Creating attributes for requirement artifacts

When you create requirements in a project, you can create custom artifact attributes to use in custom artifact types. Custom attributes are based on predefined and custom artifact data types, which define the properties of the attribute, such as textual entries, integers, date, time, or team member names.

Before you begin

You must have administrator permissions to create and modify artifact attributes, and you must be in a Requirements Management (RM) application project.

Procedure

  1. From the Administration menu Menu icon, click Manage Project Properties.
    Note: If configuration management is enabled for your project, on the Administration menu, click Manage Component Properties.
  2. Click the Artifact Attributes tab, and then click New Attribute.
  3. Enter a name and, optionally, a description.
  4. Select a data type.
  5. If you want users to be able to select multiple values from the list of attribute values, select Multiple values allowed.
  6. Optional: Enter an initial value, which will be shown when you create a requirement artifact that contains an attribute of this type.
  7. Optional: In the URI field, specify a unique URI to identify the artifact attribute across RM projects, with the syntax http://hostname/domain/myLabel.
    Restriction: When you specify a URI, ensure that it follows these conventions:
    • Does not contain spaces
    • Does not end in a trailing slash
    • Does not use the local RM server name
    • The last segment of the URI does not contain only numbers
    • The last segment of the URI does not contain only non-alphabetical characters
    • The final character of the URI is a letter, number, hyphen, period, or underscore
    Note: If you use Lifecycle Query Engine as your data source, specify a URI to ensure consistency for reporting across projects.

    In a project, use a unique URI for each artifact attribute. If another project has an equivalent attribute, use the equivalent attribute's URI to enable a shared vocabulary for reporting. Also, define URIs for each of the enumerated values, and use the same URIs to denote equivalent values. In a project that is enabled for configuration management, you can use the same URI for equivalent attributes that are in different components.

    For example, if the Requirements Management (RM) projects define a "Priority" property, use the same URI for it in each project, such as http://my.org/ns/rm/Priority. If another project defines an "Importance" property that is the same as "Priority", use the same URI for both properties.

  8. Click Save.