This content
applies to version 4.0.3 or later. You
can create impact analysis diagrams to find artifacts that are related
to a selected focus artifact. You can then investigate each of the
linked artifacts.
Before you begin
Impact analysis diagrams are constructed from impact analysis
profiles and provide an overall view of how artifacts are related.
You must have at least one impact analysis profile before you create
an impact analysis diagram.
About this task
Use impact analysis diagrams to discover all the artifacts
that link to or from the focus artifact or to explore the impact of
changes on the related artifacts.
When you create an impact
analysis diagram, depending on the focus artifact that you choose,
the initial diagram can include many artifacts. You can focus on specific
artifacts and links in the diagram by removing existing artifacts
or by adding new ones. You can also examine the properties of specific
artifacts in the diagram.
Procedure
- In the main menu, click .
- In the Impact Analysis dialog, set the focus artifact and
the profile.
- Search for and select the artifact to be the starting
point for the impact analysis by clicking Choose Focus
Artifact.
- Select a focus artifact.
- Select a profile.
A profile specifies
the traversal direction, traversal depth, and filters to apply during
an analysis.
- Click Start Analysis.
- To include artifacts that are upstream from the focus artifact,
downstream from the focus artifact, or both, click the Traversal tab.
To learn more about the upstream and downstream settings,
hover over the small question mark to the right of the impact analysis
diagram name to read hover help.
- Set the depth that you want analyzed by entering a number
in the depth field.
- To generate the impact analysis diagram, click Apply.
When you run an impact analysis, the diagram is displayed in the lower
pane. Further, details about the analysis are displayed in the right
pane.
- Optional: In the editor, click in the title
field and type a name for the new impact analysis diagram.
- Optional: You can control how the diagram is
displayed on the page by using the controls on the diagram toolbar.
- To save the impact analysis diagram so that other team
members can use it, click Save. The new diagram
is automatically included in the list of available diagrams.
- You can explore the potential impact of changes by adding
or removing artifacts.
This exploration is useful when
you must introduce a change to fix a bug or create a variant of the
product hierarchy.
- To add artifacts to the impact analysis diagram, click
the Added Artifacts tab, and then click Add to
search for the artifact. You can add as many artifacts as you need.
After you are finished adding artifacts, click Apply to
run the analysis and view your changes.
- To hide artifacts in the impact analysis diagram, right-click
over the artifact in the analysis diagram and choose Hide
Artifact. The artifact is listed automatically on the Hidden
Artifacts tab. Restore the artifact by clicking Restore.
- To hide types in the impact analysis diagram, right-click
over the type of artifact in the analysis diagram, choose Hide
Type, and then choose the type. The artifact type is listed
automatically on the Hidden Types tab. Restore
the artifact type by clicking Restore.
- To expand artifacts in the impact analysis diagram,
right-click over the artifact in the analysis diagram and choose Expand.
The expanded artifact, and all artifacts that have a direct relationship
to it, are displayed to the right of the main artifact. Collapse the
expanded artifact by right-clicking over the expanded artifact and
choosing Collapse.
- Optional: To examine the properties of an artifact
in the impact analysis diagram, select the artifact and click Preview.