The document provides guidelines for organizing a DOORS database to improve performance and data integrity. It discusses organizing attributes, views, editing settings, links, and access rights to reduce processing demands and ensure traceability. Adopting these guidelines can enhance the user experience and allow managing larger modules.

1. DOORS Database
Architecture Analysis
How to organize DOORS database for
better performance and data integrity
– Performance Issues
– Links Enforcement
– Access Rights
Yaron Zelichover
February 2009
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2. Performance Improvement Guidelines
Purpose
 How to organize DOORS architecture to improve performance
Benefits of Performance Improvement
 Improve user experience
 Allow managing larger modules
 Most guidelines do not involve “simple” user
 Can be adopted both by new or existing projects
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3. Performance Improvement Guidelines
Performance Improvement Guidelines:
 Attributes guidelines
 DXL columns Vs. DXL attributes
 Default views
 Shareable edit
 History/Baseline
 Delete non-purged objects
 Open modules in Exclusive edit
 DXL code guidelines
 Link structure
 Tips to test performance
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4. Performance Improvement Guidelines
• Attributes guidelines:
 Reduce number of attributes in modules
 Prefer String attributes over Text attributes
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5. Performance Improvement Guidelines
• DXL columns Vs. DXL attributes
 DXL attribute:
calculated once, it‟s an additional attribute
 DXL column:
calculated whenever object is displayed, depended on view
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6. Performance Improvement Guidelines
• Default views
 Affects the module open time
 Use „light‟ view as default view:
 Reduce number of attributes in default view
(specially: DXL attributes and Text attributes)
 Prefer avoiding DXL column in default view
 Prefer hiding Explorer
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7. Performance Improvement Guidelines
• Shareable edit
• Pack History into Baseline
• Purge “soft-deleted” objects
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8. Performance Improvement Guidelines
• Open modules in Exclusive edit
• DXL code guidelines
• Link structure
 Reduce number of link modules
 Verify „Link Enforcement‟
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9. Performance Improvement Guidelines
• Tips to test performance
 Close DOORS session completely before each test
 When comparing performance, do it on same client
 Check how many modules are open in the background
 Tools > Manage open modules
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10. Link Enforcement Guidelines
Purpose
 How to plan and enforce links/tractability strategy
Benefits of Link Enforcement
 Reduce user mistakes
 Comply with company process
 Assure completeness of impact analysis
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11. Link Enforcement Guidelines
Link Enforcement:
 Concept:
 Link module/Linkset/Link Descriptor
 “DOORS Links” – default link module
 Plan traceability strategy:
 Define link model – link types and directions
 Enforce links according to the model
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12. Link Enforcement Guidelines
• Link Enforcement - Concept
 Link module/Linkset/Link Descriptor
 “DOORS Links” – default link module
Linkset
Link Descriptor
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13. Plan traceability strategy
• Define Link Model
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14. Enforce traceability strategy
Enforce links according to the model:
 Each link type is represented by a link module
 All links of a certain type should go only
through the corresponded link module
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15. Enforce traceability strategy
Enforce links according to the model:
 Allow only links according to model - guidelines:
 Use link descriptors on modules
 Allow only links according to link descriptors
 CustomizationsUtilities to work according
to the model
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16. Access Rights
• Access Rights Guidelines:
 Avoid giving Admin access to users
 Manage permissions for groups and not individual
users
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