Relationships between global configuration, release, and attribute mappings

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When you set the configuration context in any ELM application, the system attempts to resolve both incoming and outgoing links by using that context. For work item links, resolution differs slightly depending on whether you are starting from the work item in EWM or from the versioned artifact in another ELM application.

All links that involve work items are stored in EWM as outgoing links and are considered incoming links in the other ELM applications.

In EWM, when you set a global configuration context, the system uses that context to resolve outgoing links. If a version of the target artifact exists in that configuration context, the link is displayed correctly, and you can preview and navigate to the linked artifact. If no version of the artifact exists in that context, the system might or might not display the link text, and you cannot preview or navigate to the artifact. When navigating links from EWM, the system does not use the work item’s release or the link type or attribute-mapping settings. However, this behavior isn’t true if you have the banner selection set to "Default configurations". If the GC is inferred, it does use the work item’s settings. In releases before 7.0.2, EWM did not provide a configuration context banner, and the system relied on the release and link or attribute-mappings. For more information, see Behavior in EWM for 7.0.3.

When a work item link is resolved in DOORS Next, ETM, or Rhapsody Model Manager (RMM), the system does the following steps:
  1. Checks the current global configuration context to see which releases it links to, including any direct or indirect predecessor releases.
  2. For the OSLC link type used, checks the link type or attribute-mappings in EWM to determine which work item attribute specifies the release value.
  3. Uses the work item attribute to get the work item’s release association.
  4. Determines whether the release is one of those releases that is linked to the global configuration.
  5. If the release is linked to the global configuration, the system displays the work item link. If not, the incoming link is not displayed unless the work item is not associated to any release, and then the system always displays the incoming link.