Will template change in RTC break existing links or have other impacts?

Denise Duncan (6●1●1) | asked Jun 17 '14, 2:58 p.m.

Initially, one of our RTC projects was set up with a global Work Item template which is more waterfall approach.

Our team will begin to use Agile approach in our next iteration but our RTC project does not have work items: Epic, Story, Impediments, etc..

We'd like to switch the RTC project from one (waterfall) Master template to a different (agile) Master template but we are afraid of the impact.

Would it be possible to switch global templates in an RTC project without breaking defect links (i.e. metrics for defect counts and history of status, etc...)?
Additionally,we use the RTC project for development builds and there are a few tasks (14--really not many) but they have links to builds.

Also, we do not see any place in RQM where the same project points to a template. We use RQM for test case/project timeline management and we sometimes link failed test cases to defects. It is our understanding that test cases can be linked to tasks in RTC for our Agile approach and we would want to use this functionality.

So, we have two questions here:

1) Would it be possible to switch global templates in an RTC project without breaking current links? (i.e. metrics for defect counts and history of status, tasks, builds, etc...)?

2) However, would changing global work item template in RTC break RQM if we don't make any switches or changes in RQM?

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sam detweiler (12.5k●6●189●201) | answered Jun 17 '14, 4:06 p.m.
edited Jun 17 '14, 4:09 p.m.

it is not easy to change process templates for an existing project. Usually this entails exporting the workitems,
changing them some in the export, then re-importing them to the new layout. with some data issues to deal with.
(links is one of those)

it 'might be' easier, to determine the delta between the two templates and add THAT to you existing one
(as you don't use the workitems most used in Agile yet). see complex merge below from the referenced page
some of the agile report gadgets might be hard to deploy to the existing projects.

I don't think RQM is impacted by this change, task and defect would be unchanged I think.

do you use process sharing to manage multiple rtc projects today?

see
https://jazz.net/help-dev/clm/index.jsp?re=1&topic=/com.ibm.jazz.platform.doc/topics/t_migrate_dif_process.html&scope=null

altho its never been this easy for me.

Complex process merge

For projects with many assigned roles, work item types, and work item state changes, you might need to carefully merge the process configuration source from the new template with the process configuration source in the existing project. Build the new configuration in a separate text editor. When it is complete, delete the existing project configuration process source, as described above, and paste in the new merged version from the text edit

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Denise Duncan commented Jun 17 '14, 5:46 p.m. | edited Jun 17 '14, 5:52 p.m.

Yes, we manage multiple rtc projects with the same templates. We might want to merge templates, which is going to be tedious but might be our best option in the long run.
I would feel more comfortable with an SME helping me through it.
Would you advise that I create a support ticket requesting help?

sam detweiler commented Jun 17 '14, 6:42 p.m.

I do not know if support will help with this. I am customer as well.

I am usually the SME I turn to.

I have many times used xmldiff and xmpatch to merge the process configs for various purposes..

It's all about the answers!

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Will template change in RTC break existing links or have other impacts?

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