When you create a link to external artifacts in an application, a link is automatically created back to the source artifact in the target application, called a back link. When a link has been created from a source artifact to an external artifact and a resulting back link has been created from the external artifact to the source artifact, the links are referred to as bidirectional links.
The source and target applications store their links in separate databases, and the source application does not have access to the database in the target application. Certain transactional operations, such as when artifacts are copied or deleted, can occur in the source application server. In these cases, corresponding back links in artifacts in the target application are not automatically added or removed. There can also be instances where back links are intentionally removed in the target application without removing the corresponding link in the source application. As a result, if bidirectional links are not in a state of synchronization, traceability between the source and target artifacts can appear differently based upon your starting view point.
If a requirement or requirement collection is locked in Rational DOORS when you attempt to create or delete a link to the artifact, you might receive a message that the changes to the link cannot be saved. When this happens, the Quality Management application prompts you to choose how to proceed. In the prompt, there are three options: Try again, Cancel, and Save partial changes. Option Try again attempts to create or delete the back link again. If the requirement or requirement collection is still locked, the operation will fail. Option Cancel cancels the change to the link on the test artifact and the back link on the Rational DOORS requirement or requirement collection. Option Save partial changes only changes the link on the Quality Management test artifact but does not change the link on Rational DOORS requirement or requirement collection. You must repair the link later in Rational DOORS for it to function correctly.
To enable communication between the applications, you must add the Rational Quality Manager server to the remote services list in Rational DOORS, and add the Rational DOORS in a "friend" relationship on the Rational Quality Manager server.
For more information, see this video on YouTube about the Rational DOORS integration with Rational Quality Manager: IBM Rational DOORS and IBM Rational Quality Manager.
To configure this integration, you must perform the following tasks. For more information, see the integration documentation for Rational Quality Manager in the Rational solution for Collaborative Lifecycle Management (CLM) documentation.