COMMON Requirements (was IBM investment in i)

The old COMMON Requirements system of which Mike spoke was an intensive at conference-only process. By the end of the conference we (the attendees) had a list of the submissions and a ballot to return to COMMON. For some reason that fell by the way side some years ago.

Last year COMMON began to revamp and revitalize (and resuscitate) the process. The process is no longer an at conference only process, nor is it limited to COMMON members. The first phase was rolled out early this year as part of iSociety. One can access the Requirements site from many locations, such as www.common.org and pushing the "iSociety" button at the top of the page. In addition, any site, such as Midrange.com (thanks, David) that features the iSociety portal can select the "iSociety Requirements" option.

iSociety does require a log-in, but it is free (COMMON membership is not required). Once there one can enter, view, and rate (vote) on a submission. Periodically (three or four times a year) these requirements are reviewed by a committee of COMMON and IBM; twice in face-to-face meetings, once or twice via conference call. We had, if I recall correctly, over thirty requirements submitted at the Nashville conference, which is where we officially rolled it out. I will tell you that to IBM the most important part of the submission is the "Impact on Your Business" section.

The process is not a finished product; it will evolve as COMMON gets feedback regarding it. One of the pieces that we know needs to be done (and are working on) is a feedback mechanism; feedback to both the submitter and the System i community as a whole. When Requirements was an at conference experience, one of the things one got at the Soundoff session (IIRC) was IBM's responses to the previous conferences requirements submissions.

Thanks.

Jerry C. Adams


-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Crump, Mike
Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2008 8:28 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: RE: IBM investment in i

Evan,

I can't disagree with your points. While others on this list may
exhibit dissentience with this I believe that there have been a large
number of changes that have been made from release to release. And a
large number of them are very relevant to what we do.

One major problem that has occurred is that the wheels seem to have
fallen off of the COMMON requirements process. I haven't been as active
in COMMON recently and I am not trying to criticize COMMON but it seemed
to me that compared to where it was 10, 15, and 20 years ago it had
fallen by the wayside but is hopefully seeing some recovery.

Right now the two largest requirements producers for IBM i are SAP and
large customers. And they are getting a lot of changes pushed through.
As I see it the rest of us can sit here and complain or we can initiate
change requests through COMMON or the change requests that I know Rob
has referenced and USED.

Would someone familiar with COMMON be willing to help publicize its
requirements process? I know Rob has made several mentions on how he
makes change requests. I would think that COMMON would be the better
approach because hopefully you can get the wait of many companies behind
your request. And if you are not a member of COMMON the ability to
interact with a requirements process with other customers might just be
worth the investment......

Michael Crump

Manager, Computing Services
Saint-Gobain Containers, Inc.
1509 S. Macedonia Ave.
Muncie, IN 47302
765.741.7696
765.741.7012