Linking to requirements documents

You can navigate from a diagram to a corresponding Requirements Document by adding a requirements traceability link to the diagram.

To create a traceability link from a Microsoft-compatible document

1.    Go to the Requirements Document. The document can be any Microsoft-compatible document, such as a Word document, Excel spreadsheet, or PowerPoint presentation.

a.    Select the text to which the diagram will link.

b.    Create a bookmark of the selected text.

c.     Save the document.

d.    Select Edit > Copy (CTRL+C).

2.    Open the diagram that will contain the link.

a.    Insert a label block into the diagram.

b.    Right-click the label block.

c.     Activate Hyperlink.

d.    Click Paste Hyperlink.

e.    Click OK, or press ENTER.

f.     Select File > Save (CTRL+S).

The label contains the link information, including the path to the linked Requirements Document and whether the link is active. When you click on the label, the Requirements Document opens.

Example

The following 3 x 7 Excel spreadsheet lists sample requirements for an automotive speed control system: column B lists the requirements and column C describes the requirements. In this example, cell B2 will be linked to the name that appears on the label block in the Embed diagram and the contents of cell C2 will be highlighted when you click on the label block.    

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1.    In your Embed diagram, go to Blocks > Annotation, and insert a label block. If this is a new diagram, save it.

2.    Go to your requirements spreadsheet, right click cell B2, and select Link from the pop-up menu.

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3.    In the Insert Hyperlink dialog box, select the requirements spreadsheet and click Bookmark. Note that the contents of cell B2 (speedControl.stop) is displayed in the Text to display box.

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4.    In the Select Place in Document dialog box, enter C2 (rather than B2) to link to the description of speedControl.stop and click OK.

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5.    In the requirements spreadsheet, cell B2 is highlighted.

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6.    Right click cell B2 and select Copy from the pop-up menu.

7.    Return to the Embed diagram and right click the label block.

8.    In the Label Properties dialog box, activate Hyperlink and click Paste Hyperlink.

The Label Properties dialog box is updated with the hyperlink information.

9.    To display the description of speedControl.stop, revise the bookmark location in Named location (bookmark) in file to Sheet 1!C2 and click OK.

10.  In the Embed diagram, the label block appears as a hyperlink named speedControl.stop. When you click speedControl.stop, the requirements spreadsheet opens with a border around cell C2.

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