Configuring projects
Before users start working in a Helix ALM project, the administrator needs to configure it to support your team's terminology and methodology. If you use multiple projects, each one can have different configurations.
Review and customize the following areas before users work in a project. You can also change any of these settings at any time after projects are in use.
Automation rules
Configure automation rules to reduce the manual intervention required to keep projects running smoothly. You can configure the following automation rules:
- Notifications to email users when activities are performed on items.
- Triggers to automatically perform actions on items before or after items are saved, such as entering workflow events, modifying item fields, adding and removing items in folders, or running executables.
- Escalation rules to evaluate items based on a schedule and perform actions, such as entering workflow events, modifying item fields, sending email, adding and removing items in folders, or running executables.
See Automating Helix ALM.
Dashboards
Configure dashboards to show important information and metrics to your team. Dashboards can help team members quickly see project status and progress, items assigned to them, and recent project activity. You can customize dashboard content using widgets that display specific project data. See Configuring dashboards.
Email templates
Create email templates and customize existing templates to define the content of emails sent between users, notification emails, and confirmation emails sent to customers. See Customizing email templates.
Fields
Customize fields to use your team's terminology and capture specific data. You can change field labels, make fields required, set default values, configure parent/child field relationships, configure list values, create custom fields, and more. See Customizing fields.
Folder types
Create folder types to control the appearance of folders and the type of data displayed for a group of folders. Folder types also provide a way to tag a group of folders used for similar purposes, which is useful for reporting. See Configuring folder types.
Item mapping rules
If you track more than one item type in Helix ALM, configure item mapping rules to specify how field values are copied into items created from other items, such as issues created from manual test runs, and how items are linked. See Configuring item mapping rules.
Link definitions
Create link definitions to allow users to establish relationships between specific item types, such as test cases and requirements, and to control how linked items are handled in the workflow. Link definitions can allow parent/child or peer relationships between items. See Configuring link definitions.
Project options
Set project options to control how the project works and how information is displayed. For example, you can enable email sending and tracking, set compliance options, and specify how required field labels are displayed. See Setting project options.
Task boards
Create task boards to provide alternate, interactive views of items in folders that can help measure the progress of a team during a sprint, release, or other milestone. Items in task boards can be grouped by folder, user, relationship, or requirement document. See Configuring task boards.
Time tracking
Configure time tracking to capture data that can help your team manage estimates, get updates on actual and remaining effort, and gain insight about project status. You can track and report on time for specific items or across all items in a project. See Configuring time tracking.
Workflows
Customize workflows to define how each type of item you track, such as issues or requirements, moves through the lifecycle. Workflows define the states (statuses) items can be in, events that users enter to move items from state to state, and transitions that define the available events for each state. As users perform work, they move items seamlessly through the workflow to completion. See Customizing workflows.
