After you have defined the variability model and linked the Variants and Variation Points to artifacts in your model, you can create Decision Sets and define them by using the Decision Set Editor or Variant Selector to include or exclude Variants. You can then create Product Models based on those Decision Sets.
Decision sets
A Decision Set is a set of choices made for the inclusion or exclusion of Variants for Variation Points.
To create a Decision Set from a Package (or the model): right-click the Package, point to New, point to Variability, and then click Decision Set.
After creating a Decision Set you can use the Decision Set Editor or Variant Selector to set up which Variants you want to include and exclude in that Decision Set:
• The Decision Set Editor presents internal and external Variation Points and their Variants in a Modeler browser.
• The Variant Selector presents only external Variation Points through an Internet Explorer window.
A model can contain many Decision Sets to cover different scenarios.
For information about working with Decision Sets, see the following topics:
Through the Decision Set Editor you can choose to include and exclude Variants for all Variation Points.
To open the Decision Set Editor for a Decision Set: right-click the Decision Set you want to set up, and then click Edit.
Initially the Decision Set Editor shows all top-level Variation Points, that is:
• Variation Points that have the Root check box selected on the Options tab of their Property Pages.
• Variation Points that are not the target of Requires relationships and are not linked to other Variation Points or Variants through Excludes relationships.
You can expand Variation Points and Variants to show their required and excluded Variation Points, that is, Variation Points that are linked through Requires or Excludes relationships.
For information about working with the Decision Set Editor, see the following topics:
The Variant Selector is available through Microsoft's Internet Explorer and through it you can choose Variants to include and exclude for a Decision Set's external Variation Points only. If you need to choose Variants to include and exclude for internal Variation Points, you must use the Decision Set Editor.
To start the Variant Selector: on the Modeler Tools menu, click Variant Selector.
For information about working with the Decision Set Editor, see the following topics:
Variants and Variation Points have a Status that is set directly or indirectly by the decisions you make in the Decision Set Editor or Variant Selector to include or exclude Variants.
The easiest way to set the Status of a Variant is by setting the Decision of that Variant. Assuming that the Status of a Variant is not affected by any other Variants or Variation Points, setting the Decision of a Variant to Include, Exclude or Undecided will set the Status of that Variant to Included, Excluded, or Undecided respectively. However, there are other indirect ways in which the status of a Variant can be set.
For information about how the Status of a Variant or Variation Point can be set, including worked examples, see the following topics:
After setting up a Decision Set through the Decision Set Editor, you can create a Product Model based on that Decision Set.
The Status of a Variant or Variation Point determines whether that Variant or Variation Point and its Artifacts (base model items linked through Artifact Dependencies) are removed from the Product Model or not:
• When set to Included, the Variant or Variation Point will be removed from the Product Model, but the Variant's or Variation Point's Artifacts will remain in the Product Model.
An included Artifact will remain in the model even if it is excluded by other Variants and Variation Points.
• When set to Excluded, the Variant or Variation Point will be removed from the Product Model.
The Variant's or Variation Point's Artifacts will be removed from the Product Model, unless the Artifacts are also linked to one or more Included Variation Point or Variant, in which case they are not removed from the Product Model.
• When set to Undecided:
◦ An undecided Variation Point and its Artifacts will remain in the Product Model.
◦ An undecided Variant of an undecided Variation Point will remain in the Product Model, as will the Variant's Artifacts.
◦ An undecided Variant of an included or excluded Variation Point will be removed from the Product Model, as will the Variant's Artifacts.
Decision set XML report
You can generate an XML report from a Decision Set, which is opened in your default internet browser.
The XML report shows which decisions have been made for the Decision Set, that is whether Variation Points and Variants are included, excluded or undecided. In addition, the report shows variability item inconsistencies.
To generate the Decision Set XML report: right-click the Decision Set, point to Tools, and then click Decision Set XML Report.