Tag Archive for: Importing Data

Increase Collaboration

In Part III of our six-part automotive series, our experts discuss the growing need to share information between applications to increase collaboration. If you missed our Series Intro, Part I, or Part II of our automotive series, you can go back and read those now.

Over the past two decades of working with PLM and ALM tools, one of the most difficult challenges that always seems to bubble to the top is the ability to share information between systems in order to increase collaboration. The simplest approach to this is basic document import/export, yet this approach is always prone to human error and in many cases takes a tremendous amount of manual effort to fill in the gaps. On the other end of the spectrum is custom or pre-built integration options. While this approach is usually the most robust and least prone to human error, the amount of up-front configuration as well as continuous monitoring is either overkill Sor the required use case, too expensive, too much work, or all of the above.  

Document Import/Export 

The most basic option usually available is the import and export of documents. This is a difficult challenge in the automotive industry due to the inconsistency of document type and format that is shared between OEMs, vendors and customers. This inconsistency is personified by the irregularity between applications ability to digest these many formats.  

Scripting and Pre-Build Integrations 

Jama Connect has a REST API as well as many pre-built integrations available to our customers. In situations where it makes sense to have a continuous, permanent connection between two applications both of these are great options. These options however come with a bit of overhead. Usually permanent integrations require complex configuration as well as regular monitoring for failed synchronization. Integrations further require careful attention to process and use of integrated applications as to not break integration rules.   

ReqIF & the Jama Connect Data Exchange 

When we look at requirements management specifically, there is a third option that becomes available, ReqIFReqIF (requirements interchange format) is an XML standard that is supported by many requirements tools.  Jama Software offers a solution that we call the ‘data exchange’ which supports import/export of ReqIF files. This allows you to not only transfer the requirements from system to system, it further allows the transfer of the relationships between requirements as well as any supporting attachments. Through the use of the data exchange, you eliminate much of the strenuous effort of manually recreating relationships after document import and you further alleviate the heavy overhead of a continuous permanent integration.  

Using the data exchange for ReqIF transfer in many cases is the best approach to increase collaboration when working with partners, vendors, and suppliers where you do not have direct access to their systems. The data exchange further can be an excellent option for migrating data out of a legacy tool and into a more modern requirements tool like Jama Connect.


To learn more about how Jama Connect for Automotive can help your team simplify compliance, streamline development, and speed time to market, download our solution overview.

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Getting Data In and Out of Jama ConnectAs part of our ongoing series of Ask Jama webinars, covering customer questions and best practices, our most recent webinar was all about on getting data in and out of Jama Connect, enabling effective collaboration resulting in reduced rework and minimized risk.

Steve Rush, a Jama Connect expert and a consultant from our Professional Services team, covered options for getting data in and out of Jama Connect to create an ongoing exchange of requirements throughout the product development process.

This webinar was well received by our customers, and we wanted to make sure nobody missed out on this great content. Below, you’ll find a recording of the webinar and an abbreviated transcript.

Ask Jama: Getting Data In and Out of Jama Connect

A

The primary options you have are authoring items and requirements directly into Jama Connect and import options. Today we’re going to focus on importing Excel and Word documents into Jama Connect. Many customers are managing requirements, risks, or other information in documents, so it is very common that customers need to import this data into Jama’s item-based approach for managing requirements.  


RELATED: Defining and Implementing Requirements Baselines


Authoring content directly into the tool is definitely the best method for adding new items, either requirements, risks, or any other items that you need in Jama Connect. By authoring requirements directly in the tool, you can take advantage of some of the collaboration functionality in Jama and bring team members into discussions earlier and often in a requirements gathering and creation process. Jama will maintain version history on a discrete item, so you can track all the different changes that may happen on a given item. If you are leveraging review center, feedback from reviews can be incorporated on the item and, again, you can track those changes here. Lastly, something to consider when you’re importing documents into Jama is that a document import may often times is simply a snapshot of an item at its current state. So, it’s missing an important context that may give you more information about the item and decisions that are made on that item.  

But, of course, there are many good reasons why you may need to import items. Watch the full webinar to see a detailed demonstration of different import methods with Microsoft Word and Excel. You can also take a moment to go back and watch a few other our other webinars, like this one on release management options in Jama Connect, or this one on moving from a document-based design control and risk management in medical device development.


Watch the full webinar to learn more about your options for getting data in and out of Jama Connect, and how Jama Software’s Services team can help.

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As part of our ongoing series of Ask Jama webinars, covering customer questions and best practices, by popular request, the upcoming webinar will focus on getting data in and out of Jama Connect, enabling effective collaboration resulting in reduced rework and minimized risk.


Date: Wednesday, September 30th
Time: 17:00 p.m. CEST | 8:00 a.m. PT

Steve Rush, a Jama Connect expert and a consultant from our Professional Services team, will be discussing options for getting data in and out of Jama Connect to create an ongoing exchange of requirements throughout the product development process.

Register now to learn more about:

  • Importing data into Jama Connect 
    • Import options through Excel and Word 
    • Options for creating data via the API
  • Exporting reports from Jama Connect 
    • Available reports in Jama Connect 
    • Customizing reports using Mail Merge
  • Creating custom Velocity reports
  • Leveraging custom Velocity reports using Jama Connect Professional Services and additional Velocity training 

We’ve also made sure to include plenty of time to answer your questions around these import and export capabilities (or other relevant topics) during the event. Take a moment to go back and watch a few other our other webinars, like this one on release management options in Jama Connect, or this one on moving from a document-based design control and risk management in medical device development.


Presented by:

Steve Rush Senior Consultant, Jama Software

Steve Rush is a business consultant on the professional services team at Jama Software. He works directly with customers to implement Jama Connect, and help navigate requirements management, through best practice guidance.


We hope you’ll join us!

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