Receiving an updated DMA from my customer

Hi,

I have received an updated DMA from my customer (running their own DOORS database) with some changed, added and deleted requirements since the original they sent me. All changes have been discussed, agreed and understood.

We have already started writing and linking tech-specs against the original module they sent us.

In order to maintain the current links, I exported the updated customer module to a CSV and then imported that into the original module in my database. Sure enough requirements were updated and added (I had to manually delete requirements that had been removed) and links were maintained for requirements that are not new.

My (rather serious) problem now is that clearly the customer had added and then deleted some requirements before sending it to me, but since the baseline and now the Object IDs in my updated module after CSV import do not match those of the customer's module.

For example:

Old Module:
REQ-1 sakdfjhkjfdsh
REQ-2 sdociwnfdlskj

Customer's updated module:
REQ-1 sakdfjhkjfdsh
REQ-2 sdociwnfdlskj
REQ-4 asdlivesoinf

My updated 'old' module after CSV import:
REQ-1 sakdfjhkjfdsh
REQ-2 sdociwnfdlskj
REQ-3 asdlivesoinf

How can I fix this?

In my mind, I either need a way of editing the absolute numbers of the requirement, or I need a better way of receiving updated modules from the customer.

Please help....
SystemAdmin - Tue Aug 23 08:16:06 EDT 2011

Re: Receiving an updated DMA from my customer
OurGuest - Tue Aug 23 10:08:33 EDT 2011

Can you use the module created from the latest DMA as your current module. Then copy the links from your previous module to the current module?

Re: Receiving an updated DMA from my customer
SystemAdmin - Wed Aug 24 07:08:47 EDT 2011

OurGuest - Tue Aug 23 10:08:33 EDT 2011
Can you use the module created from the latest DMA as your current module. Then copy the links from your previous module to the current module?

How would I do this?

Re: Receiving an updated DMA from my customer
OurGuest - Wed Aug 24 07:26:20 EDT 2011

SystemAdmin - Wed Aug 24 07:08:47 EDT 2011
How would I do this?

First. read up on link-by-attribute
Second. use the wizard to create views showing your link info
Third. export link info to spreadsheet
four. import link info to the new module
five. use link by attribute to create links
six. deal with the old module as you see fit

Re: Receiving an updated DMA from my customer
ChrisAnnal - Thu Aug 25 09:59:35 EDT 2011

Another approach:
I'm assuming you are using the "ID" (Object Identifier) attribute for your requirement numbering. I caution my users against this for the very reason you are having problems right now. Anyway, if that's the case, here's how I managed that...

1.
Use the attached script (in your ORIGINAL module) to combine your original module's Absolut Number and Module Prefix attributes into a new Text attribute named "TempReq". (You'll have to add this attribute to your module first). This will recreate the "REQ_1", "REQ_2", etc in the new attribute.
2.
Every object can now be uniquely identified by their "TempReq" attribute, instead of the ID.
3.
In the restored DMA from the customer, repeat this "TempReq" process - so it now has the same attribute for every object and you can use that as the "key", instead of the previously-used "ID", which was based on mis-matched Absolute Numbers. These will now be a one-to-one match between the two modules, with the exception being those that are "new", as you want those to be created new as part of the update.
4.
I think you will still have to manually delete those that were deleted in the customer's module. A suggestion here would be to agree with the customer on a new attribute that represents whether a requirement is targeted for deletion. Suggest maybe a simple boolean "Delete?" attribute.

Going forward, you would want to get some agreement from the customer that this approach is satisfactory for this type of data sharing, explaining why using the "ID" based on the Absolute Number of an object can cause problems when users add/delete objects in either database.
Chris Annal
SW Test Engineer / DOORS Database Administrator
Saab Sensis Corporation, East Syracuse, New York
chrisa@saabsensis.com
Attachments

attachment_14676153_combine_prefix_absnum_put_in_new_attr.dxl