how to get import/export of extended requirements

[OwenInCanada]

Hi all,

What is the best way to extend Requirement elements in a way that is convenient to import/export from a spreadsheet?

I want to use EA to manange requirements, however I have been asked to include some new fields in the Requirements elements. Examples in Dermot's whitepaper http://www.sparxsystems.com/downloads/whitepapers/Requirements_Management_in_Enterprise_Architect.pdf anticipate some of these extensions (e.g. Reviewer comments, status = rejected, review date and things like that). That document shows how to capture these additional data using Tagged Value Attributes, defined via profiles or templates.

My problem is that CSV format is really the best format for widespread review of requirements information in my company. My Colleagues do not own, or want to learn how to navigate in EA. And the CSV export function does not import/export Tagged Values. Only element *properties* are exported.

Is there a straightforward solution?  My colleagues are asking why I spend time fiddling with EA instead of developing project requirements. I do hope I can get this to work.

Thanks and regards,

Owen

[«Midnight»]

I take it you are somehow sending the output to your colleagues, who then somehow handle them locally.

It seems to me that once you've gotten the tagged values set up in a project you should be fine. Import the requirements at that point and distribute the project. [Or make it available in the form of HTML output or as a target for EA Lite.]

Can you transfer the tagged values via either reference data or a profile? If so, that's the key to getting the backbone of this thing working.

[Perhaps that's not the finest solution in the long run, but if it gets you moving it solves the immediate problem. It would also likely be something that could easily be re-engineered into some future robust feature when that comes along.]

David

[OwenInCanada]

Hi David,

Yes, EA Lite is a technical solution but I'm really getting at the softer human-factors issues here.  In review meetings, the collective labour rate is N-times the individual labour rate. Time matters. The whole affair should go smooooooothly. I have been in DOORS reviews with 50+ people on the conference - and one poor analyst at the controls, hyperventilating as he fiddles with a badly designed UI while everyone watches. With that in mind, I was hoping to have easy access into and out of a spreadsheet. And the huge complexity of EA would not be a distraction during reviews.

I tried a requirements review with EA in July. I did not know about tagged values then, so we recorded all of our comments as work items (maintenance view I think) against each requirement. And it was inconvenient and unresponsive to get the whole information on screen at the same time.  There was lots of scrolling this way and that. Opening and closing of panes.  And in the end I took some hand notes for later transciption. I wanted to be the EA evangelist, but what I got was a lot of sceptical looks.

Thanks for suggesting HTML export, cool feature for communicating the design (I just tried it), but not great for printout and markup.

Based on your suggestion I have tried and succeeded at exporting a tagged value to RTF.  Woohoo!  I will print RTF reports of my extended requirements and bring them to the meeting for markup. My current team is small, so that is feasible.  

Thanks and Regards,

Owen

[«Midnight»]

OK Owen,

From the sounds of it, that approach is good enough for now. That's the acid test, since you need to move things forward instead of spending more time in the engine room.

We can all worry about a better solution when we have more time...  

David

[OwenInCanada]

Hello all,

Here is the recipe I will try at my next requirements review with extended requirements fields (using Tagged Value Attributes).

1. Export the requirements to RTF, after editing the style sheet so that the extended values also appear. (In RTF Style Template Editor select the tickbox Package/Element/Tagged Value .)
2. Distribute the RTF file in advance to meeting participants.
3. Put a laptop with high video resolution in the conference room.
4. Commit the review version of the EA project to version control (SVN).
5. Baseline the review version.
6. During the meeting, have an EA expert drive the controls and make changes to requirements properties and tagged value attributes as they are agreed. Participants can follow the conversation using their RTF file.
7. It would be nice if, after the meeting, we could generate meeting minutes by doing a diff using the Compare utility (in EA corporate edition). I had a look at this and it is do-able, but the only way to export the diff result is as an xml file.

Comments welcome !    

Regards,

Owen

[«Midnight»]

Perhaps you could whip up an XSLT routine to format the diff file for a word processor or browser.

[«Midnight»]

Before you try this in near real time, see Paolo's post from earlier today.

[OwenInCanada]

Thanks for the pointer.

I have been working with elements of type Requirement, specifically those available via SysML. I don't really know how those relate to the Requirements Types available in the Reference Data / General Types. (Paolo's import problem relates to the latter.)

-Owen

[OwenInCanada]

(I just had a look at Requirement Types, no need to explain. Thanks.)