DNG - Anybody using CCM for change management without change sets?
I found by experimentation that it is possible to use CCM to link tasks to requirements in DNG even when CM is not enabled.
The CCM tasks have a lifecycle and can have approvers.
I am wondering if anybody is using this feature as an informal change management process that is less restrictive than enabling CM and requiring all changes to be in an approved change set.
The problem with doing it with CM enabled and restrictions is that the whole project is under change control (unless it is broken into components) - when it is more likely that you might want only one module to be under change control and maybe only for a certain period
The drawback of this less formal alternative of course is that the change has to be 'described' in the change request and then implemented manually if approved.
4 answers
Hi Carol,
Yes you can use the CCM tool (RTC) for planning and tracking (change management) without buying any CCM licenses.
To do it 'properly' you are supposed to use change sets but that adds a bit of complexity to the work flow, which may be useful for some requirements but slows down the process for others that don't need so much control.
I discovered by experimentation that it can be used without change sets. This means it is more ad hoc and less process oriented - but it also means it is more flexible and can be used only with one module for example.
There are 2 other possibilities I thought of for a less rigid change management process too. First lock the module to be controlled down with team ownership and then:-
1. Use comments and threaded discussion for change requests
or
2. Create an artifact type of Change Request and create a CR module and store CR artifacts in there and link them to requirements affected by the change
Comments
One of our teams decided to add a Change Request Attribute. Here's their process:
- They duplicate the artifact that is changing.
- In the Change Request attribute, they indicate the In-Service End Date for the original requirement..
- They make the applicable changes to the duplicated artifact.
- In its Change Request attribute, they indicate the In-Service Start Date for the changed requirement + the Rally # for the change. Including the Rally # enables the Testers to filter the requirements for a particular story.
So far this seems to be working for them, but I'm liking your artifact type idea too.
Carol
1 vote
Hi Carol,
The duplicate object with change attribute sounds like it will be very effective for a single change to a single object and easy to implement which is good.
Where I am thinking the CR artifact approach will be useful is in more complex change management scenarios where for example a systems engineer sees an opportunity to simplify aspects of solution design by changing parts of the stakeholder specification.
A single CR artifact could have an explanation of the change and a rationale and then have 'generated by' links to the system requirement changes that will benefit from the change and 'Requires changes to' links to the stakeholder requirements that would need to change to allow the simplified solution.
The CR artifact would also have a change management oriented workflow.
I actually did something like this in 2005 on DOORS 9 for Defence and I used link attributes to store the proposed changes to the impacted stakeholder requirements and a propagated attribute to record whether the approved change had been made yet or not. A DXL dialog managed the process.
Hopefully DNG will also have link attributes one day.
Thinking more about the duplicate artifact method it would be very useful in conjunction with my CR module and artifact.
The user could create a CR artifact in the CR module to describe the overall change.
They could then duplicate a copy of each artifact that will be changed and make the duplicates child artifacts under the CR artifact in the CR module with links created back to the originals.
The CR artifact can be cycled through the change workflow and if approved then the attribute values on the duplicates can be copied across to the originals.
The manual attribute value copy could even be automated with an RM Extension.
Comments
Carol Watson
Aug 31 '18, 12:19 p.m.Hi Sean,