IBM Rational DOORS

Getting Started with Rational DOORS

Release 9.2
Before using this information, be sure to read the general information under the
"Notices" chapter on page 27.

This edition applies to IBM Rational DOORS, VERSION 9.2, and to all
subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise indicated in new editions.
© Copyright IBM Corporation 1993, 2010
US Government Users Restricted Rights—Use, duplication or disclosure
restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corp.
Table of contents
Chapter 1: About this manual 1
Typographical Conventions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Related Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Chapter 2: Introducing Rational DOORS 3

About Rational DOORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
About requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
About modules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
About objects and attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Object Heading and Object Text attributes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
About traceability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
About views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
About folders and projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
About tracking changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
About baselines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
About edit modes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
About the Change Proposal System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
About partitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
About user types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
About discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Chapter 3: Quick tour 13

About this tour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Getting ready to start the tour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Install and run the Example Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Editing a module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Changing your view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Making a link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Creating an attribute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Sorting and filtering the data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Getting Started with Rational DOORS iii

Table of contents

Finishing the tour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Chapter 4: Contacting support 23

Contacting IBM Rational Software Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Submitting problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Other information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Chapter 5: Notices 27
Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Index 31

iv Getting Started with Rational DOORS

1 About this manual
Welcome to IBM® Rational® DOORS® 9.2, the world’s leading requirements
management application.
This manual introduces you to IBM Rational DOORS (Rational DOORS)
concepts to help you get started with Rational DOORS.

Typographical Conventions
The following typographical conventions are used in this manual:

Typeface or Meaning
Symbol

Bold Important items, and items that you can select, including
buttons and menus: “Click Yes to continue”.
Italics Book titles.
Courier Commands, files, and directories; computer output: “Edit your
.properties file”.

> A menu choice: “Select File > Open”. This means select the
File menu, and then select the Open option.

Related Documentation
The following table describes where to find information in the Rational DOORS
documentation set:

For information on See

What’s new in version 9.2 of Rational The Rational DOORS readme file
DOORS
How to install Rational DOORS Rational DOORS Installation Guide

How to set up licenses to use Rational Rational License TL Guide

DOORS

Getting Started with Rational DOORS 1

About this manual

For information on See

How to use Rational DOORS Getting Started with Rational DOORS

Using Rational DOORS

How to write requirements Get It Right the First Time

How to set up and manage Rational Managing Rational DOORS

DOORS
The DXL programming language DXL Reference Manual

How to integrate Rational DOORS with Rational DOORS API manual

other applications

These documents are on the Rational Information Center at

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/rsdp/v1r0m0/index.jsp.

2 Getting Started with Rational DOORS

2 Introducing Rational DOORS
This chapter describes the concepts you need to understand before you use
Rational DOORS:
• About Rational DOORS
• About requirements
• About modules
• About objects and attributes
• About traceability
• About views
• About folders and projects
• About tracking changes
• About baselines
• About edit modes
• About the Change Proposal System
• About partitions
• About user types
• About discussions

About Rational DOORS

Rational DOORS is a requirements management application that contains
features for capturing, tracking, and managing user requirements.
Use the word processor style interface to manually enter your requirements. You
can also import your requirements into Rational DOORS from the following file
formats:
• Microsoft® applications, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
• Plain (ASCII) text
• Rich Text Format (RTF)
• FrameMaker

Getting Started with Rational DOORS 3

Introducing Rational DOORS

After you have captured your requirements, you can track and manage them
throughout the project life cycle by using various features such as views, links,
and traceability analyses.

About requirements
Requirements describe what users want from a product or service.
For example, if you are planning to buy a new car for your family, you might
make a list of the things that you need from the car. Your list might include the
following features:
• Must be able to carry at least five people
• Must have fuel consumption of over 35 miles per gallon
• Must cost no more than X
Less important features that you would like, such as a particular color, would be
further down your list. At the end of the exercise, you have a list of user
requirements, which specify the car you want to buy.
The exercise of listing requirements for buying a car is fairly straightforward.
However, the designers of that car need more.
The designers need system requirements, which describe the features the car
must provide. From the requirements, they can prepare detailed design
documents. Each part of the design must be tested; therefore, tests are specified
in a separate document.
well-defined requirements ensure that your customers get what they want and
show you what product you have to build or what service you have to provide.
For information about writing requirements, see Get it Right the First Time.

About modules
In Rational DOORS databases, information is stored in modules.

4 Getting Started with Rational DOORS

About objects and attributes

For example, a vehicle manufacturer is building a car and a truck.

The information for the car project is stored in the following modules:
• A user requirements module, which contains information about the features
that users want in the car.
• A design module, which describes the engineering design of the car.
• A safety tests module, which describes the safety tests that must be carried
out on the car.

About objects and attributes

Information in each module is divided into objects and attributes.
There are default attributes, such as Created By and Modified On, and you can
create your own attributes to store other information, such as priority and status.
The objects are organized with numbered headings in a hierarchical structure.
You can use the Module Explorer pane on the left to quickly navigate the
structure by clicking the plus (+) and minus (-) signs.
The heading numbers work in the same way as automatic heading numbers in a
word processor, like Microsoft Word. They let you see the structure of the
information in the module, and they automatically change if you change the
structure of the information, for example, if you insert or delete objects.

Getting Started with Rational DOORS 5

Introducing Rational DOORS

Object Heading and Object Text attributes

The main column is displayed in the standard view of the module. Unlike other
columns, which contain only one attribute, the main column can display two
attributes, Object Heading and Object Text.
The following table describes the main column attributes.

Attributes in the main Description

column

Object Heading This attribute is shown in bold, and has a heading number
that is automatically generated by Rational DOORS.
For example, look at the object at the top of the previous
picture. Its Object Heading attribute is Fuel economy,
and its heading number is 4.1.4.
Object Text This attribute is shown in normal font.
For example, look at the object at the bottom of the
previous picture. Its Object Text attribute starts with
Users shall be able to travel at the same level.

About traceability
Rational DOORS lets you link together related information.
For example, you can link a user requirement to the design features that fulfill
that requirement. You can also link the design features to the verification tests
for the feature.
Links give you traceability. You can check that what you are building satisfies
your user requirements.
You can follow links in both directions. For example, if a test fails, you can find
out which requirements are affected by tracing the links from the test back to the
design features, and from the design features back to the requirements.
Links allow you to manage change. You can quickly trace the impact of a change
to a single piece of data on the rest of your system.
For example, the engineering department tells you that they cannot deliver the
solar-powered battery that you were expecting. You can trace the links from the
battery object back to the requirements that depend on it, and forward to the
other features of the car that depend on having a solar-powered battery. You can
quickly see the full impact of not having a solar-powered battery. You can make

6 Getting Started with Rational DOORS

About views

an informed decision about whether to use a conventional battery or whether to

invest more money, time, and resources to help deliver a solar-powered battery.

About views
Different people need to see different information. Consider the following
examples:
• Managers are interested in scheduling and cost information.
• Engineers are interested in technical design information.
So you can create different views of modules for different users. Each view
contains a subset of the objects or attributes in the module.

This picture shows two views of the design module for the car project.
The Management view contains only high priority items and shows priority and
cost attributes, and the Engineering view contains all items and shows the design
attribute.
Views let you see exactly what you need without being overwhelmed by too
much information. You can filter out the data that you do not want to see. Views
can filter out objects or attributes or both.

About folders and projects

Use folders to organize the modules in your Rational DOORS database in
the same way that you use folders to organize the files on your computer.

Getting Started with Rational DOORS 7

Introducing Rational DOORS

A project is a special kind of folder that contains all the data for a particular
project. For example, all the information for the new car is in the project called
Sports utility vehicle 4x2.
Navigate the database hierarchy by clicking the plus and minus signs in the
Database Explorer, in the same way as you navigate the explorer on Windows®.
Note Projects can contain folders and folders can contain projects.

Both folders and projects can contain modules.

About tracking changes

Rational DOORS tracks the changes that are made to the database.
It records the history of changes to the database. For example, when you edit the
attributes of an object, it records both the old value and the new value.
You can see who has made what changes and when they made them. You can
look at the history of a module, a particular object, or the user sessions for a
module.
Rational DOORS also provides change bars so you can see at a glance what has
changed.
The color of the change bar, a symbol, and Hover Help tell you the status of an
object.

Change bar Example Hover Help Description

You have created the object

during the current session and
have not yet saved the changes.
You have edited the object
during the current session and
have not yet saved the changes.
The object has been changed
since the module was last
baselined, and the changes
have been saved.
The object has not been
changed since the module was
last baselined.

8 Getting Started with Rational DOORS

About baselines

Change bar Example Hover Help Description

Either the object was deleted

before the module was last
baselined or history has not
been loaded.
The object was deleted after
the module was last baselined
and history has been loaded.

Note You can control what edits are tracked with change bars and
recorded in the database history. If you do not want to know
when users edit a particular attribute, you can turn off change
bars for that attribute.

About baselines
A baseline is a read-only version of a module. It captures and preserves a
moment in time.
When you create a baseline of a module, you create a copy of the module that
nobody can edit.
The baseline includes the following history about the module:
• All the attribute definitions and types that have been created, deleted, or
edited since the most recent baseline of the module.
• All the objects that have been created, deleted, or edited since the most
recent baseline of the module.
• Every module session (every time the module has been opened) since it was
first created.

About edit modes

When you work with modules, you can use one of three edit modes, described
in the following table:

Edit mode Description

Read-only You can view the module, but you cannot edit it.
Exclusive You can edit the module, but other users can only view it.

Getting Started with Rational DOORS 9

Introducing Rational DOORS

Edit mode Description

Shareable You and other users can edit the module at the same time.
While you are editing one section, another user can edit another
section of the module.

The status bar at the bottom of the module window displays the edit mode that
you are currently using.
After you open a module, you can change its edit mode.
For more information, see the online help and Using Rational DOORS.

About the Change Proposal System

The Change Proposal System lets people review modules and suggest changes
to them. It lets you obtain feedback and change the data in a controlled way.
Users throughout your organization can look at the information that is stored in
Rational DOORS and make comments about it, but they cannot edit it.
Change proposal managers set up the Change Proposal System and they control
which data is made available for review and who can review it.
The reviewers can make two types of comments. We use the term proposal for
both.

Proposal Description

Suggestion A high-level comment. For example, the suggestion that a

project needs a test plan.
Change proposal A detailed comment about a particular object in a particular
module. For example, the proposal that you change the value
of the Estimated Duration attribute for a particular object
from 20 days to 30 days.

A team of change proposal reviewers (sometimes called a Change Control

Board, or CCB) looks at each proposal and decides on the appropriate course of
action. They decide whether to accept, reject, or defer the proposal.
Rational DOORS will automatically e-mail you if the status of one of your
proposals changes, for example, if one of your proposals is accepted.

10 Getting Started with Rational DOORS

About partitions

About partitions
Partitions are a means of allowing modules to be edited away from their normal
location in the home database. The following example describes how to edit
modules in partitions.
A company uses Rational DOORS to manage its projects. A subcontractor is
designing part of a project, but does not have access to the home database.
The company creates a partition, which contains the modules that the
subcontractor needs, and sends it to the subcontractor for editing. All the
modules that were sent to the subcontractor in the away database are set to
read-only in the home database.
Each module in the partition is either read-only at the home database or
read-only at the away database. You cannot edit the same module at both
databases.
The subcontractor edits the modules, and when they are finished, returns them
to the home database. Now users at the home database can see the changes
made at the away database, and the modules are no longer read-only at the home
database.
Partitions do not include baselines or any history data.
For more information on partitions, see the Rational DOORS online help or
Managing Rational DOORS.

About user types

Rational DOORS divides users into different types depending on what type of
management tasks they can do.
Most Rational DOORS users are Standard users; they can work with data, but
they cannot do any management tasks such as archiving data or creating new
users.
Project Managers can perform a limited set of management tasks. They can
partition and archive data, and create and manage groups. They cannot create
new users, but they can create new groups, add users to groups, remove users
from groups, and so on.
Database Managers can do every management task. They can do everything
that Project Managers can do and they can create projects and users, and manage
the database.
Finally, there are Custom users, who can have any combination of powers. For
example, a Custom user might have the power to partition data. This user would
have more power than a Standard user but less power than a Project Manager.

Getting Started with Rational DOORS 11

Introducing Rational DOORS

Database Managers and Custom users who have the power to create users can
change the type of any user. If you are a Standard user today, it does not mean
that you will always be a Standard user. For example, if you start to manage a new
project, you can ask a Database Manager to change your user type from Standard
user to Project Manager.

About discussions
Discussions is a mechanism for reviewers to exchange views about the content
of a module or an object within the module.
Instead of setting up linked review documents, or adding new text attributes to
the module under review, Rational DOORS allows you to maintain running
discussions about objects and modules. The discussions are presented to you as
part of the properties of the object or module.
You need to be using a Rational DOORS 9.2 or later Database Server, and the
server must be configured to exclude Rational DOORS 9.0 clients to make the
discussions functionality fully available.
You can create, view, and modify discussions for modules and for objects in
modules.

12 Getting Started with Rational DOORS

3 Quick tour
This chapter contains the following topics:
• About this tour
• Getting ready to start the tour
• Editing a module
• Changing your view
• Making a link
• Creating an attribute
• Sorting and filtering the data
• Finishing the tour

About this tour

This tour gives an overview of Rational DOORS. It should take about 15
minutes. If you want, you can follow the steps on your computer. Or you might
prefer just to read through the tour without following the steps yourself.

Getting ready to start the tour

In this part of the tour, you install the Example Database, run Rational DOORS
and then make a copy of an example project.
Throughout the rest of the tour you use the copy of the example project, so it
does not matter if you make any mistakes during the tour. You still have the
original copy.
Before you install the Example Database, you must install a Rational DOORS
client. For instructions on how to install a Rational DOORS client, see the
Rational DOORS Installation Guide, which is available from our website at
http://www.ibm.com/software/awdtools/doors/support/doc.html.

Install and run the Example Database

To install and run the Example Database:
1. Install the Example Data:

Getting Started with Rational DOORS 13

Quick tour

a. Get the Rational DOORS Example Data software from your system
administrator. The file is called IBM Rational DOORS 9.2 Example
Data.msi. Copy it to your machine.
b. Navigate to the file, and double-click it.
The Welcome screen is displayed.
c. Click Next.
The License Agreement screen is displayed.
d. If you accept the terms of the license agreement, select the I accept...
option and click Next.
The Ready to Install the Program screen is displayed.
e. Click Install.
When all the files are copied, the Finish screen is displayed.
f. Click Finish.
2. Start the Example Database.
Click Start > All Programs > IBM Rational > IBM Rational DOORS
9.2 Example Data.
Rational DOORS opens with a Login window, prompting you for a user
name and password.
3. Type the user name Eric McCall and the password Training, with
capitalization just as it appears here. User names and passwords are
case-sensitive in Rational DOORS.
4. Click OK.
5. If you see the Welcome Screen, close it.
The Database Explorer is displayed.
You can now copy a Rational DOORS project.
6. In the right pane, double-click the Example Data folder.
7. Still in the right pane, double-click Company Programs, and then Vehicle
projects, and then Light Trucks.
You see the Sports utility vehicle 4x2 project in the right pane.
8. Select the Sports utility vehicle 4x2 project in the right pane then press
CTRL+C to copy it to the Database Explorer clipboard.
9. Double-click the Prototypes folder to open it.

14 Getting Started with Rational DOORS

Editing a module

The Prototypes folder is now displayed in the left pane with an open folder
icon .
10. Press CTRL+V to paste the example project into the Prototypes folder.
Rational DOORS creates a project called Copy of Sports utility vehicle
4x2. This takes about 30 seconds.

Editing a module
In this part of the tour you edit the text in a module and create objects in the
module:
1. Double-click first the copy of the project, and then the Requirements
folder in it.
You see the User Requirements module in the right pane.
2. Double-click the User Requirements module to open it.
3. Double-click the requirement under the User types heading, and change
proposed vehicle to new vehicle.
Double-clicking puts you in edit mode; you get a cursor at the start of the
object. The cursor is a thin vertical bar that does not flash. Move the cursor
by using the arrow keys or clicking your mouse, and then delete proposed
and type new.
Notice the thin line above and below the object, which shows that it is the
current object.
4. Scroll to the object with the pale gray background after the table, and try to
edit it. You cannot; nothing happens when you type. The pale gray
background indicates that you only have read access to the object. You are
not allowed to edit it.
5. Now scroll to the end of the module, so that you can see the last object,
Expected further costs.
Single-click this object (do not double-click it), and type None. Your text is
added to the end of the object.
As soon as you start typing, Rational DOORS automatically puts you into
edit mode and moves the cursor to the end of the object. This is a quick way
to edit objects.
6. Now press CTRL+RETURN to create an object, and type some text into
it.

Getting Started with Rational DOORS 15

Quick tour

7. Press CTRL+RETURN twice without typing anything, and notice that

Rational DOORS gives the first new object a heading number (7.1). This is
because you did not type any text, so Rational DOORS assumed it was a
heading.
Pressing CTRL+RETURN creates an object at the same level in the
hierarchy as the current object.
8. Now create an object one level below the current object by clicking New
object below on the Object toolbar.
Note If you start typing after you click the icon, the heading
number disappears and the object is no longer a heading.
If you want to type a heading, click Edit Object
Heading on the Object Edit toolbar before you
start typing.

9. Delete the objects you created. Either click the right mouse button and
select Delete from the pop-up menu, or press DELETE.
10. Scroll back to the top of the module and turn change bars on. Click View >
Show > Change Bars.
You see colored change bars on the left.
• The red Unsaved Changes change bar shows you have edited the
object during the current session but have not yet saved the module, so
the changes are in memory. The changes are saved to the database when
you save the module.
• The yellow Saved Changes change bar shows the object has been
edited since the module was baselined, and the changes have been saved.
11. Double-click the red Unsaved Changes change bar by the object you
edited at the start of the tour to see the history of changes to the object.
Select the last entry to display details of your change.
You are looking at the properties sheet for the object, which you can use to
find out information about access rights, attribute values, and links.
12. Click Next or Previous to display the next or previous object. Notice that
as you do this, the current object changes in the module window to match
the one you are looking at on the properties sheet.
13. Click Cancel to close the properties sheet.

16 Getting Started with Rational DOORS

Changing your view

Changing your view

In this part of the tour you look at different views of the module.
1. Select Basic view with explorer from the drop-down list of available views
and scroll to the top of the module.
This view shows the Module Explorer, which shows you the structure of the
object hierarchy and lets you quickly navigate it.
2. Click the plus signs in the left pane to display 4.1.4 Fuel economy.
3. Click this object in the left pane to make it the current object in the right
pane.
4. Turn the Module Explorer off. Click View > Module Explorer.
5. Look at another view. Select the Budget view.
This view has five columns. The column on the left shows the unique object
identifier that Rational DOORS generates for each object. It has a prefix
(SOW) and an object number (for example, 11).
The next column is the main column, and displays the Object Heading
and Object Text attributes.
Notice that the current object is not the first object in the module. When
you create a view you can control every aspect of what the screen looks like
when the view is first loaded, including which object is the current object.
6. Use the drop-down list of views to select other views and see how views can
totally alter your view of the same data. Views let you hide or show whatever
information you want.
7. Now turn off the display of change bars. Click View > Show > Change
Bars.
8. Use the Display to level drop-down list, which you will find to the right of
the View drop-down list, to select Level 1.
Now you see only the seven top-level objects in the module. The > symbol
shows that lower level objects are hidden.
9. Select All levels in the drop-down list to display all the objects again.
10. Click View > Outline.
Outlining is turned on. Now you see only objects that have headings.
11. Click the Requirements heading to make it the current object, as shown in
the previous example. Now compress it by clicking View > Compress.
The plus sign shows that section 4 is compressed.

Getting Started with Rational DOORS 17

Quick tour

12. Decompress section 4.

Make sure it is the current object, and then click View > Compress.
13. Turn outlining off.
Click View > Outline.

Making a link
In this part of the tour you follow and create links:
1. Use the drop-down list of available views to select the Basic view again.
2. Scroll to the top of the module.
3. Turn the display of link arrows on by clicking View > Show > Link
Arrows.
Red and yellow link arrows are displayed.
Roll over the red arrow to see how many out-links the object has. For the
second object in the module, there is one out-link:
4. Right-click the red link arrow to display a pop-up menu that shows
information about the target object.
The target object is in the Functional Requirements module. The module
is not open, so you see <unloaded> preceded by the object number, 145.
5. Select 145 <unloaded> from the pop-up menu to open the module, with
that object as the current object.
The target object has an yellow in-link arrow. Right-click it and use the
pop-up menu to go back to the User Requirements module.
6. Now make a link. In the User Requirements module:
a. Scroll to the top of the module and single-click the second object to
make it the current object.
Note Make sure you single-click the object to select it. If
you double-click, you go into edit mode and see the
edit mode pop-up menu.

b. Right-click Link > Start Link.

The object turns pink showing it is the link start.
7. Now select any object in the Functional Requirements module, and
right-click Link > Make Link from Start.

18 Getting Started with Rational DOORS

Making a link

If you see messages asking if you want to create link modules and linksets,
click Yes.
The link is created. In the User Requirements module, the red link arrow
now says the object has two out-links.
8. The object is still pink so you can repeat Step 7 to create more links that
have that object as the source.
When you have finished, clear the link start by clicking Link > Clear Start.
The object is no longer pink.
Notice that the right-click link options you used earlier are also on the Link
menu.
9. Finally, look at the Traceability Explorer, which provides another way of
showing and navigating links.
In the User Requirements module window, click Analysis > Traceability
Explorer.
The Traceability Explorer is displayed, showing a flat list of all the objects
in the module.
10. Click View > Out-links to see which objects have out-links.
Objects that have links have a plus sign (+) beside them.
Note If you do not see any plus signs in the Traceability
Explorer, it could be because the target modules are not
open. Click View > All Modules to show information
about all links, regardless of whether the target modules
are open.

11. Click the plus sign beside object 1.0-1 to show information about its links.
12. Select the linked object 1.0-1, and notice that the status bar shows which
module it is in (Object FR-145 in /Copy of Sports utility vehicle
4x2/Requirements/Functional Requirements).
13. Right-click the linked object and select Show Object to open the target
module with the object as the current object.
14. Go back to the Traceability Explorer, and click View > In-links. Click View
> All Modules to display in-links from all modules, instead of only modules
that are currently open.
Now you can see which objects have in-links.
Notice that there is now an in-link arrow. The direction of the arrows in the
Traceability Explorer shows whether you are looking at in-links or out-links.

Getting Started with Rational DOORS 19

Quick tour

15. In the Traceability Explorer window, click File > Exit.

Creating an attribute
In this part of the tour you create an attribute, add a column to display it, and
then change the position of the column.
1. In the User Requirements module, click Edit > Attributes.
The Columns and Attributes dialog box is displayed, with the Attributes
tab selected.
2. Click New to create an attribute.
3. Fill in the following details for the new attribute:
a. In the Name box, type Approved.
b. In the Description box, type An attribute to record whether an
object is approved.
c. In the Type box, select Yes or No.
d. Select the Default value box, and then select No as the default value.
e. At the bottom left of the window, select the Add new attribute to
current view box.
f. Click OK.
g. Click Close to close the Columns and Attributes dialog box.
The module now has an Approved column. You set the default value to be
No, so every object has the value No.
4. Change the value to Yes for the second object:
a. Double-click the current value (No).
You see a drop-down list of the values the attribute can have (Yes, No,
or Reset to Default). In this case the default is No.
b. Pick Yes from this list.
c. Either click Accept changes on the Commit toolbar, or click any
other object to accept the new value.
5. Now center the text in the Approved column. Right-click the column title
then select Center from the pop-up menu.
Notice that the background color of the column title turns a paler shade of
gray, showing that it is selected.

20 Getting Started with Rational DOORS

Sorting and filtering the data

6. Drag the column title to the left. The whole column moves when you release
the mouse button.

Sorting and filtering the data

In this part of the tour you sort the data and then apply a filter to it:
1. Sort the data using the Approved attribute. Click Tools > Sort.
2. Select Approved and Ascending, and then click Add. The sort is added to
the Sort list.
3. Click OK.
You see all the approved items, followed by all the items that have not yet
been approved.
4. Scroll down to where the table was. Notice that it is replaced by a single
object with >> Table. This is a table marker object.
Tables are hidden when you apply a sort.
5. Click Turn sorting on or off on the Display toolbar. The sort is turned
off and the table is no longer hidden. Scroll to the table to check you can see
it.
6. Now filter the view and display only the objects that contains the word
safety. Click Tools > Filter > Define and type safety in the third box.
7. Click OK.
You see only objects that contain the word safety.
This is a simple filter. You can set up advanced filters that let you define
much more complex filtering criteria.
8. Turn the filter off. Click Turn filtering on or off on the Display
toolbar.

Finishing the tour

In the final part of the tour you go back to the Database Explorer, look at
Project view, delete then purge the copied project you have been using, and then
exit Rational DOORS.
1. Close the modules you opened. In each module window, click File > Close.
2. If you see messages asking if you want to save the changes you made to the
modules, click No.

Getting Started with Rational DOORS 21

Quick tour

3. In the Database Explorer, you see the database at the top level in the left
pane. You are in Database view.
4. Switch to Project view by clicking View > Project View.
Now the top-level items are projects. You see all the projects you are allowed
to access. Project view is useful if you have a deep database hierarchy,
because in Project view you do not have to navigate the hierarchy to find the
projects you work on.
5. Switch back to Database view. Click View > Database View.
6. Double-click the Prototypes folder in the left pane to make it your current
folder. It has an open folder icon .
7. In the right pane, select the copied project you created at the start of the tour
then click File > Delete. The project disappears.
8. Turn on the display of deleted items. Click View > Show Deleted Items.
You see the deleted project . It has a red cross in the corner of the icon.
9. Select the deleted project , and then click File > Purge.
You see a message asking if you really want to purge the project.
10. Click Yes.
The project is permanently removed from the database.
11. Exit Rational DOORS. Click File > Exit.

22 Getting Started with Rational DOORS

4 Contacting support
This chapter contains the following topics:
• Contacting IBM Rational Software Support
• Prerequisites
• Submitting problems
• Other information

Contacting IBM Rational Software Support

If the self-help resources have not provided a resolution to your problem, you
can contact IBM Rational Software Support for assistance in resolving product
issues.
Note If you are a heritage Telelogic customer, you can go to
http://support.telelogic.com/toolbar and download the
IBM Rational Telelogic Software Support browser toolbar.
This toolbar helps simplify the transition to the IBM Rational
Telelogic product online resources. Also, a single reference
site for all IBM Rational Telelogic support resources is
located at
http://www.ibm.com/software/rational/support/telelogic/

Prerequisites
To submit your problem to IBM Rational Software Support, you must have an
active Passport Advantage® software maintenance agreement. Passport
Advantage is the IBM comprehensive software licensing and software
maintenance (product upgrades and technical support) offering. You can enroll
online in Passport Advantage from
http://www.ibm.com/software/lotus/passportadvantage/howtoenroll.html.
• To learn more about Passport Advantage, visit the Passport Advantage
FAQs at
http://www.ibm.com/software/lotus/passportadvantage/brochures_faqs_
quickguides.html.
• For further assistance, contact your IBM representative.
To submit your problem online (from the IBM Web site) to IBM Rational
Software Support, you must additionally:

Getting Started with Rational DOORS 23

Contacting support

• Be a registered user on the IBM Rational Software Support Web site. For
details about registering, go to
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/support/.
• Be listed as an authorized caller in the service request tool.

Submitting problems
To submit your problem to IBM Rational Software Support:
1. Determine the business impact of your problem. When you report a
problem to IBM, you are asked to supply a severity level. Therefore, you
need to understand and assess the business impact of the problem that you
are reporting.
Use the following table to determine the severity level.

Severity Description

1 The problem has a critical business impact: You are unable to

use the program, resulting in a critical impact on operations.
This condition requires an immediate solution.
2 This problem has a significant business impact: The program
is usable, but it is severely limited.
3 The problem has some business impact: The program is
usable, but less significant features (not critical to
operations) are unavailable.
4 The problem has minimal business impact: The problem
causes little impact on operations or a reasonable
circumvention to the problem was implemented.

2. Describe your problem and gather background information, When

describing a problem to IBM, be as specific as possible. Include all relevant
background information so that IBM Rational Software Support specialists
can help you solve the problem efficiently. To save time, know the answers
to these questions:
• What software versions were you running when the problem occurred?
To determine the exact product name and version, use the option
applicable to you:

24 Getting Started with Rational DOORS

Submitting problems

• Start the IBM Installation Manager and select File > View
Installed Packages. Expand a package group and select a package
to see the package name and version number.
• Start your product, and click Help > About to see the offering
name and version number.
• What is your operating system and version number (including any
service packs or patches)?
• Do you have logs, traces, and messages that are related to the problem
symptoms?
• Can you recreate the problem? If so, what steps do you perform to
recreate the problem?
• Did you make any changes to the system? For example, did you make
changes to the hardware, operating system, networking software, or
other system components?
• Are you currently using a workaround for the problem? If so, be
prepared to describe the workaround when you report the problem.
3. Submit your problem to IBM Rational Software Support. You can submit
your problem to IBM Rational Software Support in the following ways:
• Online: Go to the IBM Rational Software Support Web site at
https://www.ibm.com/software/rational/support/ and in the Rational
support task navigator, click Open Service Request. Select the
electronic problem reporting tool, and open a Problem Management
Record (PMR), describing the problem accurately in your own words.
For more information about opening a service request, go to
http://www.ibm.com/software/support/help.html
You can also open an online service request using the IBM Support
Assistant. For more information, go to
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/support/isa/faq.html.
• By phone: For the phone number to call in your country or region, go
to the IBM directory of worldwide contacts at
http://www.ibm.com/planetwide/ and click the name of your country
or geographic region.
• Through your IBM Representative: If you cannot access IBM
Rational Software Support online or by phone, contact your IBM
Representative. If necessary, your IBM Representative can open a
service request for you. You can find complete contact information for
each country at http://www.ibm.com/planetwide/.

Getting Started with Rational DOORS 25

Contacting support

If the problem you submit is for a software defect or for missing or inaccurate
documentation, IBM Rational Software Support creates an Authorized Program
Analysis Report (APAR). The APAR describes the problem in detail. Whenever
possible, IBM Rational Software Support provides a workaround that you can
implement until the APAR is resolved and a fix is delivered. IBM publishes
resolved APARs on the IBM Rational Software Support Web site daily, so that
other users who experience the same problem can benefit from the same
resolution.

Other information
For Rational software product news, events, and other information, visit the
IBM Rational Software Web site on http://www.ibm.com/software/rational/.

26 Getting Started with Rational DOORS

5 Notices
© Copyright IBM Corporation 1993, 2010
US Government Users Restricted Rights - Use, duplication, or disclosure
restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corp.
This information was developed for products and services offered in the U.S.A.
IBM may not offer the products, services, or features discussed in this document
in other countries. Consult your local IBM representative for information on the
products and services currently available in your area. Any reference to an IBM
product, program, or service is not intended to state or imply that only that IBM
product, program, or service may be used. Any functionally equivalent product,
program, or service that does not infringe any IBM intellectual property right
may be used instead. However, it is the user’s responsibility to evaluate and verify
the operation of any non-IBM product, program, or service.
IBM may have patents or pending patent applications covering subject matter
described in this document. The furnishing of this document does not grant you
any license to these patents. You can send written license inquiries to:

IBM Director of Licensing

IBM Corporation
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For license inquiries regarding double-byte character set (DBCS) information,

contact the IBM Intellectual Property Department in your country or send
written inquiries to:

Intellectual Property Licensing

Legal and Intellectual Property Law
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The following paragraph does not apply to the United Kingdom or any
other country where such provisions are inconsistent with local law:
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION PROVIDES
THIS PUBLICATION “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,

Getting Started with Rational DOORS 27

Notices

EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,

THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF NON-INFRINGEMENT,
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Some states do not allow disclaimer of express or implied warranties in certain
transactions. Therefore, this statement may not apply to you.
This information could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors.
Changes are periodically made to the information herein; these changes will be
incorporated in new editions of the publication. IBM may make improvements
and/or changes in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this
publication at any time without notice.
Any references in this information to non-IBM Web sites are provided for
convenience only and do not in any manner serve as an endorsement of those
Web sites. The materials at those Web sites are not part of the materials for this
IBM product and use of those Web sites is at your own risk.
IBM may use or distribute any of the information you supply in any way it
believes appropriate without incurring any obligation to you.
Licensees of this program who wish to have information about it for the
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of the information which has been exchanged, should contact:

Intellectual Property Dept. for Rational Software

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1 Rogers Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142
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Such information may be available, subject to appropriate terms and conditions,

including in some cases, payment of a fee.
The licensed program described in this document and all licensed material
available for it are provided by IBM under terms of the IBM Customer
Agreement, IBM International Program License Agreement or any equivalent
agreement between us.
Any performance data contained herein was determined in a controlled
environment. Therefore, the results obtained in other operating environments
may vary significantly. Some measurements may have been made on
development-level systems and there is no guarantee that these measurements
will be the same on generally available systems. Furthermore, some
measurements may have been estimated through extrapolation. Actual results

28 Getting Started with Rational DOORS

Trademarks

may vary. Users of this document should verify the applicable data for their
specific environment.
Information concerning non-IBM products was obtained from the suppliers of
those products, their published announcements or other publicly available
sources. IBM has not tested those products and cannot confirm the accuracy of
performance, compatibility or any other claims related to non-IBM products.
Questions on the capabilities of non-IBM products should be addressed to the
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This information contains examples of data and reports used in daily business
operations. To illustrate them as completely as possible, the examples include the
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If you are viewing this information softcopy, the photographs and color
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Additional legal notices are described in the legal_information.html file that is
included in your software installation.

Trademarks
IBM, the IBM logo, and ibm.com are trademarks or registered trademarks of
International Business Machines Corp., registered in many jurisdictions
worldwide. Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or
other companies. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web at
www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.html.
Microsoft and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United
States, other countries, or both.
Other company, product or service names may be trademarks or service marks
of others.

Getting Started with Rational DOORS 29

Notices

30 Getting Started with Rational DOORS

 Objects
Index object identifiers, 17
object numbers, 17
A understanding, 5
Attributes
Object Heading, 6 P
Object Text, 6 Partitions, 11
understanding, 5 Project managers, 11
Projects, 7
B Proposals
Baselines, 9 change proposal, 10
suggestion, 10
C
Change Control Board, 10
R
Custom user, 11 Requirements
system requirements, 4
D understanding, 4
Database managers, 11 user requirements, 4

E S
Edit modes, 9 Standard users, 11
Example Database, 13 System requirements, 4

F T
Folders, 7 Traceability, 6
Formal modules, 4
U
I User requirements, 4
IBM Customer Support, 23 User types, 11

L V
Links, 6 Views, 7

M
Modules, 4

O
Object Heading attribute, 6
Object Text attribute, 6

Getting Started with Rational DOORS 31

Index

32 Getting Started with Rational DOORS