemSize: Unit [0 .. 1]
A unit of size of ScopeItem entities in this Project entity.
4.1.15 String
A String entity represents a character string.
4.1.16 DateTime
A DateTime entity represents a date and time.
4.1.17 Decimal
A Decimal entity represents a decimal number.
4.2 Samples of Two Project-Specific Models
4.2.1 Applying to Progress Management
Table 1 shows a typical progress management table. The table describes the status of implementing functions defined in the first column. Each function is divided into a collection of sub-functions. Each sub-function has phases of analysis, design, and coding activities. Note that the real management tables are more complex than shown in the case. Functions and sub-functions form a tree structure with several levels. There are more activities required to implement sub-functions.
Table 1 only shows the essential structure of real management tables.
Function
Sub Function
Analysis
Design
Coding
Start
End
Start
End
Start
End
A
A1
Planned
6/4
6/11
6/12
6/19
6/20
6/27
Actual
6/4
6/10
6/11
6/19
6/20
6/26
A2
Planned
6/4
6/11
6/12
6/19
6/20
6/25
Actual
6/4
6/12
6/13
6/20
6/21
6/26
B
B1
Planned
6/4
6/11
6/12
6/19
6/20
6/27
Actual
6/4
6/12
6/13
6/20
6/21
6/28
Table 1 Example of Progress Management Table
Fig. 5
Example of Project-Specific Model for Progress Management
illustrates the corresponding project-specific model. Function and Sub Function are subclasses of ScopeItem, and the Analysis, Design, and Coding activities are subclasses of WorkItem. A Function is decomposed into a collection of Sub Functions which have three kinds of required WorkItems for implementation. This structure indicates that all project management data in Table 1 can be represented as instances of the PROMCODE Domain Model classes of ScopeItem and WorkItem.
Fig. 5
Example of Project-Specific Model for Progress Management
4.2.2 Applying Quality Management
Table 2 shows a typical quality management table. Main managed items are modules which are grouped under requirements. Each module is measured using several KPIs including lines of code, number of test cases, and number of defects found.
Table 2 Example of Quality Management Table
Requirement
Module
Lines of Code
#Test Case
#Defect
Target
Actual
Target
Actual
Target
Actual
R1
M1-1
2,000
2,130
60
62
5
5
M1-2
1,500
1,450
45
43
3
2
R2
M2-1
2,000
1,980
60
65
5
4
M2-2
1,000
950
30
35
2
2
Fig. 6
Example of Project-Specific Model for Quality Management
illustrates the corresponding project-specific model. Requirement is a subclass of ScopeItem and Module is a subclass of Artifact. A Requirement entity requires to produce some Modules entities. The structure indicates that all project management data in Table 2 can be represented as instances of PROMCODE Domain Model classes of ScopeItem, Artifact, Measurement and Measure.
Fig. 6
Example of Project-Specific Model for Quality Management
5. PROMCODE Service Specification
5.1 Base Requirements
This section describes the mandatory and optional requirements for an OSLC PROMCODE server.
The PROMCODE specification is based on OSLC Core 3.0 [OSLCCore3]. PROMCODE servers and clients MUST be compliant with both the [OSLCCore3] specification and the PROMCODE specification, and SHOULD follow all the guidelines and recommendations in both of these specifications.
[promcode-1]
A PROMCODE server MUST implement the vocabulary defined in 6.Vocabulary Terms and Constraints of this specification with the exception of two abstract classes ManagedItem and ManagedItemCollection.
[promcode-2]
The following table summarizes the requirements from OSLC Core Specification as well as some additional requirements specific to the PROMCODE specification. Note that this specification further restricts some of the requirements for OSLC Core Specification. See subsequent sections in this specification or the OSLC Core Specification to get further details on each of these requirements.
Requirement
Meaning
Unknown properties and content
OSLC services MAY ignore unknown content and OSLC clients MUST preserve unknown content.
[promcode-3]
Resource Operations
OSLC service MUST support resource operations via standard HTTP operations.
[promcode-4]
Resource Paging
OSLC services MAY provide paging for resources but only when specifically requested by client.
[promcode-5]
Partial Resource Representations
OSLC services SHOULD support request for a subset of a resource’s properties via the oslc.properties URL parameter retrieval via HTTP GET.
[promcode-6]
Partial Update
OSLC services MAY support partial update of resources using patch semantics and MAY support via HTTP PUT.
[promcode-7]
Discovery
OSLC servers SHOULD support OSLC Core 3.0 Discovery, MAY provide a ServiceProviderCatalog and SHOULD provide a ServiceProvider resource for Core v2 compatibility.
[promcode-8]
Creation Factories
OSLC servers MAY provide LDPC creation factories to enable resource creation of PROMCODE resources via HTTP POST.
[promcode-9]
Query Capabilities
OSLC servers SHOULD provide query capabilities to enable clients to query for resources.
[promcode-10]
Query Syntax
OSLC query capabilities SHOULD support the OSLC Core Query Syntax and MAY use other query syntax.
[promcode-11]
Delegated UI Dialogs
OSLC Services MAY offer delegated UI dialogs (creation and selections) specified via OSLC Core 3.0 Delegated Dialogs and SHOULD include discovery through a ServiceProvider resource for OSLC v2 compatibility.
[promcode-12]
UI Preview
OSLC Services MAY offer UI previews for resources that may be referenced by other resources specified via OSLC Core 3.0 Preview and SHOULD include discovery through a server resource for OSLC v2 compatibility.
[promcode-13]
HTTP Basic Authentication
OSLC Services MAY support Basic Auth and SHOULD do so only over HTTPS.
[promcode-14]
OAuth Authentication
OSLC Services MAY support OAuth and can indicate the required OAuth URLs via the ServiceProviderCatalog or ServiceProvider resources.
[promcode-15]
Error Responses
OSLC Services MAY provide error responses using OSLC Core 3.0 defined error formats.
[promcode-16]
Turtle Representations
OSLC services MUST provide a Turtle representation for HTTP GET requests and SHOULD support Turtle representations on POST and PUT requests.
[promcode-17]
RDF/XML Representations
OSLC services SHOULD provide an RDF/XML representation for HTTP GET requests and SHOULD support RDF/XML representations on POST and PUT requests.
[promcode-18]
XML Representations
OSLC services SHOULD provide a XML representation for HTTP GET, POST and PUT requests that conform to the Core 2.0 Guidelines for XML.
[promcode-19]
JSON Representations
OSLC services MUST provide JSON-LD representations for HTTP GET, POST and PUT requests that conform to the Core Guidelines for JSON-LD.
[promcode-20]
HTML Representations
OSLC services MAY provide HTML representations for HTTP GET requests.
[promcode-21]
The following sections describe further restrictions and guidance on the requirements of [OSLCCore3].
5.2 Namespaces
As defined in RDF Namespaces, PROMCODE defines the namespace URI of http://open-services.net/ns/promcode# with a preferred namespace prefix oslc_promcode. Also, the common URL prefixes given there are used when they are needed.
5.3 Resource Formats
In addition to the requirements for resource representations in [OSLCCore3], this section outlines further refinements and restrictions.
For HTTP GET requests on all PROMCODE and OSLC Core defined resource types,
A PROMCODE server MUST provide Turtle and JSON-LD, and SHOULD provide RDF/XML and XML representations. The XML and JSON representations SHOULD follow the guidelines outlined in the OSLC Core Representations Guidance to maintain compatibility with [OSLCCore2].
[promcode-22]
A PROMCODE client requesting RDF/XML SHOULD be prepared for any valid RDF/XML document. A PROMCODE client requesting XML SHOULD be prepared for representations that follow the guidelines outlined in the OSLC Core Representations Guidance.
[promcode-23]
A PROMCODE server SHOULD support an [X]HTML representation and a user interface (UI) preview as defined by UI Preview Guidance.
[promcode-24]
For HTTP PUT/POST requests for the PROMCODE resources that support the requests:
A PROMCODE server MUST accept Turtle and JSON-LD representations and SHOULD accept RDF/XML and XML representations. A PROMCODE server accepting RDF/XML SHOULD be prepared for any valid RDF/XML document. For XML A PROMCODE server SHOULD be prepared for representations that follow the guidelines outlined in the OSLC Core Representations Guidance.
[promcode-25]
For HTTP GET response formats for Query requests,
A PROMCODE server MUST provide Turtle and JSON-LD, SHOULD provide RDF/XML and XML, and MAY provide Atom Syndication Format XML representations.
[promcode-26]
When A PROMCODE client request:
text/turtle A PROMCODE server MUST respond with Turtle representation.
application/ld+json A PROMCODE server MUST respond with JSON-LD representation.
application/rdf+xml A PROMCODE server SHOULD respond with RDF/XML representation without restrictions.
application/xml A PROMCODE server SHOULD respond with OSLC-defined abbreviated XML representation as defined in the OSLC Core Representations Guidance.
application/atom+xml A PROMCODE server SHOULD respond with Atom Syndication FOrmat XML representation as defined in the OSLC Core Representations Guidance. The Atom Syndication Format XML representation SHOULD use RDF/XML representation without restrictions for the atom:content entries representing the resource representations.
[promcode-27]
5.3.1 Content Negotiation
OSLC Core 3.0 [OSLCCore3] specifies RDF representations (and specifically Turtle and JSON-LD) as a convention that all OSLC server implementations minimally provide and accept. OSLC PROMCODE server implementations are strongly encouraged to adopt this convention. Future versions of this specification are expected to require RDF representations for all operations and relax requirements for specialized XML representations.
XML Representation - identified by the application/xml content type. Format representation rules are outlined in Core OSLC Core Resource Formats section.
RDF/XML Representation - identified by the application/rdf+xml content type. No additional guidance is given.
JSON-LD Representation - identified by the application/ld+json content type. Format representation rules are specified in JSON-LD 1.0.
Atom Syndication Format XML Representation - identified by the application/atom+xml content type. Format representation rules are outlined in Core OSLC Core Resource Formats section.
5.4 Authentication
[OSLCCore3] specifies the recommended OSLC authentication mechanisms. The PROMCODE specification introduces no additional constraints on error responses.
5.5 Error Responses
[OSLCCore3] specifies the OSLC Core error responses. The PROMCODE specification introduces no additional constraints on error responses.
5.6 Pagination
[OSLCCore3] specifies the support of pagination of query results. The PROMCODE specification introduces no additional constraints on error responses.
5.7 Requesting and Updating Properties
5.7.1 Requesting a Subset of Properties
A client MAY request a subset of a resource's properties as well as properties from a referenced resource. In order to support this behavior, a server MAY support the oslc.properties and oslc.prefix URL parameter on a HTTP GET request on individual resource request or a collection of resources by query. If the oslc.properties parameter is omitted on the request, then all resource properties MUST be provided in the response.
[promcode-28]
5.7.2 Updating a Subset of Properties
A client MAY request that a subset of a resource's properties be updated by using the PATCH method.
[promcode-29]
For compatibility with [OSLCCore2], A PROMCODE server MAY also support partial update by identifying those properties to be modified using the oslc.properties URL parameter on a HTTP PUT request.
[promcode-30]
If the parameter oslc.properties contains a valid resource property on the request that is not provided in the content, the server MUST set the resource's property to a null or empty value. If the parameter oslc.properties contains an invalid resource property, then a 409 Conflict MUST be returned.
[promcode-31]
5.7.3 Updating Multi-Valued Properties
For multi-valued properties that contain a large number of values, it may be difficult and inefficient to add or remove property values. A PROMCODE server MAY provide support for a partial update of the multi-valued properties as defined by OSLC Core Partial Update.
[promcode-32]
5.8 Resource Operations
This section describes frequently used resource operations.
5.8.1 Create Resources
A PROMCODE client MAY request the creation of a PROMCODE domain resource via HTTP/POST operation to a PROMCODE server that supports creation of a resource using Creation Factories as defined in [OSLCCore3].
[promcode-33]
Alternatively, creation of a domain resource MAY be done outside of the PROMCODE framework, i.e., by using an existing project management tool that creates a new resource and makes the resource visible to the PROMCODE framework.
[promcode-34]
5.8.2 Get Resources
A PROMCODE server MUST support the HTTP GET method to obtain the representation of a resource. The detailed behavior of the GET method is described in [LDP].
[promcode-35]
5.8.3 Update Resources
A PROMCODE server MAY support the HTTP PUT method or the HTTP PATCH method to update resources. The detailed behavior of the PUT and PATCH methods is described in [LDP].
[promcode-36]
5.8.4 Delete Resources
A PROMCODE server MAY support the HTTP DELETE method to delete resources. The detailed behavior of the DELETE method is described in [LDP].
[promcode-37]
5.9 PROMCODE Server Capabilities
5.9.1 Server Resources
A PROMCODE server MUST support OSLC Discovery capabilities defined by [OSLCCore3]. Specifically, they SHOULD support LDPC Creation Factories, MAY provide a ServiceProviderCatalog and a ServiceProvider resource for Core v2 compatibility.
[promcode-38]
A PROMCODE server MAY provide a ServiceProvider Resource that can be retrieved at a implementation dependent URI.
[promcode-39]
A PROMCODE server MAY provide a ServiceProviderCatalog Resource that can be retrieved at a implementation dependent URI.
[promcode-40]
A PROMCODE server MAY provide a oslc:serviceProvider property for their defined resources that will be the URI to a ServiceProvider Resource.
[promcode-41]
If a PROMCODE server supports oslc:Service and/or oslc:ServiceProviderCatalog resources for the compatibility with [OSLCCore2], the server MUST supply a value of http://open-services.net/ns/promcode for the property oslc:domain on either oslc:Service or oslc:ServiceProviderCatalog resources.
[promcode-42]
5.9.2 Creation Capabilities
A PROMCODE server SHOULD support Creation Factories and list them in the Service Provider Resource as defined by OSLC Core. A PROMCODE server SHOULD support Resource Shapes for Creation Factories as defined in [OSLCCore3].
[promcode-43]
5.9.3 Query Capabilities
A PROMCODE Server SHOULD support query capabilities, as defined by [OSLCCore3]. Servers MAY also provide oslc:ResourceShape on oslc:QueryCapability resources as defined by [OSLC-Shapes].
[promcode-44]
The PROMCODE specification is based on [OSLCCore3], and therefore both PROMCODE servers and clients MUST conform to OSLC servers and clients defined in [OSLCCore3].
7.2 Conformance Clauses
The following table summarizes the conformance clauses.
The PROMCODE specification is based on OSLC Core 3.0 [OSLCCore3]. PROMCODE servers and clients MUST be compliant with both the [OSLCCore3] specification and the PROMCODE specification, and SHOULD follow all the guidelines and recommendations in both of these specifications.
A PROMCODE server MUST implement the vocabulary defined in 6.Vocabulary Terms and Constraints of this specification with the exception of two abstract classes ManagedItem and ManagedItemCollection.
OSLC servers SHOULD support OSLC Core 3.0 Discovery, MAY provide a ServiceProviderCatalog and SHOULD provide a ServiceProvider resource for Core v2 compatibility.
OSLC Services MAY offer delegated UI dialogs (creation and selections) specified via OSLC Core 3.0 Delegated Dialogs and SHOULD include discovery through a ServiceProvider resource for OSLC v2 compatibility.
OSLC Services MAY offer UI previews for resources that may be referenced by other resources specified via OSLC Core 3.0 Preview and SHOULD include discovery through a server resource for OSLC v2 compatibility.
A PROMCODE server MUST provide Turtle and JSON-LD, and SHOULD provide RDF/XML and XML representations. The XML and JSON representations SHOULD follow the guidelines outlined in the OSLC Core Representations Guidance to maintain compatibility with [OSLCCore2].
A PROMCODE client requesting RDF/XML SHOULD be prepared for any valid RDF/XML document. A PROMCODE client requesting XML SHOULD be prepared for representations that follow the guidelines outlined in the OSLC Core Representations Guidance.
A PROMCODE server MUST accept Turtle and JSON-LD representations and SHOULD accept RDF/XML and XML representations. A PROMCODE server accepting RDF/XML SHOULD be prepared for any valid RDF/XML document. For XML A PROMCODE server SHOULD be prepared for representations that follow the guidelines outlined in the OSLC Core Representations Guidance.
text/turtle A PROMCODE server MUST respond with Turtle representation.
application/ld+json A PROMCODE server MUST respond with JSON-LD representation.
application/rdf+xml A PROMCODE server SHOULD respond with RDF/XML representation without restrictions.
application/xml A PROMCODE server SHOULD respond with OSLC-defined abbreviated XML representation as defined in the OSLC Core Representations Guidance.
application/atom+xml A PROMCODE server SHOULD respond with Atom Syndication FOrmat XML representation as defined in the OSLC Core Representations Guidance. The Atom Syndication Format XML representation SHOULD use RDF/XML representation without restrictions for the atom:content entries representing the resource representations.
A client MAY request a subset of a resource's properties as well as properties from a referenced resource. In order to support this behavior, a server MAY support the oslc.properties and oslc.prefix URL parameter on a HTTP GET request on individual resource request or a collection of resources by query. If the oslc.properties parameter is omitted on the request, then all resource properties MUST be provided in the response.
For compatibility with [OSLCCore2], A PROMCODE server MAY also support partial update by identifying those properties to be modified using the oslc.properties URL parameter on a HTTP PUT request.
If the parameter oslc.properties contains a valid resource property on the request that is not provided in the content, the server MUST set the resource's property to a null or empty value. If the parameter oslc.properties contains an invalid resource property, then a 409 Conflict MUST be returned.
For multi-valued properties that contain a large number of values, it may be difficult and inefficient to add or remove property values. A PROMCODE server MAY provide support for a partial update of the multi-valued properties as defined by OSLC Core Partial Update.
A PROMCODE client MAY request the creation of a PROMCODE domain resource via HTTP/POST operation to a PROMCODE server that supports creation of a resource using Creation Factories as defined in [OSLCCore3].
Alternatively, creation of a domain resource MAY be done outside of the PROMCODE framework, i.e., by using an existing project management tool that creates a new resource and makes the resource visible to the PROMCODE framework.
A PROMCODE server MUST support the HTTP GET method to obtain the representation of a resource. The detailed behavior of the GET method is described in [LDP].
A PROMCODE server MAY support the HTTP PUT method or the HTTP PATCH method to update resources. The detailed behavior of the PUT and PATCH methods is described in [LDP].
A PROMCODE server MUST support OSLC Discovery capabilities defined by [OSLCCore3]. Specifically, they SHOULD support LDPC Creation Factories, MAY provide a ServiceProviderCatalog and a ServiceProvider resource for Core v2 compatibility.
If a PROMCODE server supports oslc:Service and/or oslc:ServiceProviderCatalog resources for the compatibility with [OSLCCore2], the server MUST supply a value of http://open-services.net/ns/promcode for the property oslc:domain on either oslc:Service or oslc:ServiceProviderCatalog resources.
A PROMCODE server SHOULD support Creation Factories and list them in the Service Provider Resource as defined by OSLC Core. A PROMCODE server SHOULD support Resource Shapes for Creation Factories as defined in [OSLCCore3]
A PROMCODE Server SHOULD support query capabilities, as defined by [OSLCCore3]. Servers MAY also provide oslc:ResourceShape on oslc:QueryCapability resources as defined by [OSLC-Shapes].
Appendix A. Change History
This section is non-normative.
Below is a summary of some of the changes in this draft.
2017-12-08 Working Draft was newly created
Appendix B. Acknowledgments
This section is non-normative.
Members of the OSLC PROMCODE TC:
Amsden, Mr. James - IBM
Horiuchi, Mr. Yoshio - IBM
Kamimura, Dr. Tom - Individual
Kobayashi, Mr. Shigenori - NEC Corporation
LaRochelle, Mr. Robert - IBM
Matsumoto, Mr. Shigeaki - NEC Corporation
Matsuoka, Mr. Shinji - Fujitsu Limited
Speicher, Steve - IBM
Wakao, Mr. Masaki - IBM
Watanabe, Mr. Takeshi - IBM
Yabuta, Mr. Kazuo - Individual
Yoshida, Dr. Hiroyuki - Individual
The PROMCODE TC would like to thank the members of the PROMCODE Consortium [PROMCODE13] for their work that became a precursor to the current work. The TC would also like to thank Prof. Mikio Aoyama of Nanzan University who served as the Chair of the TC from March of 2014 to May of 2021. His leadership, dedication and broad experience with project management played a major role in shaping the content of the specificaiton. The TC would also like to thank Nanzan University for their support of the OASIS PROMCODE activity. Finally, thanks by the TC also go to Arthur Ryman and Kazuhiko Funakoshi who helped in creating technical content at an early stage of the project.
