Review Styles

Applies to Collaborator 11.5, last modified on December 21, 2021

The style that you choose for a review depends on the workflow and formality requirements.

Workflow

Pre-commit workflow implies reviewing files in Collaborator before they go to the main branch of your SCM repository. This reduces the chance of files with issues making it to the repository and affecting work of other members of your team. However, such workflow is slower because the author is locked from working on the files before they are reviewed.

Post-commit workflow implies reviewing files in Collaborator after they go to the main branch of your SCM repository. This allows the author to continue working on the files while they are being reviewed. However, this means that unapproved files are committed to the repository, potentially causing issues to other members of your team.

A hybrid approach is possible, when major changes must be reviewed before they are committed to the repository, and minor changes can be committed without having been reviewed.

Formality

Below are some guidelines for how to structure different types of reviews as well as some settings to consider depending on the formality requirements.

Quick & Easy: generally, these are the types of reviews done when not a lot of formality is required. The review process typically includes:

  • Very few participants. Minimally, one Author and at least one Reviewer.

  • A limited number of custom fields.

  • No requirement for participants to Mark Read all comments.

  • No Moderators (special persons who lead and control the review).

Formal Inspection: formal inspections require specific processes to be followed. Often this is driven by regulations or the need for an audit trail. Formal Inspections typically include:

  • Moderators (special persons who lead and control the review).

  • Multiple review participants including Reviewers and Observers (subject matter experts).

  • Custom fields for capturing additional details.

  • Requirements for Moderators and Authors to Mark Read all comments.

Document Review: reviewing documents can be as informal or formal as is needed. Most often, the type of document is what drives the formality of the review. Here are some key Collaborator functionality items to consider:

Safety Critical: this is the most formal of all the review processes. Basically, you build a template based on the Formal Inspection template. For example, you can:

See Also

Basic Concepts
Roles
Custom Fields

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