Doors Next Generation - DNG
Published: 2023-11-10 16:55:45

My name is shanmuga sundar working as senior software architect at Luxoft GmbH. Luxoft as a service company where you will opportunity to work with different project and customers.

**Introduction**
I like to present a article of tool which I recently used in my project. DNG - Door Next Generation from IBM provide more flexibility in managing the system, software requirements and help with reference tracking, traceability, controllability, portable and easy to maintain.

**DNG**
DOORS Next Generation is part of the Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) suite of tools that cater to various aspects of the engineering development process.

DOORS Next Generation (DNG) is designed to capture, analyze, and manage requirements for complex systems and products. It provides a collaborative environment for cross-discipline teams, enabling them to work together efficiently throughout the requirements engineering lifecycle.

**Key features **
DNG is accessible through browsers, allowing the team members to access requirements and collaborate from anywhere with internet connectivity.
* Requirements Capture and Management
* Collaboration and Review
* Traceability and Impact Analysis
* Customizable Workflows
* Integration Capabilities
* Reporting and Analytics
* Security and Access Control

Creating Requirements in DNG
Login Screen: Login to RM application using URL 

Selecting the CLM Project : Click to select the CLM_Project after logging in. The public dashboard which will be visible to the team members of this project will come up as shown below.

Browse Artifacts: Click on Artifacts -> Browse Artifacts to view the folder structure and to create requirements.

Create Artifacts: Left-click on the “Features and Vision” folder and select “Create Artifacts”.

Features and Vision Option: Enter the name as “Place Order for Music CD”, Artifact Type as “Feature” and Artifact Format as “Text” and click on OK.

Created Requirement : Click on the newly created requirement and then click on Edit to add details After adding the details, you can see various attributes or properties on your right-hand side that can be used to understand the requirements better. Click on Save once done.

Create Team : The Glossary which defines key terms for reference can also be added. To add the same, select the word online and then right-click to create a Term.

Add Initial Content: Add Initial content to the description and make sure Artifact type is selected as Term. Select Other Details as shown and then click OK. Save the changes as well and then click on Done.

Glossary TERM: Place the cursor over the glossary TERM as defined below and you will be able to see the meaning.

Open History Option: All the changes made during the existence of the project are captured and are available as The History of the requirement which was just created and it will be shown as given below.

All the changes done over a period of time are captured and you can take a look at what changes were done earlier.

If there were any changes done on the History screen earlier, then that will also be captured. If any need arises to restore the change done some time back, then you can select the same from the Action menu and select Restore.

Normally teams collaborate on the requirements through email or by some other disconnected means which is not really linked to the requirement.

However, DOORSNG provides a feature to add COMMENT to the requirements and collaborate with other users. To do so, EDIT the requirements and go to the COMMENTS category below on the right-hand side to Create a comment for Artifact.

Add as shown above and then click OK. The user in the comment mentioned can log in to the project. The task mentioned for the user will appear on the dashboard and he can reply to the comment as well.

This is a handy feature to do a quick review and it will be visible to the entire team.

Now let’s look at how to display or add values to the attributes for the newly created requirements in the Artifact dashboard. Go to Artifacts => Browse Artifacts, click on the Features and Vision Select the requirement just created, and then click on the option ‘Edit Attributes’.

Select the attributes to add the value as shown below, later modify them and click on Save.

**Conclusion**
DOORS Next Gen is suitable for industries that deal with complex and safety-critical systems, such as aerospace, automotive, defense, healthcare, and telecommunications. It is designed to assist organizations in complying with regulatory standards and best practices for requirements management.

I do believe from my experience that it is not easy to replace your existing delivery environment where multiple tools are being used but I would suggest you look at moving on to a single repository environment in the near future.