Split and Join 2.0

What it is and why it exists

Good requirements are atomic: one requirement, one artifact. After imports from Word, however, a single artifact often holds a whole section with many paragraphs, lists or tables. The opposite also happens: one statement is spread over several artifacts that belong together.

Splitting or merging artifacts by hand means copying text, creating artifacts, placing them correctly and deleting the leftovers. Split and Join 2.0, SmarterProcess's new version of IBM's Split and Join sample, does it in one step and shows the result first.

Problems it solves

• Artifacts that contain several requirements, which makes them hard to trace, test and review.
• Statements spread over several artifacts that should be one.
• Error-prone copying of text between artifacts.
• Lost structure when artifacts are split by hand.

Benefits

• Atomic, testable requirements that can be linked and verified individually.
• Preview: the widget shows the parts or the joined text before anything changes.
• Correct placement: new artifacts appear right after the original, at the right level; for headings, under the heading.
• Safe: if a split fails or is stopped, the module is restored to its previous state.
• Change report with the texts before and after.

How to use

1. Open a module and select artifacts in it.
2. One artifact selected: the Split section shows the parts. Click Split into N artifacts.
3. Two or more selected: the Join section shows them in module order. Click Join N artifacts and confirm.
4. Follow the result in Execution Status and download the change report if needed.

Good to know

• A part is a paragraph, heading, list, table or quote of the text; formatting inside a part is kept.
• Links, attribute values and comments are not copied to new artifacts or moved from removed ones.
• A join is blocked when an artifact to be removed has children that are not selected, so no artifact loses its place.