RRC/RPE Granular Links & Traceability
This is actually a follow-up question based on https://jazz.net/forum/questions/135285/rrc-business-process-diagram-traceability
It turns out that RRC (3.0.1 onwards) enables links to be created from a task or sub-process in a business process diagram to other artifacts. Similarly, you can create links between individual elements in a use case diagram (such as system boundary or use cases) to other artifacts.
But for some inexplicable reason, this linkage is only visible in the "Links" tab on the RRC sidebar on the right hand side (as part of "Overview", "Comments", "Links" and "Where Used"). I have combed through the RRC Links Explorer, Traceability Report and even the RPE schema and I am having no luck trying to find this link data.
I am pretty sure that the link between the individual task inside a BPD or UCD and an external artifact exists on RRC. I am just having trouble pulling it out. Any ideas?
P.S. This release note for v3.0 states explicitly that RRC supports granular traceability. So I am pretty sure later versions should continue to support this feature.
"You can now create a link from a Task in a Business Process Diagram to a User Interface Sketch that illustrates the UI for that task, or associate additional requirements to that task. Links created in this way are fully traceable and can be included in requirements trace or gap analysis activities."
https://jazz.net/downloads/rational-requirements-composer/milestones/3.0M9?p=news&pp=true
3 answers
Hi Mike,
Thanks for your reply. It is reassuring to know that RRC supports this kind of traceability.
However, I am not upgrading from v2.0. In fact, I am currently checking out v4.0.3 and v4.0.5 and I am facing the same problems on both the versions.
Might be I can illustrate what I am trying to achieve -
1. I create a new business process diagram (sat BPD_1) and add a task within it (say "Task 1") in the "Edit" mode. I then click on the task and use the add link button to create a link to another artifact (say "Requirement A") within the same requirements project. I am assuming these link types are traceable.
2. I then save the changes and check out of the "Edit" mode. In the normal view mode, when I hover over the task element, I can see the links that I just created. Furthermore, when I click on the "Links" section on the sidebar on the right hand side, I can see my links in this format - "Requirement A (Task 1)".
3. However, when I use the "Links Explorer" tool, I can only view a link between the "Requirement A" and "BPD 1" (I cannot even see the task name in paranthesis).
4. Finally, the xml source file of the business process diagram only contains a high-level link to the external artifact, as shown below. Even though the task has a unique task ID, I am not able to check the links associated with that task.
---- The ID for Requirement A is _vt2acX5ZEeOkGKJv7z3DoA. So I tried the xml source file for "Requirement A" at https://localhost:9443/rm/publish/resources?&resourceURI=_vt2acX5ZEeOkGKJv7z3DoA. Here again, I only find a high level link to "BPD 1".
<ds:traceability><ds:links><ds:Link type="Link"><rrm:title>Satisfies</rrm:title><ds:linkType>https://localhost:9443/rm/types/_ZK1jsHIoEeOAw7CtktU8Pg</ds:linkType><ds:isParentLink>false</ds:isParentLink><ds:isChildLink>false</ds:isChildLink><rrm:relation>https://localhost:9443/rm/resources/_YbSS4X5ZEeOkGKJv7z3DoA</rrm:relation><rrm:alternative>https://localhost:9443/rm/publish/resources?resourceURI=_YbSS4X5ZEeOkGKJv7z3DoA</rrm:alternative><rrm:identifier>2671</rrm:identifier><ds:content><rrm:identifier>2671</rrm:identifier><rrm:title>BPD 1</rrm:title><rrm:description>Test</rrm:description><rrm:format>BusinessProcessDiagram</rrm:format><ds:artifactFormat>Business Process Diagram</ds:artifactFormat></ds:content></ds:Link></ds:links></ds:traceability>
---- "BPD 1" - ID is "_YbSS4X5ZEeOkGKJv7z3DoA". I go to https://localhost:9443/rm/publish/processes?&resourceURI=_YbSS4X5ZEeOkGKJv7z3DoA. I find only a high level link to "Requirement A".
<ds:traceability><ds:links><ds:Link type="Link"><rrm:title>Satisfied By</rrm:title><ds:linkType>https://localhost:9443/rm/types/_ZK1jsHIoEeOAw7CtktU8Pg</ds:linkType><ds:isParentLink>false</ds:isParentLink><ds:isChildLink>false</ds:isChildLink><rrm:relation>https://localhost:9443/rm/resources/_vt2acX5ZEeOkGKJv7z3DoA</rrm:relation><rrm:alternative>https://localhost:9443/rm/publish/resources?resourceURI=_vt2acX5ZEeOkGKJv7z3DoA</rrm:alternative><rrm:identifier>2672</rrm:identifier><ds:content><rrm:identifier>2672</rrm:identifier><rrm:title>Requirement A</rrm:title><rrm:description>Test</rrm:description><rrm:format>Text</rrm:format><ds:artifactFormat>Non Functional</ds:artifactFormat></ds:content></ds:Link></ds:links></ds:traceability>
---- The only ray of hope is to leverage on the task IDs that I can find in the xml source file of "BPD 1" as follows. But I am not aware of the schema of tasks (i.e. how to use the TaskURI)...
<bpmn20:process bpmn20:id="Process__ea847efb-5c56-4b11-830a-cc57dde5181d" bpmn20:name="Process1" bpmn20:processType="none"><bpmn20:task bpmn20:id="Task__otjAcH5ZEeO2-uROD_Ygmw" bpmn20:isForCompensation="false" bpmn20:name="Task 1"><bpmn20:activityDataRequirement bpmn20:id="ActivityDataRequirement__otkOkH5ZEeO2-uROD_Ygmw" extensions:name="ActivityDataRequirement1"><bpmn20:inputSet bpmn20:id="InputSet__otk1oH5ZEeO2-uROD_Ygmw" bpmn20:name="InputSet1"/></bpmn20:activityDataRequirement><bpmn20:activityDataResult bpmn20:id="ActivityDataResult__otk1oX5ZEeO2-uROD_Ygmw" extensions:name="ActivityDataResult1"><bpmn20:outputSet bpmn20:id="OutputSet__otlcsH5ZEeO2-uROD_Ygmw" bpmn20:name="OutputSet1"/></bpmn20:activityDataResult></bpmn20:task></bpmn20:process>
Thank you once again for your time and support! Appreciate your taking time off to answer my questions.
Ragi M.S.