Enhancements for 'Coverage Explorer'

Ian Webb
edited September 2016 in

As I understand it, the Jama folk are currently adding features to the Coverage Explorer and a new-and-improved version of the CE will emerge in due course. (I have no idea when it's due to appear.)


In this item, I've listed the new features that I'd LIKE to see in the revised CE and would be very interested to know which of these are enhancements that are already planned. Also, WHEN can we expect to see the new-and-improved Coverage Explorer?.


Ability to create "Public" Coverage Views: This exists already - if a user creates a Coverage View in a Project, other users see these Views in the CE's "Coverage Views" list. No deficiency here!


Selecting Items for the 1st column in a Coverage View: The existing options are reasonably good EXCEPT that under the Explorer tab, you can't select multiple Items (or Sets or Folders or Components) using the CTRL + click technique. (I'm not sure if there's a different way to make a multiple selection.) You CAN use a Filter or a Release to achieve the same result but this is more fiddly than it should be.

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Item selection for subsequent columns is woeful: There are only two options available for selecting Items in column 2 - either all items that are immeditely downstream of those displayed in column one or only Items of one Item Type.

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The most obvious way that this could be improved would be make the current picklist into a (multi-select) checklist.


Furthermore, I want to have the same options that are available to me in making the Item selection for column 1. That is:

"Show all Items that are immediately downstream of the Items in the preceding column AND are included in a selected Release"

"Show all Items that are immediately downstream of the Items in preceding column AND are included in a selected Filter"

"Show all Items that are immediately downstream of the Items in preceding column AND are included in a selection I make under the Explorer tab" (Including the "multi-select" capability mentioned above.)



Items displayed in a Coverage View should be live links AND should be usable: If the Coverage Explorer window is open, I cannot do anything in the greyed-out "main browser window" for my project - I have to close the CE window first. What I want to be able to do is drag the CE window off to one side and click the Items displayed in it and have the clicked Item open in the "main window."


Coverage can be traced only Downstream: I want to be able to make a selection in Column 1 and then, in column two, to be able to see Items immediately UPstream. At the very least, a given Coverage View should be able to trace Items EITHER downstream or upstream.


Ideally, a Coverage View should be able to include BOTH downward and upward steps. (Make a selection of Items in column 1; show the upstream Items in column 2; in column 3, show the Items downstream of those in column 2. This allows me to see the Items that are "in parallel" with those Items I selected for column 1.)


Items displayed in a column should have more ordering options: It appears that the Items in a given column in a Coverage View can only be ordered by the default "by-ID" order. (I'd rate this as a nice-to-have feature.)

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It should be possible to create a Baseline from a Coverage View: I can't see a way of doing this but I think that this would be a really useful feature. Being able to see what a particular Coverage Viewed looked like at some date in the past and quickly find how it has changed since then could be very, very useful. (And, of course, have the ability to do a Baseline-to-Baseline comparison as well as a Baseline-to-current comparison.)



Comments

  • Scott Holland
    edited September 2016
    Hey Ian. I agree with all your points.

    I'd also like to be able to rename the columns. Currently they are called "Level 1 Downstream" but I would like to be able to rename them something more meaningful.

    We have a coverage view which is showing Programmes, Projects, Tasks & Users. It would be great if we could rename the columns accordingly.

    Scott

    PS - your images are not showing. I think you've hosted them in your Jama environment which means only people signed into your Jama account can see (i.e. only you). No one else can see them. You need to upload them using the photo icon on this thread.
  • John Sarafin
    edited February 2016
    I like the ideas for Coverage Explorer....John
  • Ian Webb
    edited September 2016
    I'm hoping to get some sort of response out of the Jama folk in response to the 'Coverage Explorer' points I listed at the top of this thread. (Which of these enhancements are planned? When can we expect to see an improved Coverage Explorer?)

    Is this forum the right place to get a response from Jama on these questions? If not, how do I get answers?

    Ian
  • Kristina King
    edited June 2016
    Ian, I am working on getting a response for you. Since your queries aren't strictly support-related, so I am not able to answer these questions. All I can really say is that we are working on a new coverage view that is currently in beta. The functionality is not finalized yet, nor do we have a date for general release. But a product manager may be able to provide a better timeline.
  • Ian Webb
    edited February 2016
    Thanks Kristina,

    From what you've written, maybe this isn't the right forum to ask these sorts of questions?? You suggest that asking a Product Manager might be a better scheme - can you tell me how to go abuot making contact with the right person?

    Thanks,
    Ian
  • Kristina King
    edited June 2016
    Ian, sorry for the confusing response. This community is definitely the right place. It just takes a little longer to get responses from other teams than it does Support, as we're the only ones around 24x5. I am working on getting a response from the Product team.
  • Robin Calhoun
    Robin Calhoun Product Manager
    edited March 2016
    Hi Ian,

    Thank you for your in depth feedback! I really appreciate it. I'm on the product team, and currently we are working on an improved way to create, view, and maintain relationship data in Jama. Most, if not all, of the issues you have raised should be addressed with the new capabilities.

    I'd love to talk through your feedback in detail. I'll reach out to you so we can set up a time if you're available.
  • Ian Webb
    edited February 2016
    Hi Robin,

    Very pleased to hear from you. (Thanks for facilitating this Kristina).

    I'd be very happy to discuss any or all of these enhancement ideas with you. I guess thast you'll email me to set something up?

    Looking forward to talking,
    Ian
  • Ian Webb
    edited February 2016
    Hi Scott,

    Thanks for the tip about the missing images. I'll strive to do better next time!

    Cheers,
    Ian
  • Robin Calhoun
    Robin Calhoun Product Manager
    edited March 2016
    Thanks again, Ian, for walking me through your feedback earlier this week. Your insight was very helpful for me and the development team.
    To anyone else following this thread, we are currently beta testing our updated coverage & traceability feature set and are planning to have an open preview soon. Stay tuned!
  • Scot Mitchell
    edited March 2016
    My 2 cents:
    • Selecting Items for 1st column - I personally think filter is good enough since it has all the options you should need.
    • Subsequent columns - I agree and disagree. I don't think that the checklist needs to be multi-select but I'll talk more about that later.  Showing the same options as column 1 may or may not work.  Typically I run a filter for column 1 to show just requirements (eliminates folders and text).  In the next column I want to see Test Cases which would be totally eliminated by my filter on column 1.  What I would prefer to see is a list of columns that would be of a specific item type but the relationships could go backward up the list.  For instance we often have very general requirement related downstream to more specific requirement related downstream to use case and finally to test cases.  But sometimes we may not need a use case or a more specific requirement.  I can get the coverage list by leaving the selection list blank but then my columns are all messed up.  I could have test cases in column 2, 3, or 4.  I wrote a custom app to do just this and it is wildly popular with our engineers and managers.
    • Items should be live links - agree
    • Coverage only downstream - Since this is coverage explorer I think the coverage should be considered both ways not just downstream.  I know I can write the filter to do this but it should be covered as well in Coverage Explorer!
    • Ordering options - again nice but not critical.  The main thing I want is coverage so I also might like to color missing cells to quickly highlight I'm missing something.  Or maybe better yet, sort missing items to the top.
    • Baseline from coverage - Not exactly sure why you would want this.  We always need to have complete coverage.  We use a "No Test" Test Case for Items that don't really need to be tested.  That way we always have 100% coverage.
    Overall, like your ideas!
  • Jamie Maloway
    edited September 2016
    Not being able to sort columns in the Coverage Explorer makes looking for requirements without coverage a real pain - any idea when this will be fixed?

    image

    Also: Can the ID text PLEASE be clickable or at least selectable? As is we have to open a new browser window and manually re-type the ID into the search bar to see the requirement - major PITA.
  • Kristina King
    edited September 2016
    Hey Jamie,
    We are working on a new coverage view, available as an open preview on the Express channel, which I think your company is using (Jama 8.3+). The ID links are selectable in the new view. I am not sure if any plans exist to make the results sortable, however.
  • It would be nice to use filters in every column in coverage explorer.  I am running a large analysis (~1K items) and it would be helpful to filter out items (tests in our case) that are not meaningful in the current stage of the project.  I end up doing a lot of post processing in Excel.
  • I completely agree Lawrence! In any circumstance where a list of items is returned by whatever mechanism - Coverage Explorer is a prime example - I immediately look for a 'Filter Button' so that I can cut the list down to the stuff that I'm specifically interested in. The baisc rule of thumb should be that any list should be filterable. (And by 'filterable,' I mean by creating a "full-featured" filter - not the attenuated filter capability that is available in some list-generation circumstances.)
    AND, while I'm ranting about filters, I'll take the opportunity to reprise my favourite tune: I'd REALLY like to be able to create real nested filters.
  • Ian Delaney
    edited September 2019
    Hello,

    Has there been any update on the above enhancements?

    Thanks,