Diagramming traceability

View the items related to requirements as a diagram to visualize the impact of a requirement change before you make it.

Diagram elements

Items are represented using nodes and the relationships between items are represented using lines.

Nodes

There are several types of nodes that appear in the diagram. Each type of node has their own special behavior, but they share several things in common.

Each node is a rounded box that includes an icon and text. The icon represents the item type and the text identifies which specific item the node represents. Nodes with a dashed border can be expanded.

Moving the cursor over a node displays a custom tooltip that gives more information about the node. Select a node to see additional information about the item in the information panel on the right.

The types of nodes are:

  • Item nodes. This type of node represents a single item in the diagram.

  • Hidden item nodes. These items are hidden by the security group filtering.

  • Group nodes. Manual test runs, automated test runs, and child-related item types are grouped together when Group similar items is checked. Groups for manual test runs and automated test runs have the appropriate background color for the status and are not expandable. Child-related items that are grouped together can be expanded by clicking on them.

Relationship lines

The relationship lines represent the relationships between items. Lines with arrows represent a hierarchical relationship and show the connection from the parent to the child node. Lines without arrows represent items related by peer type links which have no hierarchy.

If items are related by multiple relationships a line appears for each relationship.

Like nodes, select a relationship line to see additional information about the relationships in the information panel on the left.

Limitations

The traceability diagram uses the same data as the Impact Analysis table. Therefore the diagram has the same limitations:

  • Automated test results are only displayed if they are in a link.

  • The implicit relationship between test cases and their generated manual test runs are not always displayed. Manual test runs related to their parent test case only appear if they would be indirect impact items.

Creating a diagram

1. Click the Traceability tab and click Diagram when you are viewing or editing a requirement. When you first view a diagram, the layout is set to Stress by default.

2. Select the layout.

  • Stress displays items and their relationships as nodes and connecting lines. This layout uses the stress majorization optimization to physically position nodes closer together the more closely they are related. The Stress layout takes longer to display than the Hierarchy layout.
  • Hierarchy displays related items and their relationships as a top-down hierarchy.
Changing the layout resets the view so the entire diagram fits in the visible space.

3. Select Group similar items so related items are grouped into the same node as long as they have the same relationship to another item.  This reduces graphical clutter when you have many items with the same relationship to another item. Helix ALM tries to group the three following item types when Group similar items is selected:

  • Manual test runs. The child manual test runs of a test case are grouped into up to 5 nodes depending on their status. These grouped nodes cannot be expanded. If the user does not have field security to see the manual test run status then this grouping does not occur.
  • Automated test results. The automated test results of a test case are grouped into up to 5 nodes depending on their status. These grouped nodes cannot be expanded.
  • Item types. If an item has 20 or more child related items of the same type (issues, requirements, test cases, test runs, or documents) Helix ALM groups them by item type. Each group of items is collapsed under a "group" node that can be expanded to see the child items.

4. Click Find Item to search for an item in the diagram. From the Find Item in Diagram dialog, you can:

  • Use the search text field to enter the name of the item you are looking for, if you know it. The item appears in the list.
  • Select the item you wish to find from the list of items and click Find. The node representing that item is selected, expanded, and moved into view.

5. Select Save Image to save an image of the view in PNG format. The name of the image file includes the tag of the current item, the first 10 characters of the summary, and the phrase "Traceability Diagram". If the tag or summary is hidden by field security then that part of the file name is omitted.

  • Save current view saves the visible portion of the current view.
  • Save entire diagram saves the entire diagram.

For large diagrams this may take a few minutes to save the image. For extremely large diagrams, the image may not generate. If this happens, an error appears to inform you.

6. Adjust the view.

  • Use Expand to expand the selected node and move it into view. Nodes that can be expanded are indicated by a dashed line.
  • Use Collapse to collapse the selected node and move it into view.
  • Use Reset view to reset the zoom level so the entire diagram fits in the view.
  • Use your mouse to drag the whole diagram or individual nodes, set the zoom, and select items (nodes) and relationships (lines connecting the nodes). You can also use the mouse wheel to adjust the zoom level.