Looking for related elements

[webrod]

Hi,

in my company we receive "requests" to implement new functionalities.
Each request is tracked in another database and is used to track who did the request (which customer), the cost etc etc.
From each request we write a list of requirements.
And for each requirement we have one or several use cases.

The link between use cases and requirements is a sandard in EA, I use the "realization" one, because it is the one created automatically when you drag and drop a requirement to a use case.
Each requirement as a unique name like:
REQ-001 My requirement
The concept of "request" does not really exists out of the box.
I use  the "Requirement" element, but the name looks more lire:
REQUEST-001 My request.

So I can easily differentiate request from requirement (I could even use the "type" field, but this is not my problem in this topic).

So relationships are:
REQUEST <-> REQUIREMENTS <-> USE CASES

My problem is:
How can I easily know the request (or the list of requests) associated to a use case (or the opposite)??
Because there is no direct-link.

When I select a "request", I can see the list of requirements (for example in the hierarchy view), and when I select a requirements I can see the list of use cases.
But how can I see the list of use case when I select a "request"??

I tried to do a "search" unsuccessfully.

It is very important because our test team create tests cases from use cases, so they need to know the list of use cases impacted by a new request (cuurently, requirements and use cases are organized in several packages. Those packages are children of "Application" packages. Like this:
+ APPLICATION1
  + USE CASES
  + REQUIREMENTS
+ APPLICATION2
  + USE CASES
  + REQUIREMENTS
)

How can I say to the test team, here are the uses cases for which you have to write tests case for this "Request"??

Any idea?

thanks you  

Rod

[«Midnight»]

Try something like «trace» and «realize» links.

Also try using the relationship matrix.

There's a lot of discussion on these things in the forum. Take a while to search for applicable threads. Searching YABB (the forum software) can be a bit of a pain, but persevere. It will be time well spent.

[Eve]

I'd recommend looking at the heirarchy view.  This shows multiple levels of relationships from the selected item.

[RoyC]

Yes, the Hierarchy window is what you need. You say you have already used it, but if you have selected several types of relationship in the window toolbar you can keep expanding the hierarchy to reveal quite lengthy chains of relationships. In your case, you could click on your Request, select the Realize Relationship, and see that the Request is Realized by Requirements X, Y and Z, and these are Realized by Use Cases (A and B) (C) and (D and F) respectively.

EDIT: You can also extract and represent the chain of relationships in a diagram. Drag your Request element onto a new diagram, right-click and select the Add | Related Elements option. It is probably better to leave the Relationships field blank and the Level set to 1.  This then adds all the directly-related elements to your diagram. Then select one of these elements and do the same - this adds the next level of directly-related elements for that element, but if there are links to any of the other elements on the diagram, they are added too. Then move to the next element to check and add its related elements.

You can experiment with specifying 2 or 3 levels in the first step, but this might give you a very tangled and busy diagram. Play with the dialog anyway and move things around to get a clear diagram.  That should give you the picture you need.

[Dermot]

If you do stay with using a realization connector then another simpler alternative is to use either of the reports (depending on what perspecitve you want):
Project | Documentation | Implementation details
Project | Documentation | Dependancy details
Alternately in the RTF report generation you can use for a set of Use Cases - the Section - Element::External Element - to list the requirements realized.

[webrod]

thanks you so much RoyC!!
This is exactly what I was looking for.
I select the request, then I add element with levels 2; so I can see all the requirements and all the use cases for this request!!!!!!!!
I am very happy  
It is not really readable within the diagram, I could move each item but it does not makes sense as I will have to do that again (to start from a new empty diagram) as soons as we add a new requirement (unfortunatelly, I guess it will not be added automatically).
Anyway, I don't really care, as the new step is to do "show as elements list" from the diagram, and then I generate a RTF report with all the requirements (with the detail), all the use cases, and for each use case the list of the name of related requirements. And only requirements/use cases related to the request!!.
I can't have it better!!   (actually, it could be better if the diagram could be updated automatically, but it's not a big deal).
So thanks you again!

I would like to answer to other suggestion:
«Midnight»:
"Try something like «trace» and «realize» links."
not sure to understand. I already use "realize" link as mentionned in my message.
"Also try using the relationship matrix."
It is not useful as it show only direct links, not n+1 links.

"Simon M"
Yes, it is useful, but not so much for what I want to do.
This hierarchy view can show a lot of things, much more than requirements and use cases, I have to exapand each requirement within the request to see the use case, and once I see them, I can't print a document with this information. So it is very limited. But useful, you're right.

Dermot
"Project | Documentation | Implementation details
Project | Documentation | Dependancy details
"
ok, but they show only direct links. So it is not useful to find the list of use cases for a request



thanks you for everybody.
rod