Problems and Comments

Problems

Problems is a type of text property that can be associated with a Process, Milestone, Activity, Gateway or other type of Item. As with other text properties multiple values can be entered and preferred values defined. Problems are recorded in the second tab of the Details dialog box. A Problem can have a Severity level and Frequency of occurrence; both have values or High (red), Medium (yellow) or Low (green).


Problems are used for highlighting process areas that probably require discussion. If the process is active in your business then these problems may have been recorded as a result of one or more incidents and may require an investigation to understand the root cause. In both cases it is expected that the number of problems or their severity or frequency of occurrence will diminish over time. In some cases when process modeling for a new client project the aim will be to eliminate all problems in all processes. A problem might represent a part of the process which is not clearly understood. On a client project it may also represent a candidate for a Change Request.

Problems are output in the Export to Word function and due to the colored nature of the severity and frequency fields they stand out in the documentation. At the back of the Microsoft Word document is a glossary section where all Problems are pulled together, unfortunately the Glossary does not show the severity and frequency values. 

Comments

A comment is a short piece of text (200 characters maximum) that might be written as a question for another user to answer. A Comment can be associated with a Process, Milestone, Activity, Gateway of other type of Item but it is not a property, it will not be found in the Library of properties and there are no preferred values. Comments appear in the last tab of the Details dialog box.

Multiple comments can be entered for an activity. Each comment is recorded with the authors name and date/time of creation and is presented in light blue background. A comment can be replied to and this is enclosed within the original comment and presented with a white background.
 

In the Export to Word function the comments are output much as you would expect them in the right margin of the document and attached to the activity header; this includes both comments and replies.
 
Deleting the comment deletes any associated replies. The symbol in the top right hand corner of the comment/reply is used to delete the record.
 
A comment might start with a three letter code to indicate the severity of the comment:

• SEV - Severe
• CRI  - Critical
• DIS  -  Discussion
• MIN -  Minor

Note. Comments will not work very well if only some of your reviewers are using Blueworks Live !