Creating forum configurations

You can create a mapping configuration between Rational® Asset Manager asset forums and Rational ClearQuest® records. After a forum is bound to these configurations, all of the forum topics and posts will either create a new ClearQuest record or append a new record of the type that is described by the configuration.

Before you begin

When you configure forum integrations with ClearQuest, all of the comments that would be considered a topic become a ClearQuest record. This record could be a defect, a request for enhancement, or any other type of ClearQuest record associated with the configuration you create. If a forum is active and there are already topics populated, those topics will not be bound to ClearQuest. Only the topics created after the connection has been configured will be added to the ClearQuest record.

For example, if you track 'defects' in ClearQuest, you can create a forum configuration that allows Rational Asset Manager users to open defects in your ClearQuest database about the asset that they are discussing in the forum. After the configuration is created and bound to an asset forum, users will see a button for New Defect where they would have seen a button for New Topic. When the user opens a defect by using Rational Asset Manager the user will be asked to fill in a short form requiring the user type a title and a description for the defect. The configuration details will define 'defect' as the type of record to be created. The initial ClearQuest field values can be populated three different ways, either by the text typed in the title and description fields, static values stored in the configuration, or variable values based on the asset that the defect is being logged against. When users write posts in this forum configured for defects, these posts are appended to a ClearQuest field, for example a 'Note Entry' on the defect.

You must have the community administrator role to add a new connection.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the Rational Asset Manager web application.
  2. Open the Administration page and select the community you want to edit.
  3. Open the Forum Mapping page and click New configuration.
  4. Complete the form to create a new forum mapping configuration.
    1. Name: This is a name you provide for the configuration. The name can include spaces and special characters.
    2. Description: Optionally, you can create a description of the configuration. The description can have spaces and special characters.
    3. Repository Connection: This is the connection that will be used by this forum mapping configuration.
    4. CQ Record Type: This is the type of ClearQuest record that will be created when a topic is created in a forum that uses this configuration. These record types can be anything like a defect, feature, or enhancement depending on the ClearQuest configurations in your organization.
    5. Field Mappings: These are the fields from the ClearQuest record that will be filled in using information from the forum topic and response posts. These fields can be anything like a headline, description, or note entry depending on the ClearQuest configuration in your organization.
    6. Additional Fields: Optionally, you can specify additional fields in the ClearQuest record that will be automatically populated with data from the asset or the forum. These additional fields can be anything like project, component, or severity depending on the ClearQuest configuration in your organization. You can include static text, variables, or both. Clicking the Insert Value link will retrieve suggested values from ClearQuest along with common variables from Rational Asset Manager. These can be anything like Asset Name, URL, Submitter, or Community.
    7. User authorized to access this connection: Select the users or roles that are authorized to map this configuration to a forum.
  5. Click Save Changes.

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