Creating impact analysis diagrams

You can create impact analysis diagrams to find objects that are related to a selected target artifact. You can then investigate each of the linked objects.

Before you begin

You must be logged in to the product and have a project dashboard open.

About this task

Impact analysis diagrams are constructed from impact analysis configurations and provide an overall view of how artifacts in a project are related. You can use impact analysis diagrams to discover all the artifacts that link to or from the target artifact or to explore the impact of changes on the related artifacts.

When you create a new impact analysis diagram, depending on the target artifact that you choose, the initial diagram can include a large number of 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

  1. On the project dashboard, in the Analysis menu, click Create > Impact Analysis Diagram.
  2. In the Select a Target Resource window, search for and select the resource that you want to be the focus or starting point for the impact analysis.
  3. Optional: In the editor, click in the title field and type a name for the new impact analysis diagram.
  4. On the Impact Definitions page, specify the following properties:
    • Target artifact: Displays the target artifact that you originally selected. You can change the target artifact by clicking the Choose Target Artifact icon and searching for a different one.
    • Max depth: Specify the maximum number of levels to include in the impact analysis diagram.
    • Impact analysis configuration: Select the configuration to apply to the new diagram.
  5. To generate the impact analysis diagram, click Run. As the following screen capture shows, when you run an impact analysis, the diagram is displayed in the lower pane on the page, and details about the analysis are displayed in the pane on the right.

    The new impact analysis diagram is displayed on the web page, and details about the analysis are displayed in the pane on the right.

  6. Optional: You can control how the diagram is displayed on the page by using the controls on the diagram toolbar.
  7. 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.
  8. You can explore the potential impact of changes by adding or removing artifacts.
    1. To add artifacts to the impact analysis diagram, on the Added Artifacts page, click the Add icon and search for the artifact.
    2. To remove artifacts, in the impact analysis diagram, click the artifact and then click the Remove icon. The artifact is listed automatically on the Removed Sources page. You can restore the artifact by clicking the Restore icon.
  9. Optional: To examine the properties of an artifact in the impact analysis diagram, select the artifact and click the Preview icon.

Feedback