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Export and Import using ReqIF

Export and Import using ReqIF

Overview

The Requirements Interchange Format (ReqIF) is an established industry standard for exchanging requirements between different organizations, departments, or tools. It was defined by the Object Management Group (OMG) and is widely adopted in automotive, aerospace, and other safety-critical industries where seamless collaboration is essential.

With the ReqIF export and import functions in easeRequirements, users can reliably exchange structured requirement data—including attributes, hierarchies, and traceability—across tool boundaries without losing critical information. This ensures that project partners, suppliers, and customers can collaborate effectively, even if they work with different requirement management systems.

Key Benefits in easeRequirements

  • Standards-based interoperability: Avoids vendor lock-in and simplifies cooperation across organizations.

  • High data fidelity: Preserves requirement structures, metadata, and links when moving between systems.

  • Accelerated collaboration: Reduces manual rework and inconsistencies when sharing requirements.

  • Future-proofing: Aligns with industry standards and customer expectations for professional requirements exchange.

Use Cases

1. Supplier Collaboration in the Automotive Industry

Scenario: An automotive OEM defines system requirements in easeRequirements and must provide them to multiple suppliers working on electronic control units (ECUs). Each supplier uses a different tool for requirement management.

Solution with ReqIF:

  • The OEM exports the requirements package as a ReqIF file from easeRequirements.

  • Each supplier imports the ReqIF file into their preferred tool.

  • During project execution, updated versions are exchanged via ReqIF, ensuring both sides stay aligned.

Benefit: Eliminates manual copy-paste or Excel conversions, ensures accurate requirement baselines, and speeds up supplier onboarding.

2. Regulatory Compliance and Auditing

Scenario: A medical device manufacturer must share requirement specifications with a notified body for regulatory approval. The notified body uses their own toolchain for review.

Solution with ReqIF:

  • The manufacturer exports the requirements including attributes such as safety classification and verification method via ReqIF.

  • The notified body imports the ReqIF into their system and can perform structured reviews.

  • Feedback is exchanged by sending back an updated ReqIF file, which can be imported back into easeRequirements.

Benefit: Ensures transparency, traceability, and compliance with regulatory standards, while providing a complete audit trail.

3. Joint Development Across Multiple Teams

Scenario: A global engineering project involves teams in Europe and Asia working on different modules of the same product. Each team uses different requirement engineering tools but must align frequently.

Solution with ReqIF:

  • Each team exports their respective requirements and interfaces as ReqIF.

  • Partner teams import the files into easeRequirements, enabling traceability across modules.

  • Requirement updates are re-imported on a regular basis to keep all teams synchronized.

Benefit: Enables distributed teams to collaborate effectively without imposing a single tool environment.

Best Practices

  1. Define exchange scope clearly
    – Only include relevant requirement sets, attributes, and links. Avoid overloading ReqIF files with unnecessary information.

  2. Use baselines before export
    – Export from a controlled version to ensure that the exchanged data reflects a stable project state.

  3. Establish exchange cycles
    – Agree on a regular import/export rhythm (e.g., weekly or milestone-based) to prevent version confusion.

  4. Validate after import
    – After importing a ReqIF file into easeRequirements, verify that all critical attributes, hierarchies, and traceability links are preserved. Compare with the baseline.

  5. Combine ReqIF with reviews
    – Use ReqIF exchange as a structured basis for design reviews or supplier meetings.

Recommendations – How and When to Use ReqIF in easeRequirements

  • When working with external partners or suppliers: ReqIF is the safest way to guarantee structured and lossless requirement exchange.

  • When ensuring compliance: Use ReqIF to deliver official requirement packages to auditors, regulators, or customers.

  • When integrating heterogeneous tool landscapes: In joint development projects, ReqIF allows each team to stay in their familiar environment while still collaborating efficiently.

  • When maintaining long-term product lines: ReqIF ensures that requirements can be archived and later exchanged—even if tools change over the lifecycle.

By leveraging ReqIF export and import in easeRequirements, organizations gain a powerful interoperability bridge for requirements engineering. It minimizes friction in collaboration, secures compliance, and safeguards requirement data across diverse toolchains. For projects with multiple stakeholders, ReqIF is not only a technical necessity but also a strategic enabler of efficient, future-proof engineering processes.

Start now!

  1. Learn about the ReqIF standard.

  2. Configure ReqIF Field mappings to correctly map the fields between systems.

  3. Go to your project tree to Export and Import ReqIF files.