Updated: February 2025
Audience: System Engineers, Engineering Leadership, etc
Products Applicable: Jama Connect®
Use Case
Best Practices and Considerations for Creating and Managing Library Projects in Jama Connect®
Best Practice: Planning for and creating a library project
Creating a library project in Jama Connect® allows for reusing high-quality requirements across various projects. It enhances understanding how different projects utilize these requirements and simplifies updates and changes from a central location.
When starting a library project, the first step is determining the content type the library will manage. This content may include regulatory requirements, industry standards, or functional requirements for a product line. Understanding what content will be stored in the library will help in identifying stakeholders and use cases, which in turn will assist in deciding the best structure for the explorer tree and the appropriate permission scheme for the library.
For example, setting up a library project for regulatory requirements requires considering the necessary stakeholders and use cases. This approach ensures that the library is effectively organized and easily accessible.
For instance, if you are using a library project for regulatory requirements, you might consider the following stakeholders and use cases:
Compliance Managers/Officers
Please ensure that any new regulatory requirements are added to the library. If existing regulatory requirements change, update them accordingly. Establishing relationships among related requirements to clarify dependencies is essential. Also, please look over all projects to make sure they comply. This analysis should identify whether any projects are using outdated regulatory requirements, have made alterations to existing requirements, or include requirements that have not yet been adopted.
Project Managers
Incorporate the relevant regulatory requirements for traceability and analyze their impact on the project scope. Based on this analysis, the library project explorer tree should include at least one set of regulatory requirements. Compliance Managers should have WRITE permission to add or update specific requirements, while Project Managers should have READ permission to view, reuse, and synchronize relevant requirements for their projects.
For a library project focused on functional requirements, the following stakeholders and use cases may be involved:
Product Line Manager/Director of Product Development
Identify which projects require specific functional requirements and how each requirement may be updated or modified for different projects. Additionally, it introduces new functional requirements for reuse in future projects, product variants, or model iterations.
Project Managers
Reuse existing, approved functional requirements instead of reinventing the wheel for each project.
You can use lessons learned, innovations, or best practices identified from similar projects.
In this scenario, the library project explorer tree may have a hierarchy of components, each with functional requirements based on the product line and the system components. Product Line Managers (PLMs) and Development Project Managers (DPs) would have write permissions to reuse functional requirements and their variants from projects into the library. They would also need to synchronize any updates to existing library requirements.
Project Managers would have read permissions to the components, allowing them to reuse pre-approved functional requirements and associated design specifications, test cases, and other related items for their projects. They would also be responsible for syncing any necessary updates to their projects.
Implementation: Steps to create the library project
1. Create a new project to serve as the library.
3. Create user groups for each stakeholder group and add users in the library project.
4. Grant permissions to each user group based on your identified use cases.
5. Establish the explorer tree container structure/hierarchy and configure default explorer tree settings in the library project.
6. Import new requirements from a Word or Excel document, reuse requirements from existing projects, or create new requirements directly in Jama Connect to populate the library.
Using Advanced Reuse Rules to Simplify Complex Use Cases
In addition to reusing only selected requirements or those from the library for other projects, there may be more complex scenarios to consider. For instance, when dealing with the functional requirements use cases mentioned earlier, you should include related design specifications, test cases, and other relevant items in the library project. Instead of having project managers manually reuse the Functional Requirements and then create any missing relationship links for additional items in their projects, you can develop an Advanced Reuse Rule. This rule will automate the process of reusing the related requirements as well.
For this use case, you could define an Advanced Reuse Rule as such:
WHEN reusing a Functional Requirement,
Also, REUSE all Design Specifications one level downstream,
AND REUSE all Test Cases one level downstream,
AND Sync item(s) and share Global ID.
Figure 1 Advanced Rules for reusing related items from the Library to a given project.
Taking this further, you can define which fields and widgets should be copied or updated when the rule is applied during a reuse or sync operation.
Figure 2: Select which fields and widgets should be reused for each item type.
When Project Managers apply the Advanced Reuse Rule to reuse Functional Requirements in their projects, these requirements will be copied to a specified location. Any directly related Design Descriptions and Test Cases will also be copied and linked to the reused Functional Requirements. Project Managers can then update these items as needed to align with their project's scope and objectives, rather than recreate everything from scratch. Suppose a defect is identified during testing in a different project that necessitates updates to requirements, design specifications, or test case steps. In that case, these updates can be synced back to the library. In this case, other Project Managers can utilize the Advanced Reuse Rule when synchronizing updates to their Functional Requirements. This allows updates to be applied to the related Design Descriptions and Test Cases in their projects in a single batch operation, rather than requiring individual updates for each item.
Resources for Creating, Editing, and Using Advanced Reuse Rules in Jama Connect
Risk Controls for Managing Library Content
When documenting the stakeholders and use cases for your library project, it is crucial to identify who owns the content within the library. Although all reuse sync operations in Jama Connect must be triggered manually by a user, controlling which users can add or update requirements in the library is essential. The most straightforward way to achieve this is by managing permissions.
Notes on Permissions Related to Reuse and Synchronization
- To reuse an item or synchronize fields from one item to another that shares a Global ID, a user must have at least READ permission for the source item(s) and WRITE permission in the desired reuse location or project.
- Key Takeaway Limit users to read-only permission for the library to prevent unintentional synchronizations from projects back to the library.
- While permissions can be granted directly to individual users, assigning permissions to user groups associated with projects is a better practice. This approach allows for easier management, as users can be added to or removed from groups to adjust permissions.
- Suppose a user belongs to multiple groups with overlapping permissions (for example, one group has write permission and another has read-only permission). In that case, the user will inherit the higher permission level.
- Permissions can be granted at the project level, component level, or set level within a project explorer tree. All containers within the project inherit higher-level permissions. Specifically, all elements within a project inherit permissions granted at the project level, and permissions given at a component or set level apply to all contained items. Inherited permissions can be overridden in the project settings.
- Please note that permissions cannot be assigned at the folder, individual item, or item field levels.
Figure 3: Project user with read permission to the library.
Figure 4: Library owners can oversee their library requirements and compare these to how the projects utilize them.
Utilizing Baselines for Version Control in Library Projects
In Jama Connect, baselines provide a snapshot of the current version of a project or a set of items within a project. They can be used to revert changes to the items in the batch, making baselines a powerful tool for version control in library projects.
You can automate the creation of baselines using the Jama Connect REST API, or library project users with WRITE permission can manually create baselines.
Recommended triggers for creating baselines in a library project:
- AFTER new items are added to the library project or existing items are updated within the library.
- BEFORE performing any batch reuse or synchronization operations TO the library project.
Utilizing Baselines for Version Control in Library Projects
Baselines in Jama Connect capture a snapshot of the current version of a project or a group of items within that project. They can be used to revert changes made to the included items. This functionality makes baselines a valuable tool for version control in Library projects.
You can automate the creation of baselines using the Jama Connect REST API, or library project users with WRITE permission can manually create baselines.
Recommended triggers for establishing baselines in a library project
- AFTER new items are added to the library project or existing items are updated within the library.
- BEFORE performing any batch reuse or synchronization operations TO the library project.
Reusing Baselines from Library Projects
With Jama Connect 9.94, you now have the option to reuse a baseline for a new project. When you create baselines for items in a library project, a snapshot is taken of the current version of each item at the time the baseline is created. To reuse these baselined versions in a new project, click "Reuse" in the top right corner of the baseline items view when you are viewing a baseline.
Figure 5: Reusing previous versions of library items from baselines.
Comparing Versions of Synced Items
Jama Connect simplifies comparing the current versions of synced items, allowing stakeholders to quickly identify where library items have been reused and where updates have occurred in reused items sourced from the original item.
Within Jama Connect, you can access the Synced Items window in the library project to see where a specific set of items has been reused. You can click the "Compare" button from this window to go to any sync destination. This action will display redlined differences for the selected fields, enabling you to see how a reused item differs from its source in the library.
Figure 6: Comparison View of Sync Items
This information is valuable for all stakeholders involved in library projects. Library content owners can quickly identify where library items are being reused, allowing them to spot projects out of compliance or alignment. Meanwhile, project managers can see which library items have been updated and assess whether they are relevant to their projects before synchronizing any changes.
Additionally, predefined reports that generate Excel files are available. These reports indicate where library items have been reused and whether they are synced.
The Sync Status report generates an Excel file that shows where a specific set of items has been reused and whether the item versions are in sync. The Sync Comparison report allows you to specify a source set of items and a location where these items have been reused. It produces an Excel file that highlights any discrepancies in specific fields for the items and details those differences. Both reports can be tailored to meet any additional analysis needs. Please note that for a field to be included in the comparison or to synchronize changes, it must be enabled for synchronization in the item type configuration. For a field to be included in comparisons or to synchronize changes, it must be enabled for synchronization in the item type configuration.
Figure 7 Edit a field for an Item Type to enable synchronization.
References
- Success Programs
- Success Catalog
- Datasheets
- Request a Solution Offering or Training from the Success Catalog
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