Working with Requisitepro

Working with RequisitePro

RequisitePro makes the development of projects easier to build, easier to test and easier to manage by integrating requirements into the development process. The following is an overview of RequisitePro’s key features. This overview focuses on the documents and requirement method, which is typical of many organizations.

To Open a RequisitePro Document

You may open a document by selecting the document you wish to open in the explorer and double clicking on it or once the Word Workplace is active, you may open a document by selecting RequisitePro>Document>Open.

Saving a RequisitePro document

In order to save your documents, you must select RequisitePro>Document>Save in the Word Workplace or click the Save Requirements document icon, , in the RequisitePro floating tool bar. DO NOT use Word’s File>Save function. You are working under RequisitePro and therefore, you should save your files under RequisitePro.

Editing Documents

In the templates or outlines of the various documents you have created for your project, you will find headings within square brackets, [ ] and the body within double angle brackets, < body of text >. You simply need to replace the headings by your own headings and the body by your own text. A description of what you need to write for that particular topic is provided by the text with the angle brackets.

A ready-made outline is provided to you, but you can delete any features, add more features or modify it whatever way you like. Feel free to edit it as you would any Word document.

Adding Requirements

Creating a Requirement

Place the cursor anywhere within the text, drag until you reach the end of a logical requirement (or any convenient stopping point, in this case the period), (Hint, place the cursor anywhere in the sentence and press ctrl and simultaneously left click) and right click. On the shortcut menu select New Requirement. Or click on the Create Requirement icon, , on the RequisitePro floatingtoolbar, or select Requirement>New from the Word Workplace. In the Requirements Properties dialog box General tab, choose a requirement type from the Type drop down list. You are not required to assign a name to a requirement if you have data in the Text box, but you cannot leave both the Name and Text boxes blank. Set some attributes from the Attributes tab, and then click OK to enter your new requirement into the database. RequisitePro will return control to this document and you will see your new requirement styled!

Saving your Requirement in the database

Notice that after you create your requirement, a new label "SRSpending1" is attached. The "pending label" indicates that you have created a requirement but the requirement has not yet been committed to the database. You may commit the requirement to the database where you and others can see it by saving your document. Select RequisitePro>Document>Save from the Word Workplace or click the Save Requirements document icon, , in the RequisitePro Tool Palette. After saving, note that the requirement you created no longer has the pending status, and has been assigned a unique requirement identifier. Before you save the document, other users who are logged into your project cannot see the requirement in the database. Essentially, you should consider your edits to be work in process, and your work is private until such time as you commit your changes to the database by saving your work. In addition, if you change your mind about your edit before saving the document, Select RequisitePro>Document>Close from the Word Workplace, and click NO in the "Document Changed" dialog box to restore the document to the earlier state. The database will not change.

Deleting a Requirement from the database

To delete a requirement, place the cursor anywhere within the requirement and select RequisitePro> Requirement>Delete - Unmark from the Word Workplace or click the Delete Requirement icon,, in the RequisitePro Tool Palette and answer Yes to the DeleteRequirements dialog box. This preserves the text in the document. If you had chosen RequisitePro>Requirement>Delete - Remove, the requirement would have been deleted from the database and the text of the requirement would also have been deleted from the document upon saving. Multiple requirements can be removed at one time by using the "shift-click" or "control-click" in the above process.

Changing Requirement Styling

Requirements may be styled to make documents easier to read and use.

To demonstrate styling flexibility, click anywhere within the double-underlined requirement text. In the RequisitePro explorer, select File>Properties or double click on the project name to display the Project Properties dialog box. Select the Requirement Types tab, then select the type associated with the requirement you just selected. Click Edit. (This function requires Exclusive Access to your project). Use the Requirement Style pull down list and select a style. Then click OK from that dialog box and OK from the ProjectProperties dialog box. After a brief pause, you will see your document restyled to your selection.

Introduction to the Requirements Database

Once you have added requirements to your document, you will notice a label immediately in front of your requirement. For example, “SRS1.” This indicates that the selected text is a requirement and has been placed in the requirements database. The requirement label consists of the requirement tag prefix for this requirement type (in this case "SRS") plus a unique identifier number that is assigned by the system.

To see the types of information stored in your requirements database click anywhere within the styled, double underlined text and click the Requirement Properties icon, , from the RequisiteProTool Palette, or select RequisitePro>Requirement>Properties from the Word Workplace or right click and select Requirement Properties from the shortcut menu. Examine the General, Revision and Attributes tab selections.

Each requirement also has a change history, which keeps track of changes to the text of the requirement itself as well as attribute values (if you so desire). Click the Revision Tab, followed by the History button to see the change history associated with that requirement. Click Close then OK when you are finished to return control to the document.

Managing Requirements with Attributes

RequisitePro lets you manage project requirements using attributes. Attributes are data fields associated with each requirement that contain other important project information. Each new RequisitePro requirement type that you create is assigned default attributes by the system. You can delete, modify, or add an unlimited number of other attributes appropriate to your application. To add a new attribute to the project, such as "Risk", select File>Properties or double click on the project name in the RequisitePro explorer, then select the Attributes tab. Click the Add button, enter "Risk" in the Label box and enter the values (High, Med, Low) in the ListValues box. Hit enter after every entry. Note the ability to create a List (Single Value) (only one active value for the attribute can be selected) or a List (Multiple Value) in the Type list. Multiple select lists offer the ability to select more than one active value for an attribute. Click OK, then OK in the ProjectProperties dialog box to return control to your document. The attribute "Risk" has now been added to your project. In order to delete this attribute, access the Project Properties dialog box as indicated above, select "Risk" then click Delete, and click OK in the ProjectProperties dialog box.

Creating a View

There are three types of views that you can create in a project: an Attribute View, Traceability Matrix View, and a Traceability Tree View. Select the package in which you want the new view to appear and click File > New > View. The View Properties dialog box appears. In the Name box, type a name under which you want the view to be listed in the Explorer. The Description is optional. Note that the Package box contains the package you selected in step 1. You can change the package at any time. Select the View Type from the drop-down list box. Select a Row Requirement Type and select a Column Requirement Type (if you are creating a Traceability Matrix). Note that user-defined requirement types are included. Select the Private check box if you want to be the only user who can open the view. Click OK. The view opens and appears in the Explorer, displayed in the selected package alphabetically by name. If you want to save the view in the project database, click File > Save View.

All requirements in the database that contain the requirement type you selected will be listed going down (rows) on the left-hand side listed by tag number. The attributes will be listed going across the top (columns). Explore the menus associated with this type of view.

Attribute values for each requirement can be quickly set in this view by double clicking on the intersection of the requirement and the attribute column. This action displays a drop down box, which can be scrolled, to the desired value or places the cursor in the box ready for text entry. Highlight the value and click on the next requirement or attribute to set.

Using Microsoft's Extended Select, (shift-click, or control click) multiple requirements can be manipulated at one time. Select multiple requirements in the attribute column using the Extended Select, right click and select Set Value. In the Set Value dialog box, enter or choose the appropriate value and click OK. All indicated requirements will be updated to reflect your selection.

Navigating with Requirement Go To

You can use Go ToRequirement icon, , to quickly find a requirement location in a project. You can "Go To" any requirement in a document by first selecting the requirement in the explorer and then clicking on the icon or by selecting Requirement>Go To from the RequisitePro Explorer menu bar. The document containing the requirement will open at the point where the requirement is located. If the requirement is not located in a document, the RequirementProperties dialog box appears showing the description, attribute values, relationships, and discussions for the selected requirement.

If a document is open, select RequisitePro>Requirement>Go To. The Go To Requirement dialog box appears listing all the requirements. Select the requirement type from the Requirements of Type drop-down list box. If you do not know the requirement type, select All Requirement Types. Select the location of the requirement from the Located in drop-down list box. You can choose All locations, Database only, or a specific document from the list. Select the requirement and click OK.

Add a New Requirement directly into the database

With RequisitePro, requirements of any type can be contained within a document, or they can be created directly in the repository. From the RequisitePro Explorer menu bar select Requirement>New. This opens the Requirement Properties dialog box and allows you to enter a new requirement directly into the database. Enter the new requirement, set some attributes, and then click OK. Your new requirement shows up at the end of the list in the left pane of the Explorer. The requirement has been automatically committed to the database because you are working in the repository or database rather than through a Word document. Check its attributes. Note the system-defined "Location" attribute tells where that requirement is physically located (in this case, the "Database"). You may delete the requirement from the database by selecting the requirement and then selecting Edit>Delete from the RequisitePro Explorer menu bar.

Exploring Requirements Traceability

RequisitePro's traceability feature provides a means for you to assure the quality of your products by linking higher level requirements, such as customer needs and product features, to lower level requirements, such as hardware and software functional specifications. Lower level specifications can, in turn be traced to test requirements or design elements to provide assurances of full test coverage and design assurance.

RequisitePro makes it easy to track changes to a requirement throughout the development cycle, so it is not necessary to review all your documents individually to determine which elements need updating. You can view and manage suspect relationships using Traceability Matrix or Traceability Tree View.

Traceability is a directional relationship between any two requirements (of the same type or different types). Therefore, in a TraceabilityMatrix, ReqA ReqB means that ReqA is traced to ReqB and ReqA ReqB means that ReqA is traced from ReqB. In a TraceabilityTree, ReqA ReqB means that ReqA is traced to ReqB and ReqA ReqB means that ReqA is traced from ReqB.

Traceability relationships cannot have circular references. There can only be one traceability relationship between any two requirements. The difference between calling the relationship trace to and calling it trace from is perspective.

Setting and Clearing Traceability Relationships from Matrix View

Open a view for a traceability matrix (refer to the section “Creating a View”) and select one of the empty intersections between two requirements. Right click to get a menu of choices and select Trace To. You have just created a traceability relationship! It is possible to set or remove multiple traceability relationships at one time using "shift click" or "control click". Select multiple requirement traceability intersections in this view that will have the same trace source, right click and click Trace To. To delete the trace, select the same requirements as above, right click, and choose Delete Trace. Experiment by creating and deleting other traceability relationships in this matrix.

Creating Traceability Relationships from the Word Workplace

You can also create traceability relationships from the Word workplace itself. Click on a requirement and right click to get the shortcut menu. Select Requirement Properties and choose the Traceability tab in the Requirement Properties dialog box. From this tab, you can add, delete and modify the relationships between the requirements you selected and any other requirement. To add a traceability relationship, click the Add button. The resulting dialog box allows you to select a requirement. Click OK. You have now created a trace from the selected requirement to another requirement!

Managing Change Through Suspect Links

Once you have established your traceability relationships, you can use them to manage change. If you change the text of a requirement that you have set a traceability relationship on and try to save the document via RequisitePro>Document>Save on the Word workplace menu bar or click the Save icon on the RequisitePro floating toolbar and if you have not entered a change description for this requirement, RequisitePro will prompt you to enter a reason for the change. You can individually enter a different description for each changed requirement, or apply one description to all changed requirements. Click OK when finished.

Note that any traceability relationships to or from that you just changed are marked as suspect in your Traceability Matrix View or Traceability Tree View. A diagonal line through the arrow indicator indicates this. Suspect relationships tell you that you need to check the requirements to which this requirement is linked, to assess the impact of your change. Suspect links can be cleared once reviewed by right clicking on the suspect link and selecting Clear Suspect. Using Microsoft's Extended-Select (shift-click, or control-click) can clear multiple suspect links at one time.

Traceability Tree View

RequisitePro's Traceability Tree view displays a full tree of traceability relationships from one requirement type to all other traced-to requirements. Create a Traceability Tree view (refer to the section “Creating a View”) and choose Traceability Tree (Traced-into…). Select the requirement for which you want to create a traceability relationship. (Use Microsoft's Extended-Select to select multiple requirements). Right click to get the shortcut menu and select TraceFrom or select Traceability>Trace From from the RequisitePro Explorer menu bar. Select a requirement from the list to create the relationship. (Use Microsoft's Extended-Select to select multiple requirements.)

References:

1. Online documentation provided by Rational Requisite Online Help.