Hypermedia Process Assessment Tasks: Patterns of Inspection

We have previously proposed a process assessment method (known as IMPACT-A), based on a process reference model, for the asessment of hypermedia development processes. This reference model is used to guide the identification of suitable process quality attributes and subsequent assessment activities or abstract tasks. These abstract tasks allow us to measure the selected process attributes. The abstract tasks should define those process entities which are to be assessed, what aspects of the development are involved (navigation, behavior, etc.) and what activities need to be carried out. Each abstract task can therefore be viewed as focusing on an abstraction of specific fragments of the development process. In other words, we have specific process patterns which are manipulated and evaluated by each abstract task. A particular process pattern may, for example, involve those elements of the development where the underlying information structure is used, along with other inputs, in developing the high-level navigation structure. The pattern will show the inter-relationship between activities, resources, inputs and outputs, etc. The result will be a set of process patterns which can be used for both planning development projects and for carrying out assessment of existing projects. The paper will provide a basis for representing these process patterns, along with several typical patterns.