Importing requirements and requirement documents from Microsoft Word

You can import requirements from a Microsoft Word document into Perforce ALM. When you import a Word document, you can create a new requirement document or import requirements into an existing document in the ALM project.

Only use this method to import requirements and documents created and managed in Word to ALM. If you need to transfer requirements or documents between projects, use XML export and import instead. See Exporting to XML and Importing XML files.

On this page:

Tasks for importing requirements

1. Prepare the Word document and the ALM project.

2. Use the import wizard to choose the file to import, how to identify and treat new requirements, and the Word document sections to import. You can also preview the import and choose to save the requirements in a new or existing document.

3. Review the imported requirements and set additional field values.

Before importing

Perform the following tasks before importing.

Prepare the Word document to ensure a better import process and resulting ALM document. See Tips for Importing Microsoft Word Requirement Documents.
Create all requirement types used in the Word document in ALM. This helps streamline the process of mapping content in the Word document to ALM requirement types. See Adding requirement types.

Choose the file to import and an optional import template

1.Choose File > Import > Microsoft Word Import.

The Microsoft Word Import Wizard dialog box opens.

2. Enter the path to the File to import or click Browse to select a file. The file must have a .doc or .docx extension.

3. Optionally select an Import template to use the settings from a previous import. Click Browse to select the template. Import templates have an .itm extension.

4. Click Next.

If you are using an import template, preview the imported requirements.
If you are you are not using an import template, choose how to identify and treat new requirements.

Choose how to identify and treat new requirements

ALM divides the imported Word document into individual requirements. Specify how ALM should interpret the Word document contents to add new requirements. It depends on if the requirements are organized using styles or items in a numbered list.

Styles

1. If requirements in the Word document are formatted using styles, select Selected styles.

During the import, ALM will add a new requirement for each paragraph in the Word document that uses a style mapped to a requirement type.

2. Click Next.

3. Map the Word styles to ALM requirement types. For each style that starts a new requirement, select Starts New Requirement and select the Requirement Type to map the style to.

The first paragraph with the corresponding style applied is used as the requirement Summary value. Subsequent paragraphs are used as the requirement Description value until a paragraph that uses a style mapped to a requirement type is found, which creates another new requirement. You must map at least one style to a type.

4. Click Next to continue to select the Word document sections to import.

Items in a numbered list

1. If requirements in the Word document are formatted using numbered lists, select Items in numbered lists.

During the import, ALM will add a new requirement for each numbered list item in the Word document.

2. Select the Numbered List Item Options to specify how bulleted text is formatted and the default requirement type.

Default requirement type specifies the type for each new requirement in the ALM document. Select the most used requirement type in the document. You can change the type for individual requirements when previewing the import.
Make each bullet a separate requirement adds a new requirement for each bulleted item in the Word document. If this option is not selected, bulleted lists are included as requirement description text under the parent list item.

3. Click Next to continue to choose the Word document sections to import.

Choose the Word document sections to import

1.Select which sections of the Word document to import.

All sections imports all sections from the document.
Selected sections imports only the selected sections. Set the starting and ending sections.

2. Click Next to continue to preview the import.

Preview the import

1. Select a requirement to preview it how it will be imported. Make any changes.

To change a requirement’s type, select the requirement and then select a type from the Change requirement type list.
To rearrange the order of the requirements, select a requirement and click the arrow buttons or drag it to a different location.
To remove a requirement from the document, select it and click .

To save the import settings as a template for future imports, click Save Import Template. The import template contains the options set during this import, which can be helpful if you use the same structure in your Word documents. For example, if your team uses the same Word template for all requirement documents, you may want to save the style mappings you assigned as an import template to ensure consistency in imported requirements.

2. Click Next to continue to choose the document to add requirements to.

Choose the document to add requirements to

1.Choose to add the imported requirements to a new or existing document.

To add the requirements to a new document, select Add a new requirement document and enter the Document name. You can enter up to 255 characters. To add the document to a public folder, select Add new document to folder and click Browse to select the folder.
To add the requirements to the end of an existing document, select Add to an existing requirement document and click Browse to select the document. To find a document, you can search, go to a specific document number, apply a filter, or select the <Recent Items> filter to view a list of recently accessed documents.

2. Click Finish to start the import.

When the import is complete, the Microsoft Word Import Warnings and Errors dialog box opens and displays the import status.

If the import is successful, the document and its requirements are added to the project. Click Close to close the dialog box.
If the import fails, error information is displayed in the dialog box. Click Save As to save the import log, which is useful for troubleshooting.

After importing

You may want to perform the following tasks after the import is complete.

Review the new or updated document and create a snapshot before the imported requirements start to change. Snapshots are used for comparing document versions and viewing differences between them. See Creating requirement document snapshots.
Update the imported requirements by setting field values and moving them to the correct workflow status. See Editing requirements and Moving requirements and documents through the workflow.
If you created a new document, set any additional document field values. See Editing requirement document details.

Additional information

If the Word document contains inserted objects, such as Microsoft Excel spreadsheets or PowerPoint presentations, they are displayed inline in imported requirements to match the source document. The objects are also attached to the imported requirements.

Inserted objects that are embedded and maintained in the Word document are imported as requirement attachments named OLEObject. If multiple objects of the same type are imported, a number is appended the attachment filename and incremented for each object (e.g, OLEObject.xlsx, OLEObject_1.xlsx, OLEObject_2.xlsx, etc.).
Inserted linked objects from an external source are imported with the linked file attached to the requirements. If a linked object is included in multiple requirements, a number is appended to the attachment filename and incremented for each instance of the object (e.g., UserStatistics.xlsx, UserStatistics_1.xlsx, etc.)