Scipio Training Programme

Introduction

SCIPIO is the leading method for business process improvement with component-based development.

It uses UML notations for enterprise and object modelling, to specify and satisfy the requirements for applications assembled from software components, on open distributed processing platforms.

Principles

We design business processes to support business relationships (e.g. with customers) rather than to support existing task structures and hierarchies. This makes the business processes more flexible, and more capable of learning.

We design applications as a series of software components, linked together by flexible middleware, assembly tools or workflow engines. This means we can rapidly reconfigure in response to changing business demands.

Wherever possible, we create these software components by wrapping legacy code. This means we can greatly reduce the cost and risk of new applications.

SCIPIO Training Programme

The training programme for SCIPIO is at three levels.

Practitioner Programme

Equips you to play an active role in a SCIPIO project. You will learn to understand and contribute to SCIPIO diagrams, and participate in planning decisions. Suitable for users and managers, as well as IT development staff.

This training programme assumes you have general knowledge and experience of IT and systems development.

Master Practitioner Programme

Equips you to lead and support SCIPIO projects, and to implement SCIPIO into your organization. Suitable for internal and external consultants, as well as senior development staff.

To enter the Master Practitioner Programme, you need:

EITHER completion of the Practitioner Programme plus suitable experience on SCIPIO projects

OR considerable prior tools and methods experience

Train-the-Trainers Programme

Equips you to teach the SCIPIO programme.

You must be a SCIPIO Master Practitioner before entering the Train-the-Trainers Programme. We also assume you have previous classroom teaching experience.

SCIPIO Practitioner Programme

Objectives

To be able to participate actively in a SCIPIO project, and/or in reviewing SCIPIO deliverables.

Outline agenda

We offer initial SCIPIO training in the form of a workshop. A typical agenda is shown below.

We recommend that you follow this with on-the-job coaching and mentoring by a Master Practitioner.

Introduction and context	WHY	2 hours	Understand the context and motivation for SCIPIO. Review recent trends in business process improvement, technology (including open distributed computing and workflow) and application development. Gain an appreciation of Component-Based Development (CBD).
Overview of techniques	HOW	4 hours	Starting with a case study, we introduce and explain the modelling notations and design logic of SCIPIO.
Techniques practical	HOW	6 hours	Students are given opportunities to practise the modelling techniques on a number of different exercises. NOTE: in some circumstances, depending on the training requirements and the prior experience of the students, it may be appropriate to omit or postpone this module, or have on-the-job coaching instead. This should be discussed with your SCIPIO trainer before scheduling the training session.
Task structure	WHAT	4 hours	The task structure is explained in terms of the underlying SCIPIO principles, and illustrated with further case study material. We discuss the planning and management of SCIPIO projects, and show how the task structure may be varied to fit the project and organization requirements, without betraying the underlying principles.
Organization and management issues	WHO/M	2 hours	What are the practicalities of introducing CBD and SCIPIO into your organization? This session outlines an implementation roadmap for CBD/SCIPIO, and discusses some other important management issues.

Subsequent training available

In addition to on-the-job coaching, we also offer a master class in modelling. This explores some of the more difficult areas of modelling, using a wide variety of examples. Students attending this master class are welcome to bring along some practical problems from their own projects for discussion in the class.

For some projects or organizations, depending on the selected development tool and platform, it may be appropriate to go into more detail in Object-Oriented Analysis and Design. In this case, we recommend you follow the Catalysis training from Icon Computing or Trireme. For training in your chosen development tool and platform, contact your tool vendor.

For managers responsible for introducing CBD and SCIPIO, we offer specialized training in technology change management. Contact us for more details.

SCIPIO Master Practitioner Programme

Objectives

To be able to provide coaching, mentoring and support to SCIPIO practitioners. To be a powerful and well-informed advocate and champion for SCIPIO.

We expect Master Practitioners to be familiar with a wide variety of industry standards, life cycle models and other methods, and to be able to situate SCIPIO in relation to these. We also expect Master Practitioners to be able to establish good bridges from existing skills and practices, based on an understanding of these practices in relation to SCIPIO, and advise on the reuse of legacy models from previous methods.

Outline agenda

Suitably qualified practitioners follow an advanced training workshop, followed by a period of supervision by an existing Master Practitioner, before they become Master Practitioners.

The advanced training workshop follows a similar structure to the basic training workshop, but goes into the issues in much greater depth. It includes some theoretical material (including metamodels), which is not suitable for general use, but which is intended to be useful in some tricky situations.

Introduction and context	WHY	3 hours	Critical review of the context and motivation for SCIPIO, including a survey of lifecycle models, architectures and other industry trends.
Critical review of techniques	HOW	3 hours	We explain the abstract concepts behind the modelling techniques and notations, and discuss how these map onto other common techniques and notations. We reveal the strengths and weaknesses of UML.
Critical review of task structure	WHAT	2 hours	We reveal the theoretical underpinning for the task structure, to enable greater precision in project planning and method customization. We also discuss how the task structure maps onto other industry lifecycle models.
Organization and management issues	WHO/M	4 hours	This session provides detailed training in the implementation roadmap for CBD and SCIPIO.

Completion of qualification

Following the formal training, you are now a part-qualified Master Practitioner. To become a fully-qualified Master Practitioner, you need to perform at least 100 days of SCIPIO-related work, as a practitioner or consultant. (In other words, six months if you're doing SCIPIO full time, longer if you are doing other things in parallel.) During this period, you will be assigned a supervisor, who is an existing Master Practitioner. Your period of supervision will end with the presentation of a piece of work, agreed with your supervisor, which demonstrates your mastery of SCIPIO, and contributes to the further advance of SCIPIO. You will then be a fully-qualified Master Practitioner.

SCIPIO Train-the-Trainers Programmme

Rules

To be able to teach the Practitioner Programme, you need to be at least a part-qualified Master Practitioner.

To be able to teach the Master Practitioner Programme, you need to be a fully qualified Master Practitioner.

In addition, you will need to start by co-teaching the programme with an experienced trainer.

If you have no previous classroom teaching experience, you may need some training in classroom techniques. Please discuss this with our training manager.