The DPS Website > Website Features for Project Managers/Administrators

For Project Managers and System Administrators the DPS Website is the most important tool within the DPS System. It is where Workflows are managed, Project Configurations are altered, Batches are created and allocated to editors, schedules are managed, and so on. In order to use the DPS Website efficiently, and to its full capacity, Project Managers and System Administrators must be familiar with the core principles of the Workflow:

►	A 'Batch' always refers to a unit of work assigned to editors.

►	The constituent Steps of the process associated with a Batch form the basic operations to be performed on that Batch.

►	Each Step in a Batch may be assigned to an editor or editors.

►	More than one editor may be assigned to the same Step.

►	Individual entries may only be worked on by one editor at a time. The entry can be viewed but not changed by other Users.

►	To complete work on a Batch, all the Steps for a Batch must be completed in the proper order.

►	In multi-step Batches, an entry must have been completed and signed-off for step 1 before it becomes available for step 2, and so on.

►	Work on different Batches may be done simultaneously.

►	A particular entry may belong to any number of Batches.

The DPS offers flexibility while ensuring essential data integrity. However, that flexibility places some responsibilities on you, the User. Let's take a hypothetical example:

Assume that a set of entries belongs both to task A and task B, which respectively implement process 1 and process 2. The DPS places no restrictions on what order the batches that compose tasks A and B are assigned and edited. If process 1 must be performed before process 2, it is your responsibility to ensure that the various batches are assigned and edited in the correct order. (You might consider making processes 1 and 2 steps of single process so that the DPS enforces this order. However, this would mean that you would have to use the same tasks and batch divisions for the two steps. This might not be desirable if one step required intensive and detailed work, for which small batches are suitable, while the other was a broad and quick read ideally done in large batches.)

Project Management Workflow

The diagram below illustrates a typical Project Management Workflow (not to be confused with the DPS System Workflow). The Project Workflow is more specific and it describes the processes and steps involved in managing the progress of a project.

You will notice in the diagram above that several key terms have been used repeatedly. These are among the various key terms the DPS System uses and each one has a very precise meaning. It is absolutely vital that you, the Project Manager/Administrator, understand these terms and how, as functions, they relate to eachother:

Process

To produce a finished title the data must go through various stages. In the DPS these stages are called Processes.

Let us say, for example, that the aim of your project is to take the data used for the first edition of The Extreme English Dictionary and update it to produce a second edition. Some of the necessary Processes you would need to complete in this example are:

►	Content Update

►

Edit

►

Proofread

These Processes are not dissimilar to those of a normal book project, the only difference here is that the Processes are more technical as they relate directly to the Data and not to a written manuscript.

Workflow

A DPS Workflow is the collection of all the Processes, arranged in the appropriate order. For example, a 'Content Update' process would normally precede an 'Edit' process. A Workflow should be determined early on to ensure a project remains on time and on budget. See the Workflow diagram above for an example of a typical Project Management Workflow.

Each project can have only one workflow.

Step

A DPS Step is a subdivision of a Process. The Steps within a Process must be performed in a defined order before a Process can be deemed complete. Steps may be compulsory or optional, but a process must have at least one compulsory step. The compulsory Steps are a way of ensuring consistency throughout your project and this is one of the distinct advantages of using the DPS for multi-authored projects.

Task

Each Process must be applied to the appropriate data. For example, if your process is to proofread all entries with a more than one meaning, you will only need to apply the Process to those particular entries. This is was we call setting a Task.

Let us say, for example, that you have been asked to do an update of only the biographical data within your project. You would create a new Task that applies an 'Update Biography' Task to only those entries that contain biographical information.

The size of the appropriate data will vary greatly and in some cases it may prove too large for a single unit of work. A good example is the 'Edit' process which, if applied to a complete dictionary with around 100,000 entries, would be a mammoth Task. Managing the 'Edit' process would be much easier if its application were divided into several manageable units such as one for each letter.

On the other hand, a Process applying to a relatively small number of entries (for example, checking astronomical data against the latest research) would not need such subdivision. Such a manageable division of a Process's appropriate data is called a manageable unit of work. The precise definition of a Manageable Unit will vary between projects, and is basically a division that makes life easier for you, the Project Manager. It might be influenced by many factors, some external to the project (e.g. need to rush a section of the dictionary to completion in order to provide samples for publicity purposes; the reporting requirements of your company; the fact your boss doesn't understand dictionaries but keeps off your back if you can (truthfully) say simple things like 'the task of editing letter A has now finished', etc.).

Batch

Manageable units of work – tasks – are very useful but they are not necessarily appropriate units of work to be assigned to the lexicographers and editors who will actually perform them. For example, it is generally useful to give editors units of work of approximately the same length, so that each unit takes roughly the same amount of time to complete. Such a unit is called a workable unit of work.

A DPS batch is a subdivision of a task that is a workable unit of work. It is thus the application of a process to a workable unit of work of the data appropriate to that process. A task is always divided into one or more batches.