Analyzing the relationships of an artifact to other artifacts

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Learn how to run an analysis by choosing the focus artifact first, and then using the impact analysis profile to create an impact analysis diagram dynamically. You can analyze artifact relationships by starting out in several ways. If you created an impact analysis diagram, then you already ran an analysis from the Impact analysis diagrams screen. You can also start an analysis from the Views, and Queries > Search screen.

Before you begin

To run an analysis, you must have at least one impact analysis profile, which provides an overall view of how artifacts in a project are related. For instructions, see Creating impact analysis profiles.

About this task

To start the analysis, select a focus artifact and then run the analysis to find artifacts that are related. The output shows all the artifacts with a relationship to the focus artifact, and then you can investigate each of the linked artifacts.

Analysis is useful when you need to modify, add, or remove an artifact. By viewing the artifacts with relationships to the focus artifact, you can gauge the impact of the change on the product quality, time-to-market, readiness, and on other project aspects.

If the data sources use configuration management, the Current configuration menu on the toolbar shows which configuration you are working in. You can select a configuration to work in.

Procedure

  1. Start an analysis.
    • From the Search results page, click the Start analysis icon that is next to the artifact that you focus on.
    • From the Views page, open a view. Click an artifact in the view, click the arrow menu button, and choose Start analysis.
    • Go to Queries > Search, enter a search term, and run the search. On the Search results page, click the Start analysis icon that is next to the artifact that you focus on.
  2. In the Impact Analysis dialog box, click Start analysis.

    View the output in the diagram. Notice that details about the analysis are displayed in the Navigation tree section next to the diagram.

    Click an item in the Navigation tree to make it the focus in the output. For example, click Requirement to bring the artifact to the center of the screen.

    Screen capture shows example output for an analysis that was run on an artifact. The analysis definitions and the Navigation Tree show more details about the analysis.
  3. Explore the potential impact of changes by adding or removing artifacts, hiding types, and expanding an artifact. By changing artifacts, you are customizing the diagram; now you might want to give the diagram a name and save it for future use.
  4. Optional: Select a configuration to work in.
    After you select a configuration, the diagram reloads automatically, updated for the selected configuration. The diagram reflects your configuration selection. In your diagram, you see only the artifacts and properties that are associated with the selected configuration.
    Tip: Archived global configurations and components are included in impact analysis diagrams. If you want to exclude them, read About archived global configurations and components.

Example

The previous instructions show how to perform an impact analysis from one of the pages. You can also run an existing analysis from the Analysis main menu.

  1. Choose Browse > Impact analysis diagrams.

    The following image shows what your Impact analysis diagrams screen might look like:

    Screen capture that shows the Impact analysis diagrams screen with three diagrams in view.
  2. Run the analysis.
    • Click one of the diagrams.
    • Run the diagram with a different focus artifact by clicking the pencil icon.
  3. In the Focus and Profile tab, click the Choose focus artifact icon. Search for, and select the new focus artifact, and click Add.
  4. Run the analysis by clicking Apply.
  5. To save the changes to a new diagram, give the diagram a different name.

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