Baselines and comparison
Manage and evaluateA baseline records the state of the whole project or of a module immutably: all artifacts with title, text, attributes and tags, the outline of the modules with their numbers, and all links. Later changes to the project do not affect a baseline. Typical occasions are a quotation state, a specification agreed with the customer, a milestone or a delivery.
Creating a baseline
Under Baselines (role EDIT and above), enter a name (e.g. v1.0), the scope (whole project or one module) and a note. Creating takes only a moment even for large projects. Only group admins can delete a baseline.
Viewing, printing and outputting a baseline
A click on the name opens the baseline as a document with all modules, numbers, texts and attributes. From there you
- print the state or save it as PDF via the browser's print dialog,
- create a Word document,
- compare it with the current state,
- approve it: with name, function, time and remark (Reviews and approvals).
Comparing two states
Compare contrasts two baselines or a baseline and the current state. The comparison shows:
| Area | Content |
|---|---|
| New | artifacts added in the new state |
| Removed or in the trash | artifacts missing in the new state |
| Changed | for each artifact every changed field with old and new value: title, text, type, each attribute, tags |
| Structure | moved in the outline, added to or removed from the module, with old and new position |
| Links | links created and removed |
The result can be exported as CSV, for example as an attachment to a change record for the customer.
Marking changes in the document
In the document view, choose a reference baseline at the top left. Artifacts that are new or have changed since then get a new or changed badge. This way you can read a revised specification selectively.
History per artifact
Independently of baselines, ETRM stores every version of every artifact. The history on the artifact page shows every change with person and time and allows resetting to an earlier version.
Example from the sample project: The comparison of v1.0 with v1.1 shows exactly seven differences: a new system requirement with a new link, a requirement in the trash, a moved requirement and three changed requirements.