Displaying items by tag: doors next generation

DOORS Next provides great functionalities for managing requirements within your team, but as your project grows sooner or later you need to export and import the data using external formats.

For DOORS Next data the first format to think of is project template (or component template, in case if configuration management feature is enabled in RM). Content of template can be set up to include different types of data but all items of included types will be included to a template (e.g. you can include artifacts to a template - and it means that all folders will be added to a template).

Another option is the ReqIF package - it allows interchange requirements between requirements management platforms which are compatible with ReqIF, with more data selection options (e.g. you can include only certain artifacts or modules). 

Excel/CSV format is also an option to export and import data to DOORS Next, and this article provides some details on these functions. 

The purpose of this article is to describe several cases of Excel/CSV import and export, prerequisites and limitations.

The very first thing you need to know - which fields are mandatory for importing the data to DOORS Next via spreadsheets and their meaning. The best way to get these fields is exporting the data from DOORS Next, and here is some explanation for them. For the basic case (extended case is explained below) you need to have following attributes as columns of a spreadsheet:

• Artifact type - must be existing type of an artifact
• Name or Primary Text - either name or Primary Text must be included to the spreadsheet. If you include Primary Text - the value of Name attribute will be updated automatically (this is basically how DOORS Next works)

If you want to update existing requirements via Excel/CSV file - you need to include an ID attribute column. In this case you can use an ‘update’ option and values in the ‘ID’ column will be checked against IDs of existing artifacts.

If you want to update module content - e.g. module structure (insert new artifacts to a module and or change order of artifacts) - you need to include module specific attributes to a spreadsheet. They are:

• isHeading - boolean value, related to module specific option of an artifact, regardless of artifact type
• parentBinding - ID of parent artifact for the current. The value is empty if an artifact is on the top of module hierarchy or contains ID of ‘parent’ for the current artifact (e.g. Heading of a chapter to which current artifact is related)
• Module - ID of a module, which will be the same for all rows in a spreadsheet because import to a module is pointed to a certain module

You can use Excel/CSV import for links creation, and here there are options. The very straightforward option is to literally insert links directly. In this case you can use a spreadsheet column to build a link to another item (either another artifact in DOORS Next or workitem in EWM application or test artifact in ETM). For EWM and ETM this is the main option, you can better understand the format of a spreadsheet after exporting some samples. It can help you to build your spreadsheet for importing links either for base artifacts or for artifacts in a module - depending on the import option you use.

For links to other DOORS Next artifacts you can use Excel/CSV to prepare your requirements for linking via ‘Link by Attribute’ feature. In this case you need to have a special attribute which is supposed to hold IDs of artifacts to be linked. And you can fill values of this attribute via spreadsheet.

Depending on your linking policy and needs (linking to base artifacts or linking to artifacts in certain modules) you will use either IDs of artifacts you need to link to (e.g. 12345 is an ID of artifact you want to build a link to) or pairs of module ID and artifact ID (e.g. 23456.34567 - where 23456 is ID of a module and 34567 is ID of an artifact in this module when you want to create a link to a modular artifact). After successful  import of these values you can proceed with using the ‘Link by Attribute’ feature.

You can use Excel also to import primary text with complex formatting (fonts, colors or even tables) but the source must be also DOORS Next. Formatting in this case is handled via cell note. Another case is embedded artifacts import - in this case spreadsheet includes a link to an embedded artifact which must be already existing on the server.

A few general tips which could help you when working with Excel/CSV import and export:

• Use column names from exported spreadsheets to be sure they are right
• If you are importing values of modular artifacts (pairs of IDs separated with dots) - check format of cells, by default they might be decided by Excel as numbers with decimals and therefore cut
• If you are sure you are doing everything right but import fails - try switching to English locale
• If you need to exclude some artifacts from a module - be sure to keep the ‘METADATA’ section from the initial state of a module (it includes list of IDs of artifacts), otherwise ‘delete artifacts from the module’ option won’t work

Excel/CSV import and export feature can help you in various cases, both as a standalone option or combined with other functions of DOORS Next. Reach us to know more and get support with your special case.

FMEA Widgets extensions are designed and developed to calculate the value(s) of the resulting attribute based on input from the other predefined attributes and their values and to display the resulting risk in FMEA Table or even directly in the ERM Module View

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This extension will create links between artifacts in the selected module(s). The information about the generated links is taken from certain custom attributes. It can build many links in a short time

Tracked-resource sets

The tracked-resource set (TRS) specification allows a server to expose set of resources in a way that allows clients to discover the exact set of resources in the set, to track all additions to and removals from the set, and to track state changes to all resources in the set. This specification is HTTP-based and follows RESTful principles. It is suitable for dealing with large sets containing a large number of resources, as well as highly active resource sets that undergo continual change.

When project areas are enabled for configurations, for team members to see, use, create, or remove links across project areas, a Jazz administrator must install the Global Configuration Management (GCM) and Link Index Provider (LDX) applications. Use TRS v2.0 as a data source to create the linked lifecycle data index.

When project areas are not enabled for configurations, to ensure that Lifecycle Query Engine (LQE) can access the lifecycle data, you must configure it to work with Jazz™ Team Server (JTS) and then configure the lifecycle tools as data sources (TRS providers.)

Terminology:

Resource Set - an enumerable, finite, collection of Resources

Resource - web resource identified by URI; the Resource Set members

Server - party playing the role of Resource Set provider

Client - party playing the role of consumer; interacts with a Server to enumerate and track Resources in the Server’s Resource Set

Tracked Resource Set (TRS) - describes the set of Resources in a Resource Set, expressed as a Base and a Change Log

Base - portion of a Tracked Resource Set representation that lists member Resources

Change Log - portion of a Tracked Resource Set representation detailing a series of Change Events

Change Event - describes the addition, removal, or state change of a member Resource

What does rebase do ?

TRS providers are responsible for managing the base change log for their consumers. In theory, the base is established at the "beginning of time" and the change log continues to grow forever. A TRS provider may choose to periodically, or on some significant event, rebase or recalculate the base resources and prune the change log. The server should retain at least seven days of of the most recent change events in the change log, and set the cutoffEvent to the most recent retained change event to give clients time to catch up to the new base and change log.

The cutoffEvent property of the Base identifies the point in the Change Log at which processing of Change Events can be cut off because older changes are already covered by the new Base after the rebase operation.

In short, Rebase is a process that creates a new base for tracked resource set. This leads to truncating the changeLog to only contain last 7 days of changes while adding "cutoffEvent" property to the latest changeEvent.
The newly established base is now the actual one and new ChangeLog is based on changes on the members of the new base.

When is manual rebase mandatory ?

When a server rename procedure is performed, as a part of the post-rename steps, but before adding DNG TRS datasources back into LQE, one must perform full TRS 2.0 rebase in DNG.
TRS 2.0 rebase is also highly recommened after upgrading to newer DNG versions (base version, not iFix).


How to perform rebase ?


1, Open a web browser and navigate to your DNG frontend. Log in with the administrator privileges and continue to https://your.RMserver.com/rm/admin#action=com.ibm.rdm.fronting.server.web.trs .
2, Here you can see TRS status and rebase option. Click on the TRS 2.0 Full Rebase.
3, Wait for the operation to finish, the status of the rebase procedure is shown in the status windows which can be manually refreshed.
4, Once the rebase is done, you may continue with adding the LQE data sources and reindexing them.

If you need more detailed information, visit https://archive.open-services.net/wiki/core/TrackedResourceSet-2.0/

This extension allows users who don't have access to view all project areas and request access for it.

Features

• View all project areas even if user does nothave access to one
• Filtering of project areas based on their name or description
• Request access to any project area - Request will be sent over email to administrator
• Refreshment of list by administrator

 Restrictions

• The generation of the table is protected by unique password generated once and given to the administrator (user who has access to all project areas)
• Unless a correct password is provided, a table can't be generated.

User Guide:

1. Open dashboard
2. View all project areas
3. Request access for a project area (via button) which will send email to administrator

Administrator Guide:

1. Open dashboard
2. Select application
3. Type in password and hit refresh list button

Pricing:

These scripts are free of charge to all customers which have purchased IBM Jazz Products via Softacus.

Enhancement Request and Defects:

Send Email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

You can enhance the Requirements Management (RM) application by authoring extensions for it. The extensions can enhance productivity and are useful for analysis. You can add the extensions to your mini dashboard and remove them as needed. Extensions are authored by using a combination of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS files. The extensions access data within the RM application by using an RM API.

This article aims to help you with enabling and uploading the widget extensions in Engineering Requirements Management DOORS Next.

Widget Extensions

In Doors NG there are three types of templates - Project Area Template, Module Template, and Artifact Template. All of these templates can be managed on the project administration Templates page.

Config. Management enabled =  Manage Component Properties --> Templates --> Component or Artifact Templates (in the left sidebar)
Config. Management disabled= Manage Project Properties --> Templates --> Project or Artifact Templates (in the left sidebar)

This extension allows users to generate, set, and structure artifacts in the module based on the specified rules.

Explanation and features

Features:

• Allows the user to add all types of artifacts into the module
• Allows the user to choose module structure according to Number and PUID attributes
• Users can add anytime and easily RPE Tags

Back to extensions

Restrictions

• Requires to be executed in the module. If a user tries to start the script outside of the module it will not work and the message will be displayed advising the user to work from the module.

How to use this extension

• Open a Module
• Type PUIDs of desired artifacts
• Add different types of RPE tags according to user needs
• Click the button Generate document to generate the structure of artifacts in the module
• Artifact structure is successfully generated.

Pricing

This add-on is free of charge for customers who purchased the IBM Jazz solution via Softacus.

Please contact us if you need a different arrangement.

Contact us, Support, Modifications

Every functionality of any of Softacus Engineering Requirements Management DOORS Next extension can be customized based on your needs. If you are interested in having, enhancing or if you found a defect in extension, please contact us at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Also, we are providing custom modifications for our customers. Every Softacus DNG Extension can be modified based on your needs or requirements. We are looking forward to developing a solution for you.

Contact page!

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Jazz team platform has several options to create and generate various reports. In this article We will discuss two data sources that are used in these reports, difference between them and their pros and cons.