Request Hierarchy Synchronization

Note: For information about enabling request hierarchy synchronization with requirements in Quality Center 10.00:

For information about enabling request hierarchy synchronization with requirements in ALM 11 or later, see Options for Integration with an ALM Requirement.

The integration of PPM with QC/ALM allows you to synchronize the hierarchies of requests in PPM and requirements in QC/ALM, that is, to make the QC/ALM requirement hierarchy match the PPM request hierarchy automatically, as in the following example sequence:

  1. A PPM request named Request A is created.

  2. With integration, an associated Requirement A is automatically created in QC/ALM.

  3. A PPM request named Request B is created with a reference to Request A indicating that Request A is the parent of Request B.

  4. An associated Requirement B is automatically created in QC/ALM. If request hierarchy synchronization is enabled, since Request B is the child of Request A, Requirement B is automatically created as the child of Requirement A.

    5. Note: If Requirement A does not exist in QC/ALM, creating a reference in PPM from Request B to Request A has no effect in QC/ALM.

If you later delete the relationship (the reference) between Request A and Request B in PPM, the relationship between Requirement A and Requirement B is automatically deleted in QC/ALM. For integration with ALM version 11.00 or later, instead of being a child of Requirement A, Requirement B is moved to the folder specified in the Default QC/ALM Folder Name field.

When request hierarchy synchronization is first enabled, it does not cause immediate reorganization of existing requirements in QC/ALM to retroactively match the hierarchy of associated requests. Thereafter, however:

  • Any update to any field in an existing integrated request initiates an update to the hierarchy (folder structure) of the associated requirement to reflect the hierarchy of the request.

  • Upon creation of any new PPM request, the integration creates a new QC/ALM requirement in a matching hierarchy.

  • Any changes you make to the hierarchy in PPM are automatically reflected in the hierarchy of the QC/ALM requirements. Thus, changes made in QC/ALM to the hierarchy of a requirement can be overridden later by updates to the associated PPM request.

PPM allows a request to have multiple parents, but QC/ALM limits a requirement to only one parent. If a PPM request has multiple parents, QC/ALM does not duplicate that hierarchy in the project, and PPM displays a message indicating a problem with hierarchy synchronization.