Using ReqIF for Stakeholder Request Clarification as Supplier

Introduction

Stakeholder Request Clarification (SRC) is one of the most common and important use cases implemented based on ReqIF. The goal of the process is to create specifications that are fully aligned between the customer and the supplier. Being able to successfully perform this process is essential for any supplier collaborating with customers using ReqIF.

This guide is describing the steps necessary to establish a successful requirements reconciliation process with an OEM based on the ReqIF import / export capabilities of codeBeamer 20.11.

Importing ReqIF

Import Configuration

Brief Summary of the recommended settings:

• Create a new “Source” when importing a specification for the first time.
• Enable “including empty”
• Enable “Remove absent items”
• Map all attributes.

The conversation to reconcile requirements between the OEM and the supplier is started by one or more requirement specifications sent by the OEM to the supplier. Each conversation should be mapped to a new “Source” in codeBeamer. When starting such a conversation a new source must be created even if a source has already been pre-selected . Automatic selection of the source does not always work reliably as many tools exporting ReqIF don’t include the necessary (recommended) information required to identify the conversation.

The name of the new source should be descriptive enough to easily identify it later when generating a response for the customer or when the OEM sends an update in scope of the conversation.

During initial import all attributes should be imported including the empty attributes. The attributes you as supplier are supposed to be populated when replying to the OEM are usually empty in the ReqIF received from the OEM. It is essential to establish the connection to the attributes definitions in the ReqIF during initial import to ensure the response you generate for the OEM is well formed.

The attribute ReqIF.ImportStatus is a virtual attribute indicating if an object in the ReqIF is new, updated or has been deleted using this update can be helpful once you receive updates from the OEM, therefore it is recommended to import it too.

Usually you will import the customer specification into new trackers. When doing that the attributes defined in the ReqIF and not already mapped to a corresponding attribute in codeBeamer should be mapped to new attributes.

If the ReqIF contains multiple object types, make sure to map all fields of all types.

The mappings in the “Tracker” node are used to map attributes of the “Specification” in ReqIF to the Tracker in codeBeamer. Generally configuring any mapping in that section is not required and additional attributes created on that level will not be visible to the user in codeBeamer.

Post-Import Steps

Generally the OEM does expect that you change the Supplier * attributes only, adjusting permissions can help to prevent accidental modifications of attributes owned by the OEM.

Depending on the data you received it may be necessary to reconfigure the Summary and Description field to be not Mandatory to avoid problems modifying items.

When importing a ReqIF with multiple types from ReqIF it helps readability to adjust the semantics configured for the added types to correctly identify folder and information items.

Evaluating Requirements

Usually the OEM will set the attribute OEM Status of requirements that you are supposed to evaluate to “to evaluate”. To evaluate a requirement set the “Supplier Status” and populate “Supplier Comment” with additional remarks if necessary.

Exporting back the evaluation results

Basic Export

Export the ReqIF using the source generated during import as destination. Using the right destination is essential to ensure the attributes in ReqIF will be defined with the identifiers expected by the OEM.

Using the "Curtail (the export) to the last import" option is highly recommended when creating an export intended as response to a customer request to avoid adding additional attribute definitions to the resulting export.

Additional fields added during export could result can result in problems importing the ReqIF on customer-side

In case you recognize that you have to add some fields required to be sent back to the customer are not present, see Supplier Attributes Not Configured.

Validation

To ensure the resulting file is valid and ready to be shared with your customer Intland created a utility for validation: https://github.com/intland/reqif-cleanup/releases/download/1.0.1/reqif-cleanup.zip

To validate the exported file:

1. Extract the utility.
2. Put the export .reqifz file into the input folder.
3. Run cleanup.bat
4. Verify that there are no errors reported.
5. Send files from output folder to OEM

Assuming the validation did not report any error the resulting files are ready to be shared with the OEM.

If errors are reported that you are not able to resolve on your own get in contact with support to get assistance resolving the problem.

Receiving Updates from the OEM

Important Steps:

• Create a baseline.
• Select correct source.
• Verify “Remove Absent Items” is enabled.
• Verify all attributes are mapped.
• Restore evaluation results.

The OEM might send updates to clarify your questions on requirements to be evaluated or there is a new version of the specification available.

It is highly recommended to create a baseline before importing an update, this baseline will enable you to roll back the update later if needed.

During import it is important to verify that the source selected by codeBeamer is the one that corresponds to the current ReqIF conversation. Failing to do so can result in not applying the correct mapping for import and it can also result in problems exporting the response to the OEM.

Generally selecting the source will restore all settings made during initial import, but it’s worth to spend some time to double check that the mapping is still valid. If it is not either the OEM has added attributes or you might have selected the wrong source. Also double check that “Remove Absent Items” is enabled, this will ensure that items removed by the OEM are flagged by setting the “Import Status” field to “Deleted”.

If you already started the evaluation of the requirements, importing the update will overwrite your evaluation results not contained in the ReqIF. Generally the OEM should include your results into the ReqIF when providing a response, but there are situations where this is not possible. In that case you can restore your evaluation results by creating a branch based on the baseline created before importing the update and use “Merge to Master” to restore the evaluation results.

Common Problems

Supplier Attributes Not Configured

To configure the supplier attributes run the import of the same ReqIF again and ensure to check “including empty” and map the supplier attributes.

Problem With Older codeBeamer Release

More details regarding fixed problems can be found in the release notes of each codeBeamer release.

Unable to Select Source When Importing an Update

When importing an update you will not be able to select the source created during import in some cases.

This problem has been fixed in codeBeamer 20.11.

To work around the problem download the source definition from the Documents section of the project, create a new source during import and use the downloaded file as mapping template.

Relations Between ReqIF Files Are not Imported

When importing multiple ReqIF files with relations between item in different files the relations can't be imported as associations.

This problem has been fixed in codeBeamer 20.11

If you encounter this problem during the "Supplier Qualification", it will not be considered as critical issue.

In production the workaround is to manually re-create the associations in codeBeamer using e.g. an import into a codeBeamer 20.11 test instance as reference.

Additional Attributes are added to the ReqIF

During export you should not add any additional fields to the export, your customer will not be able to import back the content of those added fields.

Without the "Curtail (the export) to the last import" option (which was introduced in codeBeamer 20.11) additional attributes are added unintentionally in case the ReqIF received from the customer did contain multiple typ definitions.

Validation and Cleanup

To ensure the resulting file is valid and ready to be shared with your customer Intland created a utility for validation and cleanup: https://github.com/intland/reqif-cleanup/releases/download/1.0.1/reqif-cleanup.zip

To validate and/or cleanup the exported file:

1. Extract the utility.
2. Put the export .reqifz file into the input folder.
3. Run cleanup.bat to cleanup and validate the ReqIF.
4. Verify that there are no errors reported.
5. Send files from output folder to OEM

The cleanup process will remove the attribute definitions and values set for those attributes. In case a value was present a warning as shown below will be issued. That usually indicates that you accidentally populated the supplier attributes for an item that should not have been evaluated or that you did not configure the supplier attributes during initial import.

Assuming the validation or cleanup did not report any error the resulting files are ready to be shared with the OEM.

If errors are reported that you are not able to resolve on your own get in contact with support to get assistance resolving the problem.