Getting started with DOORS Next

This topic presents an example of a typical process for project managers, product managers, and requirements analysts who must assess a business problem and develop requirements for a proposed solution. The process is represented here in outline form. Your process might vary depending on the state of the subject system, your stakeholders, your team structure, and your tools.

For an introduction to IBM® Engineering Requirements Management DOORS® Next, see Overview of DOORS Next.

The following diagram shows a simplified workflow for the requirements definition and management process, which includes traceability relationships between requirements and development and test artifacts. The process is explained in more detail in a later section. Click a box in the diagram for more information on a specific task.

The image shows the DOORS Next process, which is described in the following text. Click this area to get information about creating vision documents Click this area to get information about creating requirements Click this area to get information about creating collections Click this area to get information about linking to development and test artifacts Click this area to get information about linking to development and test artifacts Click this area to get information about creating requirements Click this area to get information about modifying and managing requirements Click this area to get information about modifying and managing requirements Click this area to get information about working with plans Click this area to get information about creating work items Click this area to get information about creating a test plan Click this area to get information about creating test cases

1: Setting up the project

The project manager or requirements analyst sets up a project by completing these tasks:

  1. Create a requirements project. Use a project template to establish a starting point for artifact types, attributes, link types, and folder structure.
  2. Customize artifact types, attributes, link types, folder structure, artifact queries (filters), and dashboards, as required.
  3. Work with project managers and team leaders to plan team organizations and roles, security, communications, and iteration and milestones schedules.
  4. Coordinate with project managers and team leaders to plan for associating requirements with development and test artifacts throughout the application lifecycle.
See Creating requirements projects, Project dashboards, Managing project or component properties in requirements projects, Managing users, Administering Engineering Lifecycle Management project areas, IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management, and Linking to development, design, test, and requirement artifacts.

2: Assessing the problem

The requirements analyst collects input about the business problem by completing these tasks:

  1. Interview stakeholders and users of the system.
  2. Gather documentation on the current system.
  3. Import documents into a requirements project.
The documents that you produce in the preceding steps must address the following topics:
  • Current process and problems
  • Goals and objectives
  • Stakeholder requirements
  • Issues and risks
  • Thoughts and ideas

See Importing and exporting files.

3: Creating requirements

The requirements analyst creates requirements that are based on assessment documents and these requirements definition activities. The analyst and other team members create traceability by linking between artifacts.
  1. Create a vision document to address stakeholder needs and business goals with high-level project requirements. Use business process diagrams and high-level use case diagrams to describe proposed solutions.
  2. Create a collection or a module that contains high-level requirements. Review and approve the requirements collection or module, as described in the next section.
  3. Link high-level requirements collections and modules with development release plans and test plans.
  4. Define detailed requirements that support the high-level requirements. Create use case diagrams, storyboards, user interface sketches, and other resources to support the requirement definition.
  5. Review and approve the requirements.
  6. Link requirements to individual development plan items and test cases.
See Vision document, Creating collections, Linking to development, design, test, and requirement artifacts, and Defining requirements.

4: Reviewing requirements

The requirements analyst creates a collection of requirements or a module and invites other team members to review them by completing these tasks:

  1. Create a project baseline and create a review from the baseline.
  2. Add artifacts and participants to the review.
  3. Participants add comments as they approve or disapprove artifacts.
  4. Revise requirements to incorporate review comments.
  5. Participants review revised requirements and approve them.
  6. Finalize the review.
See Creating reviews and Baselines in requirements projects.

5: Managing requirements

Manage requirements by using traceability links, tags, attributes, filtering, and dashboards. Use these capabilities to do these activities:
  • Create relationships between requirements and other artifacts, including release plans, work items, test plans, and test cases.
  • Categorize requirements.
  • Assign properties to requirements.
  • Create and compare project baselines.
  • Monitor relationships for status, suspect traceability using the Link Validity feature, and the impact of changes among teams and throughout the application lifecycle.

See Managing requirements, Linking to development, design, test, and requirement artifacts, Baselines in requirements projects, and Defining requirements.

6: Enabling Configuration Management (optional)

Enable configuration management capabilities. Use these capabilities to do these activities:
  • Create streams and change sets in addition to baselines.
  • Deliver change sets to streams.
  • Deliver changes between streams.
  • Compare configurations.
  • Work in global configurations.

See Configuration Management in the DOORS Next application, Getting started with configuration management, Global Configuration Management