Baselines

This page describes the baseline mode and how to create and use baselines in codebeamer.

Overview

Baselining is available for the following artifacts:

• Projects
• Trackers
• Document folders (directories)

Each type of baseline can be managed through the Baselines tab in the main menu, and project baselines can be created here. Tracker baselines can be created and managed through Baselines and Branches menu or in the context menu of the tracker. Document baselines can be created from a document folder in the Documents tab with the context menu of the folder. Project and tracker baselines can be managed both in the Baselines main menu and in the tracker baseline overlay menu. For tracker baselines, the tracker from which the baseline is created is indicated below the baseline name.

When a project baseline is created, a snapshot is saved of the following elements:

• Tracker items
• Documents
• Comments
• Attachments

The tracker and the directory baseline is a snapshot only of the artifact from which the baseline was created.

Using baselines has the following benefits:

• Possibility to go back to an earlier snapshot to see how the content looked like in that given time.
• Possibility to compare two baselines against each other.
• Possibility to use baselines for audit purposes, and identifying deviations by comparing baselines.
• Possibility to maintain wiki pages for multiple releases.

Once a baseline is created, items cannot be added, removed, or edited in it. The new baseline has the same access permissions as its source directory, and deleting the directory deletes the baseline as well. But when copying the source directory, the baseline is not copied.

To use the baselining function, users need to have the necessary permissions. The following baseline-related permissions exist in codebeamer:

• Baselines - View: allows users to view baselines in a project.
• Baselines - Admin: allows users to administer baselines in a project.

Create Baselines

Baselines can be created by clicking on the New Baseline link in the main Baselines menu, or the Create Baseline link in the tracker baseline overlay.

Baselines main menu:

Tracker baselines overlay menu:

Specify the following attributes in the opened dialog:

• Name: the name of the baseline, this property is mandatory and it must be unique.
• Description: a short description of the baseline.
• Signature (pre 20.11-LTS Carmen): the baseline is signed by the current user if the user's password is given in this textbox.
• [Generate Signature button] (from 20.11-LTS Carmen): Generate an electronic signature for the baseline.
  For more information about signature generation, see Generating Electronic Signature with SSO Login.

Before codebeamer 20.11-LTS (Carmen)

From codebeamer 20.11-LTS (Carmen)

Browse Baselines

Click on the name of the selected baseline to access its contents. Alternatively, click the Browse link in the properties view.

The heading in the top-right corner indicates which baselines is open. It is possible to switch to other baselines or the head baseline from here.

A text box at the top of the page provides information on the baseline mode, and user can switch to other baselines from here as well, including the head baseline.

When browsing a document (directory) baseline, only the Documents main menu is available.

Sort and Filter Baselines

Baselines can be filtered by name, and since the codebeamer 22.10-LTS (GINA) release, by the Created by column. Sorting is available for the Created by column.

Hovering the mouse pointer over the Created by header, an upward or downward arrow icon appears next to it, depending on how the list was sorted previously.

The upward arrow icon is displayed in the following cases:

• The list of baselines is sorted in reverse alphabetical order of the usernames in the Created by column.
• The list was not filtered previously based on the Created by column.
• The Head Baseline is displayed as the first item of the list.

The downward arrow icon is displayed in the following cases:

• The list of baselines is sorted in alphabetical order of the usernames in the Created by column.
• The Head Baseline is displayed as the last item of the list.

Clicking on the Created by header reverses the order of the list.

By selecting the Show only my items checkbox, only the baselines created by the current user are displayed.

Edit Baseline Properties

Click on edit button of the selected baseline:

Then the baseline properties opens in the default properties view:

Lock Baselines

Open baseline properties page, click on more menu and select the lock menu item:

If a baseline is locked, it cannot be edited until a user with the necessary permissions unlocks it.

Delete Baselines

Click on the delete button of the selected baseline:

Compare Baselines

Baselines can be compared in the Baselines main menu and in the tracker baselines overlay menu.

To compare two baselines in the main menu, use the two [SELECT BUTTON TO COMPARE] buttons at the top of the page:

Select the baseline by clicking the name in the overlay:

In the tracker baselines overlay menu, select two baselines by clicking the check boxes:

Click the [Compare Selected Baselines] button.

When attempting to compare baselines from different sources, the following warning is shown:

The results view shows the differences between the two baselines:

The differences between the selected baselines are separated into categories. Every category has a tab in the result view. The detailed modifications can be viewed by opening the category tabs.

To access the detailed tracker differences between baselines, click Show diff on the Trackers tab.

Filtering Tracker Differences

All pages listing differences of trackers has the capability to filter using the Filter Widget. See Trackers page for more information. In baseline mode or when comparing baselines, historical filters are not supported. For more information, see the Reports page.

There is one special filtering option called Target Baseline, which is specific to this view. By default, the filtering is applied to the first (left) baseline (Baseline 1 in the previous example.) However, it is possible to change this logic and apply filtering to the second (right) baseline.

Configuring the filtering option:

Results:

Exporting Tracker Differences

It is possible to export tracker differences including the configured filters in Excel format by clicking on the icon on the left corner.