Getting started

This page outlines the basics of creating, viewing, editing, organizing and commenting on requirements. For additional guidance on setting up programs, systems, and general recommendations, see Best practices.

Create a Program

First, you'll need to create a Program.

Programs also enable granular permissions to Requirements and other features.

Set up your team

Next, you'll need to add team members, assign roles, and (optionally) create groups. Groups can be used to grant permissions to specific requirements or systems.

External users (such as customers or partners) can be added as Guests. Guests can view requirements and leave comments, but are restricted from viewing other data or features in Violet.

Define Systems

Systems elements contribute to user permissions and grouping, filtering and sorting Violet Requirements. User groups or individual users assigned to systems will be able to edit requirements associated with the system; these users are designated requirement owners.

Create custom fields and relationships

Create Custom fields or relationships for requirements in the Program configuration pane to enable your organization’s unique requirement management approach.

Custom columns could be added to help transition data out of an external tool and Import & export into Violet for development going forward, e.g.

Creating Requirements

(Need to import existing requirements from another tool or file? Check out Import & export for instructions).

To create new requirements natively in Violet, navigate to the requirements module and select the program of interest. Click the +Requirement button to add your first requirement and fill in appropriate attributes. Use the pulldown menu on the +Requirement button to add folders, too.

Click the Purple + Button in the lower right to enable quick-addition of requirements in the table view. This also Enables Cell Editing, permitting you to populate attributes from this tabular view.

To add a nested requirement, right click on the parent and select "Add Nested Requirement."

To add one or more additional parents to a requirement, double click on the requirement to open the side panel. Click Edit to modify the requirement, then click the edit button for the parent attribute and select additional parents as appropriate. Click save to implement the changes. Requirements with multiple parents will show a Fork icon in the Name column.

Viewing Requirements in a Table

Click the Columns side bar to open a panel and choose which columns you wish to view in the table. Drag and drop the attributes in the list to change the column order. Once you have a table view you like (e.g., one emphasizing verification), click the Save button to quickly return to that table in the future or make that view available for others on your team. Open a previously saved view by clicking the Open folder button.

Use System, Owner, or Status filter options in the main toolbar to filter the table accordingly.

Editing Requirements

• Edit in Requirements Details Pane: Double click on a requirement in the table view to open the Edit Requirement pane.

• Edit in Tabular View: Click the pencil icon in the main toolbar to Enable Cell Editing, then double click in a table cell to open a text editor or pulldown menu to populate attributes.

Copy/Paste Attribute Values

Enter Cell Edit Mode, then use CTRL+C and CTRL+V to copy attribute values from one requirement to another. This can be utilized for standard Violet attributes and Custom fields, as well as relationships.

Bulk Editing Attributes

Select one or more requirements checkboxes, then right click near the column/attribute you want to change. In the menu, select the "Update [column name] for selected rows" and select your new value.

Bulk Assigning Owners, Approvers and Verifiers

Select one or more requirements checkboxes, then click the Add Assignee or Owners button in the main toolbar. Enter the appropriate owner, approver and verifier(s), applicable to all selected requirements, then click save.

Organizing Requirements

Click the Enable Organize button in the main toolbar to allow you to drag and drop one or more requirements and folders into the appropriate sorting order and nesting hierarchy. See Best practices for additional guidance on organizing requirements.

Commenting

• Right click on a requirement in the table view and select "Add Comment"

• Double click on a requirement to open the side panel, then find the Comments tab.

• Mention ("@username") a coworker to send them a notification about your comment

• Like and reply to comments made by others on the team

• Mark comments resolved