Import Requirements From ReqIF Files

Requirements Interchange Format

Requirements Interchange Format (ReqIF) is an open industry standard for exchanging requirement documents between requirements management (RM) tools. ReqIF is based on a generic XML file format and has several advantages compared to CSV files, which store tabular data in plain text:

• Structure: stores multiple structured documents in one file; each document is organized into a tree hierarchy of sections describing requirements, tests, risks, or other project artifacts
• Attributes: defines data types and attributes to transfer requirements descriptions and other important information
• Rich Text Format: preserves advanced text formatting (bold, italic font styles, bullet or numbered lists, normal or code paragraph styles, embedded tables, etc.)
• Attachments: stores images, PDFs, or other binary file attachments
• Relations: stores links between requirements and other project artifacts

You can use ReqIF to migrate whole requirements projects from another RM tool, such as IBM Rational DOORS and Rational DOORS Next Generation (DNG), Polarion Requirements, Windchill, or Visure.

You can also use ReqIF to import high-level requirements managed in another RM tool. For instance, you might need to share stakeholder requirements specifications or international standards stored in Rational DNG with new requirements projects managed in ReqView.

Note: ReqView supports import and iterative import (update from ReqIF) using ReqIF version 1.2 only. Support of round-trip (exchange process) scenarios such as ReqIF-Stakeholder Request Clarification (SRC) is planned for ReqView 2.16.

Import ReqIF

You can import requirements from ReqIF packages, including their hierarchy, attributes, relations, and attachments, using an automatic one-click import process. No configuration should be required for ReqIF packages that follow the recommended attribute naming conventions, see ReqIF Implementation Guide by ProSTEP iViP association.

To import a ReqIF package into the current ReqView project, click File, mouseover Import, and select ReqIF Package. In the file picker dialog, choose an imported ReqIF file (.xml, .reqif, .reqifz or .zip). The application will then load the ReqIF package and open the Configure ReqIF Import dialog displaying the list of specifications found in the ReqIF file:

You can edit the list of ReqIF specifications to import, see Select ReqIF Specifications.

If you press the Autofill button then the dialog will load advanced configuration for your ReqIF package in JSON format. The configuration is based on the current input, showing settings only for the selected specifications and taking the input attribute mapping into account. Press the button again after making some changes to the config to refresh the configuration.

Finally, press the OK button to import the chosen ReqIF specifications as new documents into your current project.

Select ReqIF Specifications

To select ReqIF specifications to import, list the value of either LONG-NAME or IDENTIFIER for each desired ReqIF specification in the reqifSpecifications configuration property (array). All ReqIF specifications will be imported if the reqifSpecifications array is not present in the config.

Example: Import ReqIF specifications with LONG-NAME set to "Software Requirements Specification" and "Glossary".

{
  "reqifSpecifications": [
    "Software Requirements Specification",
    "Glossary"
  ]
}

Set Document Properties

To map ReqIF specification attributes to ReqView documents properties, set the reqviewDocumentProperties configuration property (object):

• key: ReqView document property — id or name (string)
• value:
  • ReqIF specification attribute (string)
  • list of ReqIF specification attributes (array)
  • map of user-defined values (object)
    • key: LONG-NAME or IDENTIFIER of the imported ReqIF specification (string)
    • value: user-defined value of the ReqView document property (string)

Example: Set the ReqView document identifier to the value of LONG-NAME for all imported ReqIF specifications.

{
  "reqviewDocumentProperties": {
    "id": "LONG-NAME"
  }
}

Example: Set the ReqView document identifier to the value of ReqIF.Prefix or IDENTIFIER (in order of preference) for all imported ReqIF specifications:

{
  "reqviewDocumentProperties": {
    "id": ["ReqIF.Prefix", "IDENTIFIER"]
  }
}

Example: Set the ReqView document identifier to "SRS" for the imported ReqIF specification with LONG-NAME equal to "Software Requirements Specification".

{
  "reqviewDocumentProperties": {
    "id": {
      "Software Requirements Specification": "SRS"
    }
  }
}

The default configuration for setting values of ReqView document properties is:

{
  "reqviewDocumentProperties": {
    "id": ["ReqIF.ForeignID", "ReqIF.Prefix", "LONG-NAME", "IDENTIFIER"],
    "name": ["ReqIF.Description", "ReqIF.Name", "LONG-NAME"]
  }
}

Set Object Attributes

By default, ReqView imports all attributes of ReqIF specification objects. ReqView document object attributes have unique identifiers created from LONG-NAME or IDENTIFIER of ReqIF specification object type attribute definitions. "ReqIF." prefix is removed from all attribute IDs. If attribute data types clash then attribute IDs are prefixed with LONG-NAME or IDENTIFIER of the ReqIF specification object type attribute to disambiguate them.

To configure the attributes mapping from ReqIF specification objects to ReqView document objects, set the reqifObjectAttributes configuration property (object):

• key: LONG-NAME or IDENTIFIER of an imported ReqIF specification object attribute (string)
• value:
  • ReqView document object attribute ID (string)
  • null to ignore the attribute

If the ReqIF specification object attribute is not defined for any imported specification object then it is ignored. You can also explicitly ignore a ReqIF specification object attribute by setting the null value in the configuration.

Example: Set values of ReqView system attribute text from ReqIF specification object attribute RichText for all imported document objects.

{
  "reqifObjectAttributes": {
    "RichText": "text"
  }
}

To configure the mapping for a given ReqIF specification object type, set values of the reqifObjectAttributes configuration property as follows:

• key: LONG-NAME or IDENTIFIER of an imported ReqIF specification object type (string)
• value: attributes mapping for the ReqIF specification object type (object)
  • key: LONG-NAME or IDENTIFIER of an imported ReqIF specification object attribute (string)
  • value:
    • ReqView document object attribute ID (string)
    • null to ignore the attribute

Example: Set values of ReqView system attribute heading from ReqIF specification object attribute Title defined for the ReqIF specification object type Section Type.

{
  "reqifObjectAttributes": {
    "Section Type": {
      "Title": "heading"
    }
  }
}

Example: Ignore import of attribute ReqIF.ChapterNumber defined for all ReqIF specification objects and attribute Description defined for ReqIF specification object type Section Type.

{
  "reqifObjectAttributes": {
    "ReqIF.ChapterNumber": null,
    "Section Type": {
      "Description": null
    }
  }
}

Unless explicitly overridden, the following default mapping is applied automatically (it doesn’t need to be added manually):

{
  "reqifObjectAttributes": {
    "ReqIF.ChapterName": "heading",
    "ReqIF.Text": "text"
  }
}

Note: To keep the config concise, the Autofill function will not prefill those defaults.

Update From ReqIF

You can iteratively update ReqView documents imported from ReqIF, for instance stakeholder requirements from an OEM customer using another RM tool.

ReqView importer persists ReqIF metadata describing the necessary IDs, types etc. to match documents and objects during successive imports. Mapping of attribute IDs that were already imported cannot be changed. Check the Show only new attributes checkbox in the Configure ReqIF Import dialog to hide the already mapped attributes and see only new attributes.

You can prevent updating a specific subset of attributes imported from a ReqIF file. For instance, if attributes describing supplier status and comment for stakeholder requirements are updated in ReqView and not in the original RM tool of the ReqIF file provided by your customer. To prevent overwriting a specific attribute during ReqIF import map the attribute to null in the Configure ReqIF Import dialog, see Set Object Attributes.

Note: You can update ReqView documents imported from ReqIF using ReqView v2.15 and later. Please contact us if you need help with updating documents imported from ReqIF with ReqView v2.14.

Tutorial: How to Import ReqIF

Let’s assume that we have received a ReqIF file exported from ProR open-source tool. Download the example ReqIF file used in this tutorial.

We need to import ReqIF specifications Specification Document and Glossary as new ReqView documents with IDs SPEC and GLOSSARY and set their names. We need to map ReqIF specification object attributes to ReqView document attributes as follows:

• Map ReqIF attribute Description → ReqView system attribute text
• Override mapping of ReqIF attribute Description for specification object types Section Type and Use Case Type → ReqView system attribute heading
• Ignore ReqIF attribute Known Problems
• Map all other ReqIF attributes → ReqView custom attributes

Follow these steps:

1. Click File, then Import, and finally ReqIF Package from the main menu.

2. Select the imported ReqIF file

3. In the Configure ReqIF Import dialog, click Autofill to prefill the configuration details automatically.

4. Adjust the JSON configuration in the Configure ReqIF Import dialog as follows:

   {
     "reqifSpecifications": [
       "Specification Document",
       "Glossary"
     ],
     "reqviewDocumentProperties": {
       "id": {
         "Specification Document": "SPEC",
         "Glossary": "GLOSSARY"
       },
       "name": {
         "Specification Document": "Specification",
         "Glossary": "Glossary"
       }
     },
     "reqifObjectAttributes": {
       "Description": "text",
       "Known Problems": null,
       "Section Type": {
         "Description": "heading"
       },
       "Use Case Type": {
         "Description": "heading"
       }
     }
   }

5. Click Autofill again to update the configuration by default values.

6. Click OK to import the ReqIF file.

As a result, ReqView successfully imports SPEC document with a list of use cases, GLOSSARY document with the definition of common terms, and traceability links between use cases to the related terms in the glossary: