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Discuss & Review - History Window

The Discuss & Review History window provides a simple yet comprehensive summary of the Journal, Discussion and Review messages sent and received in the model. Each category of message is presented on a separate tab, showing details such as the name of the element under discussion, the date the message was posted, and in some cases the opening text of the post. You can perform operations either on individual items or on the list as a whole, and double-click on an item in one of the lists to display that item as the focus of the Discuss & Review window.

Access

Ribbon

Start > Collaborate > Discuss > Discussion History

Start > Collaborate > Review > Review History

Start > Collaborate > Journal > Journal History

Start > All Windows > Collaborate > Histories > <appropriate option>

Keyboard Shortcuts

Alt+3 > Histories > <appropriate option>

Ctrl+Alt+9 > <appropriate tab>

The Journals tab

The 'Journals' tab lists the elements across the model against which comments have been posted, showing details of each element and the date on which the comment was posted.

On this tab, apart from using the context menu options described in the General Features table, you can also double-click on an item to open its comments in the Discuss & Review window. You can then add to or edit text in any comment posted on the element. You can also edit the comments in the preview pane, one of the features discussed in the General Features table.

For further information on journal entries, see the The Journal Window Help topic.

The Discussions tab

The 'Discussions' tab shows the Discussions that have been recorded on elements across the model, listing the elements under discussion and showing the text of the topic created against that element. Where there is more than one topic, the element is listed again for each topic. The tab does not list discussions concerning diagrams.

On this tab, apart from using the context menu options described in the General Features table, you can also double-click on an item both to open the Discussion topic in the  Discuss & Review window and, at the same time, to highlight the element under discussion in the Browser window. Note that the timeframe in the  Discuss & Review window must be able to accommodate the age of the posting; if you have listed Discussions from last month and the timeframe in the  Discuss & Review window is three days, the Discussion topic will not display.

For further information on Discussions, see the Model Discussions Help topic.

The Reviews tab

The 'Reviews' tab shows the activity in Formal Reviews across the model, listing the items in which activity has occurred.

On this tab, apart from using the context menu options described in the General Features table, you can also double-click on an item both to open its Review discussion in the Discuss & Review window and, at the same time, to highlight the element under review in the Browser window.

The information includes the name of the topic reviewer.  Note that where the 'Review Topic' field shows a user name, it indicates that the posting was to add that user as an Approver (effectively, the user name is the text of the discussion). Also note that the 'Role' column identifies which items are Approver activities and which Reviewer activities.

For further information on Review discussions, see the Model Reviews Help topic.

General Features

When the Discuss & Review - History window displays, it lists the items in which activity has occurred in date/time order. On the three tabs the items for today are listed first, in the Today group, followed in sequence by the items active Yesterday, This Week, Last Week, This Month and Last Month.

The Discuss & Review - History window automatically refreshes after a short interval, which you define. You might notice the window flicker when it refreshes.

The tabs default to displaying a number of columns, as shown in the earlier illustrations, but you can remove information you don't need by dragging column headings out, and add information by right-clicking on the heading row, selecting the 'Field Chooser' option and dragging additional column headings into place. You can also filter the display according to field value, and regroup the items by setting up a group and subgroup hierarchy in the Group Box. For more information on tailoring the headings and content, see the List Header Help topic.

Option

Description

See also

Review

Select this option to open the Discuss & Review window at the 'Review' tab and/or load the selected element as the element in focus. 

Model Reviews

Manage Reviews

Select this option to display the details of all reviews recorded in the model, in the Reviews view.

Manage Reviews

Go to this Discussion

On the 'Reviews' tab, this option opens the Discuss & Review window at the 'Review' tab and/or loads the topic thread for the selected element.

Alternatively, click on the item and press the Spacebar.

Discuss

On the 'Discussions' tab, this option opens the 'Discuss' tab of the Discuss & Review window and/or displays the discussion topics for the selected element. Alternatively, click on the item and press the Enter key.

Model Discussions

Journal Entries

On the 'Journals' tab, this option opens the 'Journal' tab of the Discuss & Review window and/or displays the Journal entries for the selected element.

The Journal Window

Edit Discussion

On the 'Discussions' tab, select this option to display the Discussion in the 'Discuss' tab of the Discuss & Review window. You can then set the priority or status, delete a post or add a further discussion topic or response.

Model Discussions

Properties

Select this option to display the properties of the selected element under discussion, in the 'Properties' dialog.

Properties Dialog

Find in Project Browser

This option locates and highlights the element in the Browser window.

Find in Diagrams

This option locates and selects the selected element in any diagram in which it has been used. If the element has been used in more than one diagram, the diagrams are listed in the 'Element Usage' dialog and you can select from that list. The empty dialog is also displayed if the element is not used in any diagram.

Show Element Use

Visible Timeframe

Select this option to display a short menu of numbers of days, from which you can select a value to list items recorded up to that many days in the past. You can therefore expand or reduce your list of posted messages.

Check for Update Every

This option displays a short menu of time options - 1, 2, 5 or 10 minutes - as the interval between automatic refreshes to pick up new postings. Click on the interval you want to apply.

On the 'Journal' tab, if you are working in a local or .eap file, this menu also has an 'Enabled' option that you select to allow refresh of the Journal list, or de-select to prevent refresh of the list.

Show by Status

On the 'Reviews' tab, select this option to list either all the Review comments (the 'All' sub-option) or only those against elements having a selected element status.

When you select the 'Configure' option, a dialog displays listing all the possible status values for the element. Click on the checkbox against each status value you want to filter the displayed items for. You can click on the Select All or Clear All buttons to select or clear all checkboxes and reset one or two of them.

When you have made your selection, click on the OK button to filter the elements under review.

Model Reviews

Filter Approvals

On the 'Reviews' tab, select this option to set or clear a filter on the list of Reviews according to the assignment of Approvers to the review items. Select:

  • Approvals Only - to list only items that have assigned Approvers
  • My Approvals - to list only items where you are an assigned Approver
  • Hide All Approvals - to hide all items that have assigned Approvers
  • No Filter - to remove the filter and list all items, with or without assigned Approvers

You can set filters on topics and approvers at the same time.

Filter Topics

Select this option to filter the list of topics to show only your own topics, or all topics except your own. If you have set one of these options, you can also select an option to remove the filter.

You can set filters on topics and approvers at the same time.

Show All Posts

On the 'Reviews' tab and 'Discussions' tab, select this option to show all Discussions posted, not just the most recent one.

Show Preview Pane

Select this option to open a pane on the left or right of the window, or at the bottom of the window, displaying the text of the currently-selected review topic, discussion thread or Journal item. As you click on different items in the window, the text in the pane immediately reflects the new selected item. You can also hide the preview pane if you no longer need it.

You can edit comments that you have created previously, in the preview pane as well as in the Discuss & Review window.

Refresh

This option will refresh and redisplay the currently-selected tab of the Discuss & Review window. You can also press F5 to refresh the contents of the window.

Set This Tab as Default

Select this option to set the Discuss & Review History window at the current tab to automatically redisplay when you log back in to the model in a new work session.

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