Managing multiple active requirements sets in EA

[AlanT]

   It is not clear to me how to maintain multiple requirements baselines in a single EA project.  I`ve read the EA user guide on the subject.  

   We have multiple project phases, and the requirements are modified, deleted, and added for the second phase. I would like to keep requirements and software design for both phases in a single EA project.  I need to know which requirements changed and how between phases, and keep a version number on each requirement.

    Previous EA baselines seem to be archived data used for comparison purposes.  

    Could someone please point me in the right direction?

                       Thanks, Alan

[qwerty]

There is no right direction. One way is to use baselining, but honestly I can't recommend that. A more simple approach would be to keep it in two models and visually compare both. But finally it is something you need to think over in a workshop. Historicization is a complex matter. Seeing the "same thing" at one point of time in two different historical contexts is simply complex.

q.

[AlanT]

Thanks for your reply.  

It sounds like there is not useful way to maintain two phases in a single EA project.  However, for the subsequent phase, it might be useful to keep previous baselines of requirements for comparison purposes.

One problem that arises, of course, is needing to make changes in two different phases/baselines, and keeping track of it all.  

Alan

[qwerty]

You see. It's quite some stuff to think about on long winter evenings.

q.

[Graham_Moir]

One thing that may help - but does not solve the issue - is using the "Maintenance" window.  From this Window and the "Changes" tab on it, you can keep a complete change history for any element, which therefore includes requirements.   A change history can be pulled into documentation generated by EA, even in a nice table at the end of every element's definition.  Perhaps combining this with baselines could be made to work?

By using the Phase/Version attributes of elements you could also establish which new requirements appeared in a later phase via a search.

[AlanT]

Thanks for the tip.  The Maintenance window is one of the "hidden" features of EA; I did not know about it.