Adding Parameter Values to Requirements and Tests

Published Date: April 16, 2026
Validated: Yes
Audience: Everyone
Products and Versions Covered: 

• Jama Connect® 
  • Cloud/CVC
  • Self-hosted

Summary

Parameters define measurable attributes of a system—things like speed, temperature, weight, power consumption, or response time. Without them, requirements stay ambiguous. Saying “the system should be fast” is open to interpretation; specifying “the system shall respond within 200 milliseconds” removes that ambiguity.

Parameters also make requirements verifiable. In systems engineering, every requirement should be testable. Parameters provide the quantitative criteria needed to confirm whether a system meets its requirements through analysis, inspection, or testing.

In this article, you will learn how parameters can be used and reused across multiple requirements and test items in Jama Connect® 

Resolution

Create Parameter Item Type

The recommended practice is to create a separate item type in Jama Connect called "Parameter" with the following minimum fields:

• Name (e.g., max speed)

• Value (e.g., 100)

• Unit (e.g. km/h)

Below is an example set of parameters in a Jama Connect project. You may add additional custom fields to the item type. These parameters will be linked and referenced inside the actual requirements and test descriptions

Reference Parameter inside Requirement or Test

When authoring or editing a new requirement or test case in Jama Connect, the engineer will utilize the parameter name and then:

1. Use a prefix notation (sigil) to notate that the text is a parameter reference. e.g. $max_speed where "$" is the sigil
2. Highlight the sigil and parameter name inside the requirement statement and add a hyperlink to the corresponding parameter
3. Create a trace relationship from parameter > requirement/test item

These steps establish a consistent approach and allow you to:

• Dynamically use the same parameter on many items in the project.  You change the value of the parameter once, and it's already hyperlinked to multiple requirement/test items
• When the parameter is changed, it will flag the downstream requirement/test items as "suspect" via the trace relationship. This allows for easy impact assessment

STEP 1: Use sigil + parameter name to identify the parameter in the description

STEP 2: create clickable hyperlink from parameter text to parameter item in Jama Connect

STEP 3: Create a traceability link from the parameter (upstream) to requirement/test item (downstream)

Automate!

The manual parameter process can easily be automated via a script and Jama Connect®  REST API. 

1. User Input: user creates or edits an item in Jama Connect
2. Script Trigger: recurring time, e.g. every 5 min, the script executes
3. Script Workflow: 
   1. Call /abstractitems to search across the projects and item types specified in the script config file to find items updated since the last script run
   2. Look in the specific rich text fields for any parameter sigil (e.g., "$" in our example)
   3. Script finds the corresponding parameter item in Jama automatically:
      1. Creates the hyperlink from the parameter name in the requirement to the actual parameter item
      2. Creates a trace relationship between parameter and requirement objects in Jama Connect
      3. Appends the actual Value and Unit fields from the Parameter to the Requirement / Test description

Example below that was automated from a REST API script:

Additional Resources

• Need help implementing this? Work with our team to define your specific needs do REST API Consultation or Custom Dev Services
• Success Programs
• Success Catalog
• Request a Solution Offering or Training from the Success Catalog

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