The document discusses best practices for importing requirements into IBM's DOORS requirements management tool. It describes how to import from plain text, rich text format, Microsoft Word documents, and spreadsheets. For Word and spreadsheet imports, it recommends preparing the source documents first by structuring headings correctly and mapping columns to DOORS attributes. The document also provides tips on handling linked requirements and notes that PDFs cannot be directly imported but must first be converted to another format like Word.

1. DOORS Enlightenment Series – 7/6/2012
Best Practices - Importing into DOORS
Jim Marsh
jim.marsh@us.ibm.com
Client Technical Rep., Great West Business Unit, IBM Rational
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Agenda
 Means to import existing Requirements
 Plain Text
 Rich Text Format
 MS Word Import
–Preparation before importing
 Spread sheet Import
–Preparation before importing
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3. What are my options for importing?
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Import your data and create documents
Microsoft Word
Word Direct Entry PowerPoint
Microsoft
Word RTF Excel
Outlook
OLE HTML
ASCII RTF Word
ASCII
Spreadsheet
DOORS Spreadsheet
Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project
Tool Integrations Tool Integrations*
Adobe® FrameMaker FrameMaker
RIF (XML) RIF (XML)
Print
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Focus on:
 Plain Text
 Rich Text
Format - RTF
 MS Word
 Spreadsheet
–csv
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Document import from plain text files
To import:
 Click File  Import  Plain Text
 Browse to file and Import.
 The structure of the object
hierarchy and the values of the
object attributes are determined
by the structure and content of the
file.
 Populate an empty module
 Extend a populated module,
imported file is placed after the
current object
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Document import from plain text files -- Continued
Decomposition Level:
 None - create one new object and
import all the text into that object.
 Paragraph - create objects for each
paragraph of text in the file.
– A block of text up to an empty line is
interpreted as a paragraph.
 Sentence - create an object for each
sentence in the file.
– A block of text up to and including a
period is interpreted as a sentence.
 Keyword - create an object after a
sentence that contains a keyword.
– When a keyword is parsed, the sentence
containing the keyword becomes the last
sentence in the object. A new object is
created for the next sentence.
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Document import from rich text format
To import:
 Click File  Import  Rich Text
Format
 Browse to file and Import.
 Map RTF styles to DOORS Styles
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Export from MS Word to Rational DOORS
Todo’s before:
 If Microsoft Word is installed when you install Rational DOORS, an
Export to DOORS toolbar is added to Microsoft Word.
 Data is imported into the main column of a formal module.
– Headings and text are imported into the object heading and object text
attributes.
 DOORS database explorer:
– open the folder or project where you want to import the Word document.
– specify the formal module where you want to import the data.
• If the module does not exist in the folder or project that is open, it is created
during the import. If the module exists you must confirm that you want the
data to be appended to the module. You must have create access to this
folder or project.
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Export from MS Word to DOORS - continued
View in Outlining
Mode in MS Word
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MS Word Export -- Things to Note
 Paragraphs in the Word document that have Outline levels 1 - 9 are imported as heading
objects.
 You can choose to ignore section numbers in the Word headings.
 Auto-numbered section numbers are always ignored.
 Paragraphs that are formatted as body text in Microsoft Word are stored in the object text
attribute. Objects that contain paragraph text are created one level below the heading object.
 OLE objects are imported and stored as OLE objects.
 Tables are imported as Rational DOORS tables.
 Bulleted lists are imported as Rational DOORS bulleted lists
 Indented paragraphs in Word have identical indenting applied in Rational DOORS
 All other styles are imported as object text.
 Unicode and other international data are included in the import.
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Export from MS Word to DOORS - continued
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Importing from a spreadsheet – CSV/TSV
Todo’s before import
 Work from a copy of the spreadsheet
 Column Headings become attributes
 Ensure they are what you want
 Speling?
 Order doesn’t matter
 “Requirements” = Object Text
 Save as a .csv
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Use Existing Attributes or Create New
 When importing, you can create new attributes based on the
data
 DOORS csv/tsv import will guess the data type
– The data type can be changed on-the-fly during import
– Ensure data is respective of the data type desired.
• !! The importer doesn’t like it when this isn’t followed.
 Attribute lists or enumerations
– Create the attributes before the import to ensure that the data uses
these
• !! Make sure the naming matches.
• Multi-select??
 Do test imports as you go.
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Spreadsheet import - continued
 Data items in a CSV or TSV file can have integer, real, date, or
string values.
 Strings are typically contained within quotation marks, and can
contain commas, tabs, and line breaks. Quotation marks can
be imported if they are duplicated.
– For example, looking at the CSV file with a text editor, the string:
"This string has a comma, which is not imported and a quotation mark ""
too" is imported as:
This string has a comma which is not imported and a quotation mark "
too .
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Linked items
• If you have existing link numbers that associate to another
requirement spreadsheet.
• Import the linked attribute column – index of the associated
object.
• Link by attribute
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Linked items - continued
• Select the target module to link
to/from
• Select the link module to the link
• Select the Attribute that hold the
unique id from the target module
• Set the link direction
• Select the object set to be linked.
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What about PDF?
• No direct import from PDF
• Convert to MS Word
• Search the web for a converter – many exist
• Then Export normally from Word
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 Question send to: Mark Kovich: mkovich@us.ibm.com
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