How do I Classify Contextual or Informational Content

Austin Christian
Austin Christian
  • Updated

Published Date: April 14, 2026
Validated: Yes
Audience: Jama Connect® Users
Products and Versions Covered: 

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

Summary

This article provides an overview of when to use Text items or a pick list on an item type to label contextual information for requirements and other defined item types. 

Resolution

We recommend using Jama Connect's out-of-box text item capability. Much of Jama's functionality is built around this assumption. Only consider the alternative if you:

  • Need to lock text/information content using status workflows, just like the requirements themselves.
  • Need to migrate large volume of data from pre-existing tool (like Doors) that uses this object type pick list.

Recommended: Text Item Type 

The Text item type is available out of the box and can be used with any set of item types. No configuration changes are necessary to create a Text item. Here we see a text item created to provide information about the system requirements in the set.

Considerations

  • Quickly filter out non-requirement content in list view filters. This is easy for novice users.
  • Enables use of out-of-box relationship status and trace view.
  • API scripts can use source data to create items as either text or requirement types.
  • Text items cannot have a workflow.
  • Some migration source hierarchy are incompatible with Jama rules. For example, a text item cannot be a parent of a requirement.
  • Jama imports all items from document the requirement item type. Users must manually convert relevant text items after import. 

Alternative: Object Type Pick List

To instead use a field on a requirement item type, you must configure a pick list and a field. Here we see an item of type System Requirement, and a field named Object Type has been created to denote items that contain Information vs Requirement Text.

Considerations

  • Users or review moderators can batch transition and lock Information and Requirement objects at same time.
  • API scripts do not have to enforce or transform source hierarchy rules as requirement item type may have parents and children. 
  • Mapping to an object type pick list allows users to avoid manual Text item conversion work after document imports. It also allows more flexible parent/child hierarchies.
  • Additional criteria will be necessary on any advanced filter created and may be challenging to novice users:
    • Item Type = Requirement
    • AND 
    • Object Type = Requirement
  • Trace View must be viewed from an Advanced filter that filters out "information" items.
  • Jama will flag Requirements as "missing traceability" in relationship status even if they are object type - information.

Additional Resources

Feedback:
We welcome your input! Please sign in to leave any comments, suggestions, or ideas for improvement below.

Related to

Was this article helpful?

0 out of 0 found this helpful

Have more questions? Submit a request

Comments

0 comments

Please sign in to leave a comment.