Most teams don’t start with a blank page. The knowledge about how your application works already lives in its code, in documents like PRDs and process guides, and in the heads of the people who use it every day. Extract brings that knowledge into Catalio, so you don’t have to write your specification from scratch.
Catalio reads what you give it and drafts the pieces of your Application: its capabilities, processes, features, business rules, use cases, and requirements. Nothing is final until someone on your team reviews it. You stay in charge of what goes into the specification.
Three ways to bring things in
From your code. Connect a repository to the application and Catalio reads it to draft what the application does. Start with Repositories, then Set up a repository for Command Center so a scan can run.
From documents and conversations. Upload a document to an application and Catalio compares it with your connected code, see Document Extraction. Use Discovery Sessions to capture what subject matter experts know, and Sources to link the places those signals come from.
By reviewing what Catalio found. Suggestions arrive as drafts for your team to confirm or turn down. See Change Proposals and Gap Analysis.
Tip
How a scan goes
- Open Extract. On your application’s page, click Extract.
- Check that you’re ready. Until everything is ready, the panel at the top lists four checks: Repository, Source control, Repository setup, and Environment. A scan can start once the first three are ready. Each check that isn’t ready links to the Setup guide, and the row includes a button for the fix when there is one. Fixed something in another tab? Click Re-check.
- Scan a step. The map lists App Type, Capabilities, Processes, Data Model, Features, Rules, Use cases, Requirements, and Validation. Click Deepen on a step to scan that step.
- Follow along. While a scan you started is running, click Watch in Command Center to see the agent at work.
- Review. Open each step and review what Catalio drafted.
What to expect afterwards
Each step shows what Catalio drafted for your application. Go through them and:
- Keep what is right. Features, the Data Model, Rules, Use cases, and Requirements use Confirm. Capabilities and Processes use Approve. App Type uses Confirm & continue.
- Turn down what isn’t. Capabilities, Processes, Features, and the Data Model use Reject, and you can add a reason that Catalio uses the next time it scans. Rules, Use cases, and Requirements use Flag and Dismiss instead of Reject.
Suggestions from documents and other analysis arrive as Change Proposals. For each one you can apply it, edit it and then apply it, or dismiss it.
Where to go next
Code
- Repositories: connect your code and see how it maps to applications.
- Set up a repository for Command Center: get the four checks ready before your first scan.
Documents & conversations
- Sources: link the places requirements come from.
- Document Extraction: upload documents and compare them with your code.
- Discovery Sessions: capture what subject matter experts know.
Review
- Change Proposals: review, apply, or dismiss suggested changes.
- Gap Analysis & Risk-Free Modernization: find gaps between what you have and where you’re going.
