It's all about the answers!

Ask a question

Seeking advice for importing and updating DNG artifacts from customer Word document


Bob 3 (1481564) | asked Apr 11 '17, 3:50 p.m.
edited Apr 12 '17, 1:11 a.m.

 Here is my scenario:

  1. Customer hires supplier to build a product
  2. Customer provides a Word document requirement specification to the supplier, who is using DNG 6.0.3
  3. Supplier imports Word document into DNG, decomposes it, and links it to test and design artifacts
  4. Later, customer sends a Revision B of the requirement specification to the supplier in Word document format
  5. Supplier desires to update the existing DNG artifacts with any requirement changes and create new DNG artifacts for brand new requirements, while not duplicating any artifacts upon import
Some solutions I've explored:
  1. ReqIF would make this easy but let's assume it's not possible on the customer side
  2. I could transition from Word to Excel, manually match up artifacts with the correct artifact ID from my DNG project area, and then do a spreadsheet import & update
  3. I could do a Word compare outside DNG and then manually type any changes and create any new artifacts in my DNG project area according to the Word differential report
The latter two options are very unappealing for a supplier that encounters customer spec revisions up to once a month. 

So I am seeking advice for good practices around importing and updating DNG artifacts from a customer Word document.

Thanks in advance!

2 answers



permanent link
Benjamin Silverman (4.1k610) | answered Apr 11 '17, 7:14 p.m.
FORUM ADMINISTRATOR / FORUM MODERATOR / JAZZ DEVELOPER

Hi Bob,

There is an existing plan item open for this but is not yet implemented (see Word round trip (94193)).  There's really no automated solution I can think of for this.  My only suggestions are similar (if not the same as) those you've already mentioned.

1)  Use Track Changes in Word to make the differences clear and make the updates manually

2)  Import the new revision of the document in to a new project and compare CSV exports from each project.  As you mentioned though, you'd need a way to match the ID's before importing back in to DNG to make the updates / add the new requirements

3)  Explore one of the Word to ReqIF solutions out there to see if it meets your needs


permanent link
Richard Watson (1761) | answered Apr 24 '17, 4:27 a.m.
FORUM MODERATOR / JAZZ DEVELOPER

I can comment on your option (2).  If you were working with Excel after the first import you could then immediately export the data back to Excel to get the DNG IDs.  With DNG IDs in your spreadsheet the 2nd time you get a spreadsheet to import it should not be too difficult to match your original IDs with the DNG IDs.  You can now use round trip to Excel and this would cut down on the manual effort.

Your answer


Register or to post your answer.


Dashboards and work items are no longer publicly available, so some links may be invalid. We now provide similar information through other means. Learn more here.