Suspect Links

Overview

R4J allows you to use Jira issue links to define the relationships and dependencies between requirements, as well as between requirements and other types of issues. When one requirement depends on another requirement, it can be useful to know when that requirement changes, since that may require corresponding changes in the dependent requirement.

In the future, R4J will allow you to use the concept of suspect links to help you spot such cases and take appropriate action. While this monitoring feature is not yet available as a builtin feature, using Jira Automation features as a workaround is recommended. The solution automatically monitors changes in your requirements and flags linked issues as "suspect" in order to identify them for review. This feature allows users to change requirements and then determine which other requirements might be affected by the changes. After review, the suspect information is removed.

Suspect links are identified in the following ways:

  • A Jira query provides a list of suspect issues. This report is used to review those issues.

  • The linked issues appear in the suspect issues' Detail view in the section "Linked issues".

  • When issues are flagged as suspect, an email is sent to the users indicated in the configuration.

To configure suspect link monitoring in Jira Automation, see Configuring Suspect Logic.

Generate a Suspect Report

Using Jira Advanced Issue Search, query for the suspect issues using the label “Suspect”:

The label used in the query is the one that is configured in Jira Automation. You are free to use any label, but take care to avoid using a label that conflicts with other labels.

Resolve Suspect Issues

  • Open the issues found in the report and work through them one by one.

  • The field R4J Suspect shows the issues whose changes caused the dependent issue in the report to be labelled as suspect. Open those issues by following the links in the “Linked issues” section.

  • Evaluate the impact of the changes on the dependent issue and edit it to reflect the changes in the related issues, if necessary.

  • Update the dependent issue as follows:

    • Remove the notifications from the R4J Suspect field.

    • Delete the suspect label.