Prerequisites for the Dimensions CM to Dimensions RM Integration

To set up the ALM associations, the following prerequisites must be satisfied:

Both Dimensions CM and Dimensions RM must have been installed and both must be at compatible release levels. For details of compatibility, see the platform matrix for your version of Dimensions CM at:

//support.serena.com/Roadmap/Product.aspx?sel=PVDIMENSIONS

A Dimensions CM desktop client must be installed on the Dimensions RM web server machine.
For certain installations (see the Dimensions RM Installation Guide), it is recommended that Dimensions RM databases have exclusive use of their own Oracle instance. In those circumstances, if you are using Dimensions CM against an Oracle RDBMS, you must make sure that it does not share the same Oracle instance as that used by Dimensions RM.
Before you can begin to establish any of the Dimensions RM to Dimensions CM associations referred to below, the rmcm.xml configuration file on the Dimensions RM web server machine must first be edited to include the URL of the Dimensions CM server. Proceed as follows:

a On the Dimensions RM web server machine, navigate to:

<RM-Install-Directory>\conf

b Open the following configuration file in a text editor:

rmcm.xml

This file has the following lines:

</project>

c Update the Dimensions CM URL with the correct information for the Dimensions CM server. If Dimensions CM is installed on the same machine as the Dimensions RM web server and was installed with the default port number 8080, then the commented out URL on the preceding line will be the appropriate URL.

The following Dimensions RM to Dimensions CM associations must have been established by a Dimensions RM administrator:
The requisite Dimensions RM projects to one or multiple Dimensions CM products (see Associating Dimensions RM Projects to Dimensions CM Products).
The requisite Dimensions RM baselines or collections to one or multiple Dimensions CM projects/streams (see Associating Dimensions RM Baselines or Collections to Dimensions CM Projects/Streams).

Conversely, to enable Dimensions RM users to look at Dimensions CM requests, after the above steps have been completed, a Dimensions CM user must associate Dimensions RM requirements to Dimensions CM requests.

Limitations/Recommendations

If Dimensions RM has more than on URL (HTTP and HTTPS), Dimensions CM requests will only display if the RM Browser windows are using the exact URL that is registered with Dimensions CM. Dimensions CM will only accept requests from the registered URL. If HTTPS was used to set up the ALM association between Dimensions CM and Dimensions RM, then using Dimensions RM from HTTP - Dimensions CM information (requests) will not be returned to Dimensions RM.
The user name and password of the user involved in ALM integration (for example, dmsys) must be the same for both Dimensions CM and Dimensions RM. The user name and password are case sensitive in these circumstances.
Dimensions RM does not support connections/associations to more than one Dimensions CM server.
For consistent synchronization, once a Dimensions RM project to Dimensions CM product association is established it is recommended that it never be removed.
For consistent synchronization, once a Dimensions RM baseline or collection to Dimensions CM project or stream association is established it is recommended that it never be unassociated.
Never delete a Dimensions CM project/stream until after all Dimensions RM baselines or collections are unassociated from the Dimensions CM project/stream. If this strategy is not followed, the Dimensions RM GUI will be incapable of removing the association and a Serena consultant will be required to repair both the Dimensions CM and Dimensions RM databases.
To maintain process integrity, you must never delete a Dimensions RM baseline or collection that has any requirements related to Dimensions CM objects.
The Dimensions CM-Dimensions RM ALM integration only works with Dimensions CM requests. The Issue Defect Management (IDM) integration, which utilizes the Serena Business Manager (SBM) for request management, is not currently supported with the ALM integration.
The relationship between Dimensions CM requests and Dimensions RM requirements does not get replicated if using Dimensions Replicator.
When a Dimensions CM request is related to a Dimensions RM requirement it is related to "the latest version of the requirement in the associated baseline or collection" until that request is actioned to a FROZEN/FINAL/OFF NORMAL state/phase. When that occurs, the request is pinned to the current latest version of the requirement. When you action the request back again it then "floats" with the latest version again.
You can unrelate a Dimensions RM requirement from a Dimensions CM request regardless of the state/phase of the request.
Dimensions RM baselines are fixed—you cannot replace or update requirements in an Dimensions RM baseline. Serena recommend you only relate Dimensions RM baselines to Dimensions CM projects/streams.
If you unrelate a Dimensions RM baseline or collection from a Dimensions CM project/stream the relationships between Dimensions CM requests and Dimensions RM requirements remain and can still be seen.

Associating Dimensions RM Projects to Dimensions CM Products

NOTE Beginning with Dimensions CM 2009 R1 and Dimensions RM 14.1, you can now associate multiple Dimensions RM projects with multiple Dimensions CM products. Additionally, the associations can even span different Dimensions CM base databases.

The first step in setting up the ALM integration between Dimensions RM and Dimensions CM is associating one or more Dimensions RM projects to one or more Dimensions CM products. This is usually set up once by the administrator for each Dimensions RM project and each Dimensions CM product.

Dimensions RM Project		Dimensions CM Product
Qlarius (stxxx)		Qlarius (qlarius@stxxx@dim10)
Qlarius (styyy)
Qlarius (styyy)		RMDEMO (intermediate@stxxx@dim10)
RMDemo (stxxx)

RMDemo (styyy)		RMDEMO (intermediate@styyy@dim10)

To perform the association, you need to be a Dimensions RM administrator. Provided you have those privileges:

Start the Dimensions RM Manage utility:

Start | All Programs | Serena | Dimensions RM 11.2.1 | RM Manage

Expand the appropriate Dimensions RM database in the left hand tree.
Log in as your normal administrator user (for example, dmsys).
Select the Dimensions RM project that you want to associate to a Dimensions CM Product (for example, RMDEMO).
Select one of: File | Associate to Dimensions CM; click the Associate to Dimensions CM toolbar button ;or right-click the selected Dimensions RM

project and select Associate to Dimensions CM… from the context menu.

NOTE The Associate to Dimensions CM command is enabled if a Dimensions CM client is installed on the same computer that is running RM Manage. If the command is disabled, install the Dimensions CM client and then restart RM Manage.

Existing Associations

If there are existing associations, you will first be presented with the Display Existing Product associations dialog box.

Review the existing associations. If you wish to create a new association, click New; alternatively, if you wish to remove an association, click on the appropriate associations and click Delete. Proceed to Step 6.

CAUTION! Unassociating a Dimensions RM project from a Dimensions CM product is a destructive action that will remove all of the relationships between Dimensions RM requirements and Dimensions CM requests.

No Existing Associations

If there are no existing associations, proceed to Step 6.

A Dimensions CM Login dialog box will appear.

NOTE To successfully log in to a Dimensions CM server, you must either be configured to log in using LDAP or log into Dimensions RM and Dimensions CM with the same user name and password.

a Fill in this dialog box as you would a normal Dimensions CM login, that is:

• The Dimensions CM Server name (the hostname or IP address).

• The Dimensions CM database name (for example, cm_typical).

• The Dimensions CM database connection string (for example, dim10).

b Click OK.

The Associate to Dimensions CM Product dialog box appears, with the Dimensions CM Server and Product fields pre-populated with the hostname and a list of Dimensions CM products for the database name you specified in Step 6.

NOTE If the log in to Dimensions CM fails for any reason, a "Login to Dimensions Failed" message is displayed in the Dimensions CM Server field. Attempt to log in again by clicking the browse button next to the Dimensions CM Server field—this re-opens the Dimensions CM Login dialog box.

Proceed to establish the Dimensions RM project to Dimensions CM products associations as follow:

a In the Product left-hand scrolling list, select the Dimensions CM product or products that you wish to associate with the Dimensions RM project. The usual mouse selection operations apply: namely, click for a selecting a single entry, CTRL/click for selecting multiple non-contiguous entries, and click plus shift/click for selecting contiguous entries. If you wish to select all entries, click the >> button and proceed to Step c.

b Click the > button to move your selections to the Product right-hand scrolling list

c Check the Dimensions CM products in the Product right-hand scrolling list. If you have inadvertently moved any products to this list that you should not have done, you can move them back to the left-hand list by clicking the < button; the << button will move all products back to the left-hand list.

d Click Test to test the automatically pre-populated URL in the Dimensions RM URL field. This should be the URL to the Dimensions RM Web server and the pre-populated value will normally be correct, but if the test fails you will have to edit the URL to the correct value. The default value will be:

http://<hostname>/rtmBrowser

e Click Test to test the automatically pre-populated URL in the RM Web Service URL: field. This should be the URL to the server that hosts the Dimensions RM Web service and the pre-populated value will normally be correct, but if the test fails you will have to edit the URL to the correct value. The default value will be:

http://<hostname>/rtmservices/mod_gsoap.dll?rtmservice

NOTE If the port number of the server that hosts the RM Web services is not 80, type the port number after the hostname name, separated by a colon.

Click OK.

The Dimensions RM project and Dimensions CM product are now linked. To indicate this, the Dimensions RM project icon in the Dimensions RM Manage left-hand tree will now have a small Dimensions CM (dark blue and orange) overlay icon on it, as indicated here: .

Exit Dimensions RM Manage.

After an association is made between a Dimensions RM project and one or more Dimensions CM products, Dimensions RM users can then associate containers with Dimensions CM projects and relate requirements to Dimensions CM requests. Dimensions RM users can then display information about specific requests that are in response to requirements; and Dimensions CM users can display specific requirements that are related to their tasks.

Associating Dimensions RM Baselines or Collections to Dimensions CM Projects/Streams

The second step in setting up the integration between Dimensions RM and Dimensions CM is associating one or more Dimensions RM baselines or collections to one or more Dimensions CM projects/streams. Without this step, it will not be possible to link any Dimensions CM requests to Dimensions RM requirements. When you add a requirement to or remove a requirement from a container, Dimensions CM is notified with the relevant information.

NOTE Parent Dimensions RM baselines or collections cannot be associated with Dimensions CM projects/streams.

To perform the association, you need to be a Dimensions RM administrator. Provided you have those privileges:

http://<hostname>/rtmBrowser/

You will need to:

a Specify the Dimensions RM username (for example, dmsys)

b Specify the corresponding password.

c Specify the Dimensions RM database connection string for the database.

d Click the down-arrow next to the Project field to populate it with the available Dimensions RM projects for the above choices.

e Select the appropriate Dimensions RM project. This will, of course, have to be a project that has previously been associated to one or more Dimensions CM products.

f Click Login.

NOTE If you receive an Oracle "ORA-12640: Authentication adapter initialization failed" error, proceed as follows:

a Shut down the Dimensions CM listener and the Oracle Windows services.

b On the database server, find the file %ORACLE_HOME%\NETWORK\ADMIN\sqlnet.ora.

c Change the entry SQLNET.AUTHENTICAION_SERVICES=(NTS) to SQLNET.AUTHENTICAION_SERVICES=(NONE).

d Restart Oracle and the Dimensions CM listener Windows services.

Select Manage Containers. On most views this is located in:

Administration | Manage Containers

The Manage Containers dialog box appears:

Select the baseline or collection you would like to link to a Dimensions CM project/stream and click the Associate Project link on the left.

NOTE After a Dimensions RM project/stream has been associated to a Dimensions CM product, the Associate Project link appears but is disabled. The link is only enabled if the following conditions are satisfied:

n You logged in using LDAP or you logged in to both Dimensions RM and Dimensions CM with the same user name and password.

n You are successfully logged in to a Dimensions CM server during the Dimensions RM login.

n The Dimensions RM Web server has the Dimensions CM client installed on it.

n The administrator has assigned you the "Link Requirement to Dimensions Project" and "Associate to a Dimensions Project" permissions.

If the first three conditions are not satisfied, "<Error connecting to Dimensions>" is displayed in the Dimensions CM Project column.

For more information about the administrative task, see the Serena Dimensions RM Administrator’s Guide.

The Associate CM Project dialog box appears.

Select a Dimensions CM product in the scrolling Products list.

The left-hand Projects scrolling list will be populated with all the Dimensions CM projects/streams available for association with the previously selected Dimensions RM baseline or collection.

Proceed to establish the Dimensions CM projects to Dimensions RM baseline or collection associations as follow:

a In the Projects left-hand scrolling list, select the Dimensions CM project/stream or projects/streams that you wish to associate with the Dimensions RM baseline or collection. The usual mouse selection operations apply; namely, click for a selecting a single entry, CTRL/click for selecting multiple non-contiguous entries, and click plus shift/click for selecting contiguous entries. If you wish to select all entries, click the >> button and proceed to Step c.

b Click the > button to move your selections to the Projects right-hand scrolling list

c Check the Dimensions CM projects/streams in the Projects right-hand scrolling list. If you have inadvertently moved any projects/streams to this list that you should not have done, you can move them back to the left-hand list by clicking the < button; the << button will move all projects back to the left-hand list.

d Click OK to create the associations.

The Associate CM Project dialog box appears again with the new associations displayed in the Dimensions CM Projects/Baselines column:

Repeat Step 3 to Step 4 for further associations.
To disassociate one or more Dimensions CM projects/streams from a Dimensions RM baseline or collection:

a Repeat Step 3.

b In Step 4, move the appropriate Dimensions CM projects/streams from the right-hand Projects scrolling list in the Associate CM Project dialog box using the < or << buttons.

c Click OK to remove the associations.

d The Associate CM Project dialog box appears again with the old associations removed from the Dimensions CM Projects/Baselines column.

Click Close and log out of the Dimensions RM Web browser.
The associated Dimensions RM containers and Dimensions CM projects/streams are now linked.

Linking Dimensions CM Requests to Dimensions RM Requirements

Once Dimensions RM projects are associated to the Dimensions CM products and Dimensions RM containers are associated to Dimensions CM projects/streams, it is possible to link Dimensions CM requests to Dimensions RM requirements.

The linking of Dimensions RM requirements and Dimensions CM is done in the Dimensions CM clients, either the desktop client or the web client. In the appropriate Dimensions CM client, you can now link a request in a Dimensions CM project to a Dimensions RM requirement that exists in a container (one that is linked to that Dimensions CM project/stream). This is possible by performing any of the various ways of linking items together in the Dimensions CM clients.

For details on requirement operations in Dimensions CM, see Requirement Operations in Dimensions CM.