Practice Framework core customizations are stored in a separate plug-ins from the core elements being customized. Specifically, all core element customizations should be defined in an Extend plug-in for the Core plug-in that contains the element to be customized. For more information on Core and Extend plug-ins, see Concept: Practice Library Plug-In Types.

There are a number of different ways that you can customize the practice framework core. You can: 

• Add a new work product slot
• Customize an existing work product slot
• Add a new common method content element (e.g., role, work product or guidance; tasks are generally stored in Practices) 
• Customize an existing common method content element 
• Add new shared domains or disciplines
• Customize existing shared domains or disciplines

The following sections describe how you would structure these customizations. 

Add a new work product slot

Perform the following steps to define a new Work Product Slot:

• If it does not already exist, create an Extend plug-in to contain the new slot.
• Define a new artifact and indicate that it is a slot. For more information, see Guideline: Defining Work Product Slots.

Customize an existing work product slot

Perform the following steps to customize (not just by adding guidance) an existing Work Product Slot:

• If one does not exist, create an Extends plug-in to contain the slot customizations.
• Customize the slot the same way you customize any work product. However, since slots are shared across practices, be sure that they adhere to guidelines for slots and that the changes are applicable across practices. For more information on slots, see Guideline: Defining Work Product Slots. For more information on customizing work products, see Guideline: Customizing a Method Content Element.  

Add a new common method content element

Perform the following steps to add a new common method content element (e.g., role, work product, guidance) to the core (tasks are generally not common, but are considered practice-specific): 

• If it does not already exist, create an Extend plug-in to contain the new common element.
  Note: Practice frameworks generally implement a Delayed Assignment approach for roles, so it is recommended that role definitions be placed in their own plug-in.
• In the new plug-in, define the new element. These elements are common so be sure to only include information that is common across practices. Do not include any associations between elements as such relationships are better-defined in practices. For more information, see Guideline: Defining Method Content Elements.

Customize an existing common method content element

Perform the following steps to customize an existing common method content element (e.g., role, work product, guidance) to the core (tasks are generally not common, but are considered practice-specific):

• If one does not exist, create an Extends plug-in to contain the customizations.
• Customize the elements the same way you customize any element. However, since common elements are shared across practices, be sure to only include information that is common across practices. Do not include any associations between elements as such relationships are better-defined in practices. For more information, see Guideline: Customizing a Method Content Element.  

Add a new shared domain or discipline

Perform the following steps to add a new shared domain or discipline:

• If one does not exist, create an Extends plug-in to contain the domain or discipline definitions.
  Note: Practice frameworks generally implement a Delayed Assignment approach for standard categories, so it is recommended that domain and discipline definitions be placed in their own plug-in. 
• In the new plug-in, define the new standard category. Do not assign any elements to the categories as the categorization of elements to standard categories is done in the practices. For more information, see Guideline: Categorizing Method Elements Using Standard Categories.

Customize existing shared domains or disciplines

Perform the following steps to customize and existing shared domain or discipline:

• If one does not exist, create an Extends plug-in to contain the domain or discipline customizations.
  Note: Practice frameworks generally implement a Delayed Assignment approach for standard categories, so it is recommended that domain and discipline definitions be placed in their own plug-in. 
• In the new plug-in, customize the standard category. Do not add any elements to the categories as the categorization of elements to standard categories is done in the practices. For more information, see Guideline: Customizing a Standard Category.

Special instructions when authoring in the UMF: When customizing core elements in the UMF, you must take the UMF constraints into consideration. Specifically, see the following:

• Guideline: Copyrights in the UMFGuideline: Work Product Slots in the UMFGuideline: Copyrights in the UMF
• Guideline: Roles in the UMF
• Guideline: Standard Categories in the UMF
• Guideline: Tool Information in the UMF
• Guideline: Navigation Views in the UMF
• Guideline: Copyrights in the UMF
• Guideline: Release Information in the UMF

For information on how to request a change to the UMF core, see Guideline: Requesting a Change to the Unified Method Framework.