Creating and modifying impact analysis diagrams

You can create and modify 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 provide an overall view of how artifacts in a product are related. You must have at least one impact analysis profile before you create an impact analysis diagram. For instructions, see Creating impact analysis profiles.

If your focus artifact is a product version, you must set a product configuration so that sufficient information exists to traverse the product and its links. If your diagram shows the product only, the Configuration field is probably empty.

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 (Hide Artifact) or by adding new ones (Add Artifact). You can also examine the properties of specific artifacts in the diagram (Preview).

You can set up a diagram using one of the four workflows. Steps are given for the following workflows:

Procedure

  1. In the main menu, click Analysis > Create > Impact Analysis Diagram.

    Alternatively, you can create a diagram by right-clicking a focus artifact and selecting Start Analysis. To start the analysis in a new tab, press control, right-click a focus artifact, then select Start Analysis.

  2. In the Impact Analysis dialog box, set the focus artifact, the configuration, and the profile.
    1. Search for and select the artifact to be the starting point for the analysis by entering a partial or full artifact name in the Focus Artifact field. If you do not find the artifact you need, click Advanced Search to enter more detailed search criteria.

      If you started the analysis by right-clicking a focus artifact, you can change the artifact here, if necessary.

    2. Select a focus configuration.

      The configuration you select is used throughout the diagram to resolve versioned products and their links. Selecting a configuration is optional. (You do not need to set a configuration for artifacts, such as work items, test cases, requirements, and models.)

      If you do not set a configuration for a product, the diagram cannot resolve the versioned products or select their respective links, so the products and respective links are not resolved.

      If you select a configuration as the Focus Artifact, the Configuration field is disabled because the configuration is used as the context configuration. All product versions with a relationship to the context configuration are displayed.

      Diagrams support one configuration. If other configurations are encountered as the diagram is drawn, the traversal stops.

    3. Select a profile, and then start the analysis.

      A profile specifies the traversal direction, traversal depth, and filters to apply during an analysis.

      If your administrator has deployed the Analysis content package, the Default profile and four additional profiles are in the Profile list box.

  3. Start the analysis.

    The analysis starts and draws the focus artifact with the artifacts that have a relationship to it.

  4. To specify how the analysis traverses artifacts as it builds the diagram, change the profile in the Traversal tab:
    1. 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 word Traversal to read hover help.

    2. Set the depth that you want analyzed by entering a number in the depth field.
    3. Optional: Set a type for the analysis to find by clicking the Set Depth Based on Type icon. In the Select Type dialog, set Value to specify the artifact type. The artifact type that you set replaces the depth, and the analysis searches until it finds the type.

      After you make any changes to the profile in the Traversal tab, you can save the changes.

      1. Click the Focus and Profile tab, and then click the Save button to the immediate right of Impact Analysis Profile.
      2. In the Save Profile dialog box, give the new profile a name and change the description to match the changes you made.

        If you do not give the profile a new name before you save, you will overwrite the existing profile with the new settings.

        If you cancel the save, you will lose the changes you made to the profile, even if you save the diagram.

  5. To generate the impact analysis diagram, click Apply. As the following screen capture shows, when you run an impact analysis, the diagram is displayed under the edit panel. Further, details about the analysis, such as added and hidden artifacts, are displayed in the accordion tabs on the right.

    Image shows an impact analysis diagram with details about the analysis in the accordion tabs on the right.

  6. In the editor, click in the title field and type a name for the new impact analysis diagram, if you want to save the diagram.
  7. Optional: You can control how the diagram is displayed on the page by using the controls on the diagram toolbar.
  8. 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.
  9. 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 product branch.

    • To hide or show artifacts in the diagram, click the Active Filters tab, and then click the Add Filter icon. In the Add Filter dialog box, use the Filter list box to select a filter to add. If your administrator has deployed the Analysis content package, the Default profile and four additional profiles are in the Profile list box.

      After you make any changes to the profile in the Active Filters tab, you can save the changes.

      1. Click the Focus and Profile tab, and then click the Save button to the immediate right of Impact Analysis Profile.
      2. In the Save Profile dialog box, give the new profile a name and change the description to match the changes you made.

        If you do not give the profile a new name before you save, you will overwrite the existing profile with the new settings.

        If you cancel the save, you will lose the changes you made to the profile, even if you save the diagram.

    • The following changes are not part of the profile. You can save the following changes when you save the diagram.
      • To add artifacts to the diagram, click the Added Artifacts tab, and then click the Add icon 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 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 the Restore icon.
      • 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 the Restore icon.
      • 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 the Collapse icon.
  10. Optional: To examine the properties of an artifact in the impact analysis diagram, select the artifact and click the Preview icon.
  11. Optional: Find where an artifact is used in other configurations or products by clicking the Find Use icon.

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