Linking test script steps to requirements in the Requirements Management application

If you have test scripts that fulfill multiple requirements, you can link a test script step to one or more requirements.

Before you begin

  1. Link a Quality Management project to a Requirements Management project.
  2. Add test scripts to a test case that has associated requirements.
  3. By default, linking between test script steps and requirements is not enabled. To display the linked requirements in the Attachments/Links section of the manual test script editor, see Setting test script preferences for requirements management.
Limitations:
  • If configuration management is enabled for your project, the current configuration must be a global configuration to link to artifacts such as requirements or development plans in other Engineering Lifecycle Management applications. For more information, see Getting started with configurations in CLM version 6 releases.
  • If you have not enabled configuration management, when you create a link to external artifacts in a ELM application, a link is automatically created back to the source artifact in the target application, which is called a back link. However, the synchronization between bidirectional links and the traceability between source and target artifacts are not guaranteed.
Learn more about bidirectional links: When a source artifact and target artifact link to each other, this is known as bidirectional linking. The source and target applications store their links in separate databases, and the source application does not have access to the database in the target application. Certain transactional operations, such as when artifacts are copied or deleted, can occur on the source application server. In these cases, corresponding back links in artifacts in the target application are not automatically added or removed. Also, instances occur where back links are intentionally removed from the target application without removing the corresponding link from the source application. As a result, if bidirectional links are not in a state of synchronization, traceability between the source and target artifacts can appear different based on your starting viewpoint.

Procedure

  1. Open an existing test script (Construction > Browse > Test Scripts) or create a new test script (Construction > Create > Test Script).
  2. If the attachments and links column is not shown, click the Show/hide Contents icon, and then select the Show Attachments/Links check box.
  3. To link a single step to a requirement that is associated with the parent test case:
    1. From the manual test editor toolbar, click the Show Requirement View icon (Show Requirement View) to open the Requirement View.
    2. In the Requirement View, select one or more requirements, and then click the Add Requirement Link icon (Add Requirement Link). The linked requirement is shown in the attachments and links column. Alternatively, drag the requirement link from the panel to the attachments and links column.
  4. To link a step to any requirement that is associated with the project:
    1. In a step, click the Action Menu icon (Action menu drop down), and then click Link to any Requirement.
    2. In the Links window, select a requirement from the Requirements Management project that is linked to this project.
    Tip: If you want requirement links in a test script to be automatically copied to the Requirement Links section of a parent test case when you add an existing test script to the test case, you can enable the Copy Requirement links into Test Cases when adding new child Test Scripts option in Test Scripts Preferences.

    When this preference is enabled, it also applies to a requirement link added to a step by using the Open Services for Lifecycle Collaboration (OSLC) QM API. In this scenario, a link is automatically created from the test case to the requirement that was linked to the test script step.

  5. Click Save.

Results

Linked requirements are displayed in the attachments and links column of the test script.
Linked steps in the attachments and links column
The attachments and links column on the right of the page shows a summary of all of the linked requirements for the test script. You can hover over the requirement link to see details of the requirement. You can also link directly from a requirement in the Requirements Management application to a test script step. The linked requirement in the Requirements Management application displays a Validated By link to the test script.

What to do next

To remove all linked requirements from a test script step, click the Action Menu and select Remove Requirements Links from step.
Related tasks:
Setting test script preferences for requirements management
Related information:
Links to artifacts in other project areas and applications
Managing global configurations

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