Connect Requirements

Abstract

A Requirement element can be connected to other Requirements, most commonly using Aggregate relationships to form a hierarchy of requirements.

Requirements are also connected to other types of element, most commonly Use Cases, by Realize or Implements relationships.

These relationships are very important, both in identifying how the Requirements are organized and used in the model, and in tracing the development from the Requirements throughout the model. Both of these tasks are very simple in Enterprise Architect, because once a connector on a Requirement exists, Enterprise Architect automatically lists the Requirement in the:

The connector itself is also listed in the Links tab of the target element Properties dialog, and in the Relationship Matrix. There are, therefore, many ways to locate, view and track Requirement relationships.

Aggregate relationships

Realization

Trace Requirements

Traceability

Requirements

Requirment Properties

Scenarios & Requirements

Relationships Window

Dependency

Implementation reports

Standard RTF output.

Links

Relationship Matrix

Connect On Diagram

Relationships can be created on a diagram by clicking on the appropriate connector icon from the Requirement and Common pages of the Toolbox, clicking on the source (originating) element, and dragging to the target element.

If you are connecting elements in different packages, you can drag elements from the Project Browser onto a common diagram and set up the relationships there.

Requirement Group

Common Group

Quick Generation Of Realize Connector

You can quickly generate a Realize connector by dragging an existing Requirement element from the Project Browser into a diagram, over the element that implements the Requirement (usually a Use Case).

Enterprise Architect interprets this as a request to create the Realize connector and does so automatically. The Requirement element is not added to the diagram. However, if you subsequently drag the Requirement onto the diagram the connector is already in place.

Connect Off Diagram

You can also connect a Requirement element to other elements without necessarily having the elements on the same diagram, or having a diagram open.

Use the Relationship Matrix to create relationships for requirements; this is a convenient way of quickly building up complex relationships and hierarchies.

Creating Relationships