An IDM (Issue Defect Management) tool is a tool that is used to raise and manage issues, defects, or change requests. Dimensions provides the capability to use the issues or change requests provided from an external IDM tool to track item revisions as an alternative to using internal Dimensions requests.
At the present release, the only type of external request provider supported is Serena® SBM. This external request provider is supported in the Visual Studio and Eclipse Integrations, and the desktop client.
An IDM tool instance is a distinctly named definition for a particular installation of the IDM Tool, in this case Serena SBM. The instance is identified by its name and specifies the URL of the Web Interface, the URL for Web Services and a SBM Solution from which issues will be available for use.
In order to use an external request provider, you need to:
Create an IDM tool Instance
Set this IDM tool instance as the Default.
The use of an external IDM tool is optional, and the default is to use Serena Dimensions CM requests.