Reuse and Sync: references/Links should follow back to synced components (update dynamically)

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[Deleted User]
[Deleted User] Posts: 7
edited September 2016 in
First the issue we are having is when a project is reused and synced and references/links are made within the reused project they are not carried back to the master project upon completion when syncing back to the master.  (A reference could be a newly added figure and a reference to that figure within the requirement or a link to another requirement section) This gets quite confusing and is an issue for us.

Example: We create a reused component (Project-V2) that has requirements from a Master (Project-V1).  We make changes in the requirements and add some references within the document within the Project-V2.  After all is done, and we sync back to the master, all references/links in the master version of the requirements when selected open up the Project-V2 version.

What is expected and is preferable is that the links/references that were made in Project-V2 move based on the sync back to the master.  That way when the Master holds all as it should.
It was explained to me that this is due to the reference pointer under the covers, but this I believe would be a very beneficial improvement/fix in a future release.

I haven't tried it but what if Project-V2 ends up being deleted in the future?  Do we loose all our references/links within the requirements document?

We are an on-site implementation on 2015.2.

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  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 161
    edited September 2016
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    Hi Maria.

    Welcome to the community. I am not clear about what you mean about "We make changes in the requirements and add some references within the document within the Project-V2." Can you share a screenshot of that? 

    I also assume that when you use the re-use option, I checked the appropriate re-use option.

    swoo
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 7
    edited September 2016
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    Hello swoo,
    Unfortunately I am not able to provide a screen shot as we host Jama on a classified system.
    Basically if you are working in a word document you are able to create references (which in Jama are links) to other areas in the document.  For example, if I have a figure in my document and down in my verbiage I refer to Figure xyz, I can create a reference so when I click on the 'Figure xyz' verbiage it will take me to the Figure xyz in the document.
    Jama allows this sort of referencing as well.  HOWEVER, if I do it within a component that has been re-used when I sync back to the master and then click the 'Figure xyz' verbiage it will take me to the Figure in the reused item vs. the figure that is now back in the master.  I would expect it to carry (move) that reference back with the sync to the master vs. pointing to a location in memory (for lack of a better way of describing it).

    Hope that makes sense.. I don't know how else to describe.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 161
    edited September 2016
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    Hi Maria,

    Thanks for explaining. As far as I know the current version of Jama does not support re-using of "embedded URL links in the description field."  Hopefully a Jama employee will see this and might consider this as a idea.

    (However, my experience is limited to the version without Contextual URL's. With Contextual URL's available on the hosted version of 2015.1, I still think Jama will not support your need.)

    You probably do know already that explicit relationships will be re-used correctly if you select the desired option.

    image
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 7
    edited July 2015
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    Yes, thank you I do know about the explicit relationships and do use those as well.  But we also manage our requirements and design within Jama and mostly in the design is where we have a lot of referencing with links that we need to maintain.
    Hopefully, they will address this in a future release.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 161
    edited September 2016
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    Hi Maria,

    You are correct to point out this good enhancement request to Jama.

    In general in Word it's easy to create a link/reference but not so much in Jama.

    Good luck.

    swoo

    image
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 911
    edited September 2016
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    Maria, thanks for posting this idea. And Swoo, thanks for talking it out with her. Maria, I'm curious why your team embeds links to artifacts within the rich text editor (RTE) rather than linking to other items in Jama or utilizing attachments. What artifacts are you linking within the RTE?
    (Or am I misunderstanding your point?)
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 7
    edited June 2016
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    Hi Kristina,
    To clarify we are not embedding links to external artifacts.  We are creating links/references to information within items/sub-items within a component.  As I stated in my previous comment, this is mostly when we have a diagram that is referenced in some textual area of an item and that diagram is referenced by using a link.

    Or if we link to another item.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 161
    edited September 2016
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    Hi Kristina, it's my pleasure. I can only guess at her usage since I cannot see her confidential materials. Thanks for following-up.

    Here are two other examples that I can think off
       1) linked glossary: https://community.jamasoftware.com/jama/topics/linked-glossary

       2) linked cross-reference/bookmarks. I describing a use case, perhaps I will put some words around some specific functional requirements and performance indicators. Here is another example, although I did not get a chance to fly a drone to capture someone's camping trip at Oregon but please see the first 23 seconds of this clip of a running group at Oakland (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PpaZR8DHik) It's a quiz for you. For the rest of the footage what camera system did I use? :-)

    swoo
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 911
    edited June 2016
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    Okay, thanks for clarifying that. I'm going to change the title of this Idea a little bit so our Product team can find it easier. I don't recall seeing updates to Reuse & Sync on the road map, but if there is enough traction on this need, we'll definitely start talking about it. Thanks again.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 17
    edited November 2015
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    We use the links the same way - a lot. When using the actual links section that Jama provides, it's just a link from the object in general. When the link is in the RTE, it can be pointed to a single point of origin in the description for example. 

    So let's say that I write something like this to the description field "This feature has to comply with <item1>, and it also has to take <item2>'s mobile part into account". So now I know exactly why item1 and item2 were linked (they have to be taken into account), which I wouldn't know if item1 and item2 were just general links in the Links tab. User doesn't know why there are these links in the first place.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 911
    edited June 2016
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    OK, gotcha, that makes sense. Thanks, Markus. Although this seems like it applies more to just Reuse & Sync, right?
  • Vladimir Cech
    Vladimir Cech Member Posts: 182
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    Hi,

    We have  same need. When there are links within the description (but in fact in any other fields) and these links are pointing to the same project it would be good during the reuse to ask if I want to let these links to point to the old project or to be updated to point withing the new project.

    Is there any progress on this feature?
    Thank you for your answer.

    Vlada
  • Harald Hotz-Behofsits
    Harald Hotz-Behofsits Member Posts: 157
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    Hi,

    we have the same need.

    regards
    Harald

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