Link and Attribute Inspector

What it is and why it exists

A requirement rarely stands alone. It satisfies a stakeholder need, is elaborated by a design element, is validated by tests. During a review the questions are always about those other ends: is the parent requirement already approved? Which of the linked items are still drafts? Who owns them? In DOORS Next the links are listed, but every attribute of a linked artifact means opening it, reading it and coming back, again and again.

Link and Attribute Inspector puts those answers next to the module, in the ELM Mini Dashboard. Select a requirement and the widget shows everything it is linked to, grouped by link type and direction, with the attributes you chose for the linked artifacts. Select several requirements and each gets its own list. The widget only reads. Nothing in DOORS Next changes.

Problems it solves

• Checking the status or priority of linked artifacts means opening each of them, one by one.
• In a review, nobody sees at a glance whether the parent requirement or the satisfied need is already approved.
• Links stored in the module and links shared by every module that reuses the requirement look the same.
• Comparing several requirements and their trace means many tabs and a lot of clicking back and forth.
• A quick overview of a requirement's trace for a meeting has to be copied together by hand.

Benefits

• Answers on one click: select a requirement and see its linked artifacts with the attributes that matter to you.
• Your attributes: artifact type, who changed it and when, who created it and when, and any attribute of the project, such as status, priority, owner or safety level.
• Ordered trace: links grouped by link type and direction, with the number of links in each group.
• Module or base: every link says whether it belongs to this module only or to the requirement everywhere it is reused.
• Walk the trace: jump to a linked artifact in the module and see its links in turn, or open it in a new tab.
• Ready to share: the whole view goes to Excel, with the attributes of both ends of every link.
• Safe for everyone: the widget only reads, in a stream, a change set or a baseline.

How to use

1. Add Link and Attribute Inspector to the ELM Mini Dashboard next to the module.
2. Select a requirement in the module. Under Selection its attributes and its linked artifacts appear at once, grouped by link type and direction, each with its identifier, name, a Module or Base tag and the attributes you chose.
3. Select several requirements: each is a row with the number of its links; click a row to open it, or use the icon at the Selection heading to open or close them all. A search field finds a requirement by ID or name.
4. Under Settings, click Change and choose the Link types, the Direction (Any, Outgoing or Incoming), whether to Show links stored on the base artifact, and the Attributes of the selected artifact and Attributes of linked artifacts; Done closes the settings. Your choices are remembered in this browser.
5. Click the Show in module icon next to a linked artifact to select it in the module, or click its name to open it in a new tab.
6. Export to Excel, the download icon at the Selection heading, saves what is shown, ready for a review or a meeting.

Good to know

• Links to other IBM ELM applications, for example test cases in IBM Engineering Test Management, are listed with their link type and address only: their attributes cannot be read from DOORS Next, and the widget says so.
• With many requirements selected, the first 20 are shown by default; the widget says when there are more.
• A link that goes both ways is shown for both directions.
• Whether a link is marked as suspect is not available to widgets, so Link and Attribute Inspector does not show it.
• The widget reads when the selection changes; Refresh reads the selection again, for example after an edit. A preference makes it read only when you click Refresh.
• Requirement texts are read only when you choose Primary Text (Contents) as an attribute; otherwise only identifiers, names and the attributes you chose are read.