Why widgets for IBM ELM?

The everyday reality of requirements work

Organizations in aerospace, defense, automotive, rail, medical devices, energy and finance manage tens of thousands of requirements in IBM DOORS Next. Around the core engineering work, a lot of routine work builds up:

• content imported from Microsoft Word or Excel carries foreign fonts and colours, or arrives as a flat list without its chapter structure;
• links and glossary terms have to be added, converted or removed consistently across whole modules;
• hyperlinks in requirement texts break when artifacts are deleted or web pages move;
• baselines pile up over the years and slow down configuration selection;
• data models of projects drift apart and nobody knows exactly where;
• auditors ask who has access to which project, and with which roles.

Each of these tasks can be done by hand in the standard interface. On a module with thousands of artifacts, it costs days, and every manual step is a chance to make a mistake.

What a widget is

A widget is a small web application that runs inside IBM ELM. You add it to the ELM Mini Dashboard: in DOORS Next next to a module, and for some widgets also in the other ELM applications (DOORS Next, Engineering Workflow Management, Engineering Test Management, Global Configuration or the Jazz Team Server). Widgets use the official IBM extension and reporting interfaces and always act with the rights of the signed-in user, so they never bypass your security model.

How SmarterWidgets make the work easier

• Whole module or just your selection. Most widgets work on every artifact of the open module or only on the artifacts you selected, with no limit on the number of artifacts.
• Look first, change second. The widget shows what it found (counts, lists, details per artifact) before anything is changed.
• Confirmation before every change. Module-wide changes ask for confirmation that names what will happen.
• Progress, Stop and Retry. Long runs show their progress, can be stopped at any moment, and list the artifacts that could not be changed, with a one-click retry.
• Excel change report. Every widget that changes data records the run (artifact, value before, value after, result) in an Excel file you can keep as evidence.
• Consistent, modern interface. All widgets follow the IBM Carbon design system, the same visual language as the IBM products themselves, so users feel at home immediately.
• Always up to date. Each widget tells you when a newer version is available and what changed in it.

The business value

• Time. Routine operations on large modules shrink from days to minutes, which frees engineers and requirements managers for value-adding work.
• Quality. Consistent formatting, working links and correct structure make specifications easier to read, review and reuse.
• Compliance. Change reports, user audits and controlled archiving support the evidence regulated industries need for audits such as ISO 26262, DO-178C, IEC 62304 or ASPICE.
• Lower cost of ownership. Clean data models and archived baselines keep the ELM installation fast and easier to administer.
• Faster adoption. Migrations from other tools and imports from Office documents become predictable, repeatable steps instead of manual projects.

Built by ELM practitioners

SmarterWidgets are developed by SmarterProcess, an IBM Business Partner that has implemented and supported IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management for many years. Every widget comes from a real customer need.