Concept: Practice Configuration

A practice configuration is a pre-wired, individually recognizable set of practices that addresses a specific need and audience and also includes supporting content that describes how the practices fit together. Practice configurations are usually defined to describe a specific approach or process.

Specifically, a practice configuration is an individually recognizable set of:

Core elements: Elements shared across practices
- Common method content element definitions (roles, work products, guidance)
- Shared standard categories (disciplines, domains, work product kinds, role sets)
- Shared custom categories
Practices
Cross-practice elements: Elements that include elements from individul practices
- Cross-practice processes (capability patterns and/or delivery processes)
- Navigation views

Practice configurations all tend to share the following properties:

Address a specific business problem or need
Built for a specific audience (the practitioners that will use the configuration)
Usually describe a specific approach or process

The following are some examples of practice configurations: RUP, OpenUP, Information Technology Service Management/IBM Tivoli Unified Process® (ITUP), Method Authoring Method (MAM), etc.