ReqEx

Micro Focus Caliber is a great requirements management tool. Easy to use and adopt, but sufficient for demanding use in terms of features and scalability. But unfortunately, the technological base is outdated and the vendor will end technical support by the end of 2021.

We had a challenge with one of our clients who wanted to move to a modern tool (codebeamer x) but also wanted to make sure former projects from Caliber were available.

To meet this challenge, we developed the ReqEx tool. It retrieves accurate project or requirement type data from Caliber, and saves it in either Excel or ReqIF format.

Requirements Interchange Format (ReqIF) is OMG's standard for transferring requirements and specifications from one system and organisation to another. That is why it is an ideal file format for this type of migration.

Using the ReqEx export tool is easy. The user logs in to the Caliber server. After that, all export selections are made on one screen:

• Caliber project
• Baseline
• Requirement type / All requirement types in the project
• Directory to which the export is made
• Maximum number of requirements to be exported
• Export Type: Excel / ReqIF / ReqIFZ (zip file)

Often, data transfers from one system to another cause annoyance and additional work because some of the data is lost in the transfer. However, the ReqIF format has been developed precisely for the transfer of requirements data and we have made full use of its capabilities. The ReqEx tool supports the exchange of the following information:

• Data model, i.e. requirement types and their different types of attributes
• Individual requirements with all their attributes
• XHTML requirement description (ReqIF restricts using some elements)
• Images as part of XHTML description. These are automatically converted to png format supported by the standard.
• Specification, i.e. the hierarchy of requirements within the project
• Traces between requirements. This is supported within a single project.