Format requirements

Before you upload your requirements to the ALM Requirements module, you format the requirements in your worksheet.

To format a requirement:

  1. Open your Excel worksheet.

  2. Define each requirement on a separate row. For each requirement, you must define all required fields as defined in your ALM project.

Consider the following points when formatting requirements:

  • Requirement types. You can assign a single requirement type to your requirements, or your requirements can include multiple requirement types. If they include multiple types:

    • Designate a Requirement Type column. For each requirement, specify the requirement type.

    • For each requirement, include data for the required fields of the specific requirement type.

  • To create a child requirement, add a Path column to the Excel worksheet. In the Path column, type the path under which the requirement is created. Separate each hierarchical level with a backslash (\) character. Make sure not to use a forward slash. If the hierarchy does not exist in ALM, the hierarchy is created along with the requirements.

  • If you enter data in a Target Cycle or Target Release field, you must include the path preceding the cycle or release. Separate each hierarchical level with a backslash (\) character.

    Example: parent1\parent2\TC1

    Make sure not to use a forward slash. If a Target Release or Target Cycle value is unique, you do not need to include its preceding hierarchy.

  • If you enter data in a Target Cycle field, you must also enter data in the Target Release field.

Example:  

The worksheet contains data columns for the Name, Requirement Type, Author, Priority, and Product fields.

The Path column does not correlate to an ALM field. It is used to indicate the hierarchical level of each requirement. For example, Requirement_1 does not have an entry in that column, indicating that it is on the top hierarchical level. The path defined for Requirement_2 and Requirement_3 indicates that these requirements are child requirements of Requirement_1. The path defined for Requirement_4 indicates that it is a child of Requirement_3.

Requirement_3 and Requirement_4 are defined as the Testing requirement type and do not have entries in the Priority and Product columns. Priority and Product are not required fields for the Testing requirement type.

After you upload the requirements to ALM Requirement_1 is displayed under the root requirement, and the other requirements are displayed on other hierarchical levels below Requirement_1. Requirement_3 and Requirement_4 do not have entries in the Priority and Product fields.

For additional formatting guidelines, see Guidelines for formatting.

Once you have formatted your requirements, you can upload them to ALM. For more information, see Upload data from Excel add-in to ALM.

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