Like ELM 7.0.2 iFix018, we have delivered improvements into the 7.0.3 iFix stream so that you don’t have to wait for ELM 7.1 to get the benefits. Again, we carefully selected items that are low risk and don’t change practitioners’ user interfaces.

Unlike ELM 7.0.2 iFix018, this time we focused mostly on qualities of service. Below I list the improvements in the categories (A) performance and availability, (B) permissions and IP management (C) observability and serviceability, and (D) updates to the specified operating environment. The improvements noted below were delivered in the various ELM 7.0.3 iFixes up to and including iFix007. Since iFixes are cumulative, they all are in iFix007.

A. Performance and availability

DOORS Next

• ReqIF imports are faster when the ReqIF packages are large or the component into which the requirements are being imported is large.
• When using IBM Db2, the following kinds of queries are faster: (1) “link exists” with tags in filter; (2) “link exists” in filter with enum attributes with large number of projects on the server without configuration management turned on.
• Cross-stream delivery, including from change set to a stream, is much faster when there are many tens of thousands of dependent change sets.
• Link retrieval, for example, in a module view, is faster and less likely to time out in project areas with a lot of data.
• When using the optional, new log-based TRS introduced in 7.0.3, various aspects run faster. Note: we recommend all customers switch to using DOORS Next’s log-based TRS, which offers major improvements in reporting data reliability. Move to it on your own schedule while you have DOORS Next 7.0.3 deployed, or as part of your upgrade to the next release. See the 7.0.3 documentation for details and open a support case with IBM to discuss planning your move.

Test Management

• Merges are faster, especially those with many changes.

Workflow Management

• Work items load faster in project areas with many custom attributes and contributors.
• The CCM application is more resilient and performs better under high load due to improvements in locking.

Reporting: Report Builder, LQE, LDX

• Deletions of large selection resources from the index (part of baselines or streams) has been improved.
• The more report requests that can be satisfied from the cache, the lower the load on the system—at the cost of the data in the report perhaps not being the freshest possible data. A new caching option Cache report results per user is available for Report Builder reports, giving report administrators more control to set the balance between use of cached and fresh data in reports. See Reporting New and Noteworthy document for JRS 7.1 Milestone 9.
• LQE and LDX can do automatic real-time index repair on data from DOORS Next, because DOORS Next now includes checksums in the TRS. This will reduce the cases in which it’s necessary to reindex data sources.

B. Permissions and Intellectual Property (IP) management

DOORS Next:

• A new permission is available to control moving artifacts between folders. It’s needed to delete an artifact, even if the folders are owned by the same project/team area.
• An advanced server property is available to disable email notifications, which some customers in high-security deployments find necessary.

Report Builder

• We disabled creating reports with the same name in Report Builder, which should reduce confusion among users.

C. Observability and serviceability

• It’s now easier to limit what you see in LQE query monitoring to more recent events by setting either Maximum size of query history or Maximum age of query history in days. See the Reporting New and Noteworthy document for JRS 7.1 Milestone 9.
• A new MBean “HTTP Request Tracker” collects the frequency of HTTP requests by IP address over time. We created this to help administrators find “greedy” client automations.

D. Updates to the specified operating environment

• We updated the versions of products that Workflow Management 7.0.3 works with. You can read more in Features and enhancements added in interim fixes.

We may add more QoS improvements in future iFixes. Check the iFix readme docs for details.

Daniel Moul

ELM Principal Product Manager