Building reliable systems starts with knowing how every requirement connects and traces to the rest of your project. In IBM DOORS Next, traceability links make those relationships visible. They can show how stakeholders' needs are connected to system and software requirements, and how those requirements link to design specifications, implementation tasks, and test cases. For engineering teams, it’s a powerful means of supporting impact analysis, coverage checks, and compliance activities across the entire lifecycle. However, for this to be truly effective, it's necessary to properly understand the tool and its various properties and features to fully leverage these links. Once you have a solid grasp of these elements, you will quickly see the improvements in traceability quality, lifecycle alignment, and confidence in your engineering decisions.
This article explains the different ways of creating, setting up, and using links in IBM DOORS Next, from configuring link types to verifying coverage. It will help you manage requirements more confidently, maintain traceability across disciplines, and ensure that every change is well understood before it starts impacting design or testing.
In IBM DOORS Next, traceability links refer to the relationships (called Links in the tool) that connect artifacts. Links establish the relationships and dependencies needed to connect requirements and maintain traceability all along a project.
For instance:
A system requirement might satisfy a stakeholder's requirement, and a test case might validate that system requirement. Those are concrete examples among many others of traceability links in IBM DNG. These connections allow teams to demonstrate coverage, verify that every requirement has been implemented and tested, and analyze the impact of proposed changes.
When one artifact changes, its linked artifacts are automatically flagged so that engineers can assess potential effects before implementation. Over time, this chain of links becomes a living, auditable record of how every requirement has evolved, been implemented, and verified.
The following sections explain how these traceability links are configured, created, and maintained in IBM DOORS Next.
Fig.1 – The Link Explorer in IBM DOORS Next graphically displays the traceability links across multiple levels as well as their relationship labels (“Satisfies”, “Validated by”, etc.)
Fig. 2 – The Project Properties page opened in the Link Types tab
A link type defines how two artifacts relate. Each link is directional, meaning it has an outgoing and incoming label describing the relationship from each artifact’s perspective.
Please note that link types are not all directional by default. It is generally highly recommended to use directional links to maintain a clear traceability flow between artifacts. For this purpose, make sure to enable the option “Provide directional labels for the relationship” in the dialog when creating a new link type (See Fig. 3).
Fig. 3 – Enabling directional labels during the creation of a new link type
The outgoing label describes the relationship from the source artifact’s perspective. The incoming label shows how that relationship appears from the target artifact’s side.
IBM DNG templates also include several link types that capture different relationship semantics between artifacts.
These include:
Links can also connect artifacts across IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) applications. This link type is available only through an OSLC integration. OSLC standard enables tools to link and display artifacts in real time without duplicating data.
An outgoing link represents the source artifact, and the incoming link (also known as a backlink) represents the target.
By default, IBM DOORS Next applies access control based on link direction. So, you need to have write access to the source artifact and read access to the target artifact.
Fig. 4 – Links Direction disposition
You can filter views to display only one direction:
Filtering by direction is useful for verifying whether the traceability flow is consistent. For instance, it allows you to see that system requirements satisfy stakeholder requirements, rather than the opposite.
Isolating link directions also supports more accurate coverage and impact analysis.
Fig. 5 – Filtering by direction
Before creating or using any links, you need to check which link types are already defined in your project and, if necessary, create new ones that match your organization's terminology and processes.
To access link type settings, open the Administration Menu:
Best practices➡️ You need to keep link names concise, meaningful, and consistent across projects. For example, if your team needs to capture a dependency, you can create a custom link type named “Depends on” instead of a long and less accurate variation such as “is influenced by”. ➡️ Filling in the URI section is not mandatory, but we recommend doing so at this stage. It ensures consistency when exchanging data through reporting tools or OSLC, for instance. It also prevents duplicate link types from being created under different identifiers. |
Fig. 6 – The creation of a new link type
Fig. 7 – The creation of a new link type (dialog)
There are several ways to create links between artifacts. You can create links either within a module context (See Fig. 8) or directly to the base artifact, outside any module.
The "right" method depends on your context and your workflow, but all methods rely on the same principles: select a source artifact, choose a target, and define the relationship type.
Fig. 8 – Full view of a module containing artifacts in a structured hierarchical order. A module is dedicated to cataloguing and managing requirements specifications
This is one of the simplest and “safest” methods because it minimizes user input and errors. You link artifacts visually, without having to navigate too many dialogs or manually select contexts. That reduces the risk of creating the wrong link type or linking to the wrong artifact.
Open two modules in separate tabs.
Option A – if the link column is displayed in the second window:
Fig. 9 – Dragging the source artifact
Fig. 10 – Dropping the artifact in the link column when displayed
Option B – if the link column is NOT displayed in the second window:
A second dialog opens informing that the link is not displayed in the current view. If you choose Yes, the column will be added to the current view.
→ Don't forget to save the view afterward
Fig. 11 – Creating a new link when the link column is not displayed
This method is convenient at the outset of linking creation, when you don't have a configured view displaying links in separate columns. As with the drag-and-drop method, this one presents little or no risk of error.
This option is slightly more step-driven than the drag-and-drop and copy-paste methods, but it gives you accurate control over where the link is created. This is useful when the target module isn’t already open or visible.
However, because the picker defaults to “Folders”, it’s easier to accidentally create a base link instead of a module link, so always verify that “Modules” is selected before confirming.
Fig. 12 – The Create Link dialog
This method is convenient when you’re already viewing an artifact and want to create a link without switching to another tab or module. However, it still opens the Create Link dialog we explored earlier (See Fig. 12), so you must verify that you’re linking within the correct module context to avoid creating a base link by mistake.
Fig. 13 – Artifact Context Menu
This option is useful when you’re reviewing a single requirement and want to inspect or create links directly in the sidebar, without opening the module table view.
Fig. 14 – Add a Link from the Right Sidebar
You can link a requirement to an external reference. You can use this method when you need to reference external resources, such as regulatory standards, norms, design documents, or supplier specifications that are maintained outside IBM DNG.
ℹ️ Please note, however, that these links don't have the same quality as links within Jazz domains or OLSC links. They are simply hypertext links to an external web.
After reviewing how to create links in DOORS Next, it's important to understand what happens when those linked artifacts change and how teams should manage those impacts within the tool to maintain accurate traceability.
Traceability is valuable only if it demonstrates completeness. Once links are created, teams can use filters in DOORS Next to analyze artifact coverage and quickly identify missing link types, such as higher-level requirements that are not yet satisfied by lower-level specifications or test cases. To do this, you can use the Add Filter icon or the Open Filter Section (See Fig. 15).
Here is one of the procedures:4. Now, to find unsatisfied ones, edit this condition directly in the view: Expand the Open Filter Icon (See Fig. 15) → Change the link value to “does not exist” (See Fig. 18). As you can see, the conditions set out above also apply here.
5. Apply the filter
The result isolates all stakeholder requirements that still lack downstream coverage (See Fig.18). Note that this simple view can be saved and reused during audits or design reviews.
Fig. 15 – Add Filter and Open Filter icons
Fig. 16 – Adding conditions from the Add Filter dialog box #1
Fig. 17 – Adding conditions from the Add Filter dialog box #2
Fig. 18 – Expand Open Filter Icon
When a requirement changes, IBM DNG automatically flags its connected links as suspect (See Fig. 19). These indicators warn teams that downstream artifacts may be affected by the change.
Maintaining this cycle regularly ensures that changes are assessed systematically and that compliance traceability remains intact.
Fig. 19 – The Suspect’s status appears with a gray icon and a question mark within the module
Here’s the procedure for changing a link’s status from “Suspect” to “Valid”. Note that whenever a link is displayed, its validity status can be changed at any time.
To add a comment, select Set Validity with Comment, and choose the new status. This option can be used to justify a decision (See Fig. 21)
Fig. 20 – Enabling Link Validity for a single link
Fig. 21 – Set Validity with Comment
Effective traceability in IBM DOORS Next depends on building accurate links, maintaining link validity, regularly verifying coverage, and managing suspect statuses.
By carefully following these practices, but above all by understanding the purpose and values behind each property, your team can ensure that every requirement is implemented, tested, and auditable throughout the project lifecycle.
Maintaining disciplined link management within IBM DNG strengthens project consistency, supports compliance activities, and provides a reliable foundation for impact analysis and change control.
➡️ To go further, our IBM DOORS Next trainings guide teams from document-centric to repository-based requirements management, combining theory with hands-on exercises on attributes, views, linking, and impact analysis to ensure practical mastery.
And for organizations that need to extend traceability beyond DOORS Next, our OSLC Connectors provide seamless interoperability between IBM ELM applications and third-party platforms, without data duplication or loss of context.