Documents

A document in Holarch is a specification, plan or procedure whose sections and requirements are entities in the model. The document page shows them in order with hierarchical numbers, lets you write and restructure them, and produces Word, Excel, ReqIF, Markdown and other outputs. Because every item is an entity, the same requirement appears in the Database, in diagrams, in the traceability matrix and in the quality checker, and an edit in any of those places shows up in the document.

Concepts

What makes something a document

• A document is an Artifact entity that carries a document-type label (any label whose name ends in "Document") or that is the source of at least one Statement.
• Its top-level items are the entities the document is source of. Deeper items hang under them through decomposed by relationships, so the outline you see is the decomposition tree.
• Items are usually Statements (sections, headings, notes, assumptions) and Requirements (and their subclasses). Any class can be added with Other class….
• Removing an item from a document does not delete the entity. Deleting it from the database does.

Document types

The type is the document's document-type label. It decides which templates are offered and whether the document opens in paper mode.

A label you add to the Artifact class whose name ends in "Document" becomes another document type (see Schema extensions). A document labeled Compilation assembles other documents; see Compilations.

Numbers

Each item has a number such as 3.2 shown before its name. Numbers are stored on the entity, so the same requirement shows the same number everywhere, unless you switch the document to document numbering. Holarch keeps numbers in order for you when Renumber siblings automatically when adding or moving is on (the default).

Baselines

A baseline is a read-only snapshot of the document: its items, their attributes and relationships (including links to entities one step outside the document) and the document's settings. Baselines carry dated approval records that cannot be edited later. They feed the change reports and the Revision History and Approvals tables of the Word output.

How to use it

When and why

Use documents when the deliverable is a specification someone will read, review and sign: a system requirements specification for SRR, a concept of operations early in concept development, a test plan before verification starts, or a procedure for operations. Write the requirements here, then trace them to functions, assets and tests elsewhere in the model. The document answers "what does this specification say, in what order, and what changed since it was approved?"

In the systems engineering flow, documents sit at the start (stakeholder needs and system requirements), feed functional analysis and allocation, and come back at reviews as baselined, approved outputs with traceability reports.

Create a requirements specification from a template

1. In the navigation rail, open Needs & Requirements → Documents and click + New Document in the top bar.
2. In Specify, choose the Type (for example Requirements Document), enter the Name (required), and optionally a Number and Description. Click Next.
3. In Template, choose Blank Document, a built-in template as (Outline) or (With Guidelines), or one of your Custom templates. Click Finish.
4. The document opens with the template's numbered sections (for example 1 Document Control, 1.1 Revision History, 1.2 Approvals, 2 Introduction …). With Guidelines puts writing guidance into each section's description; delete it as you write.

Write requirements

1. Click a section row to select it.
2. Click + Child (or press ⌥⌘↵) to add a requirement under it. A new row named "New Requirement" appears with its number and its name ready to type.
3. Type the name, press Enter, then click the description and write the "shall" statement. The rich text editor saves when you click elsewhere or press ⌘↵.
4. Press ⌘↵ to add the next requirement after the selected one, at the same level.
5. For fast entry, use Quick add under the document: choose the section in the list (for example Under 4 Command and Data Handling), type the requirement text and press Enter. Holarch names it from the words after "shall" and keeps the cursor in the field for the next one.

The class added by + New …, + After and + Child is the last class you picked from their ▾ menus (Requirement by default). The choice is remembered in this browser.

Restructure

• Select a row and press Tab to indent it under the item above, Shift+Tab to outdent, ⌥+↑ or ⌥+↓ to move it among its siblings.
• Drag rows in the Outline tab: drop on the upper or lower edge of a row to place it before or after, on the middle to make it a child.
• Use More ▾ → Move… to pick a new parent from a list (children move along).
• With automatic renumbering on, the numbers update after each move.

Review, baseline and publish

1. Run More ▾ → Quality Check and fix the weak requirements (see Requirements).
2. Clear open items in More ▾ → TBD/TBR Register and review More ▾ → Suspect Links.
3. In the left pane, open Baselines → + Create Baseline, name it (for example "SRR Baseline") and add one approval row per approver (name, role, statement). Click Create.
4. Click Reports, choose Basic Document Output (DOCX), keep Fill the Revision History and Approvals tables from baselines on and click Create. Open the file in Word and accept the prompt to update fields so the table of contents fills in.
5. After later edits, select the baseline in the Baselines tab and click Changes Since to see every addition, removal and edit, or export it with Export XLSX.

Worked example: the CubeSat EO-1 demo

Create the demo from Manage Projects → Project Files ▾ → Create Demo Project, then open Needs & Requirements → Documents → EO-1 System Requirements Specification (number SRS-001).

1. Read the structure. Six sections (1 Mission Imaging, 2 Attitude Determination and Control, 3 Electrical Power, 4 Command and Data Handling, 5 Communications, 6 Ground Segment and Operations) hold the requirements. Requirement 1.6 Revisit Time has two children, 1.6.1 Ground Track Repeat and 1.6.2 Off-Nadir Imaging. The Quality Score column shows bars; 2.5 Safe Mode Recovery and 6.4 Operator Interface score low.
2. Find the weak wording. Press ⌘F and type should. The counter shows the matches; press Enter until 2.5 is marked. Its text is "The spacecraft should recover from safe mode quickly and resume imaging as appropriate". Rewrite it, for example "The spacecraft shall resume imaging within 24 hours of a safe mode entry." The score column shows Quality: stale — re-run until you run the check again.
3. Split a compound requirement. Select 6.4 Operator Interface ("…shall be user friendly and/or easy to use."), choose More ▾ → Splitter…, and click ✦ Suggest split with AI to get one measurable requirement per row. Untick rows you do not want and click Apply.
4. Add a requirement fast. In Quick add, choose Under 3 Electrical Power, type "The EPS shall provide a 5 V regulated bus within 3%." and press Enter. It is added as 3.7 named "Provide A 5 V Regulated".
5. See what changed since SRR. Open the Baselines tab and click SRR Baseline (approved by P. Warmuth, Systems Lead; R. Okafor, Mission Principal Investigator; L. Brandt, Program Manager). The banner reads "Viewing baseline “SRR Baseline” (read-only)". Click Changes Since: the report lists 3.1 Orbit Average Power (description changed from 28 W to 30 W and a new rationale), 2.4 Target Slew (Status Draft → In Review), the added 4.4 Downlink Encryption with its two new satisfies links, and your own edits from this session.
6. Publish. Click Back to Main, then Reports → Basic Document Output (DOCX) → Create. The Word file starts with the title, "Requirements Document · No. SRS-001", a Revision History row for SRR Baseline ("Initial baseline") and the three approvals, followed by the numbered requirements.

Tips and good practice

• Write one requirement per row with one "shall". The Splitter and the quality check help keep requirements singular.
• Keep sections as Statements and requirements as Requirements. Only Requirements are scored by the quality check, and requirement-only reports (RVTM, VCRM, RTM) skip Statements.
• Baseline before every review and before large rewrites; reverting and change reports depend on it.
• Turn on Display Options… → Focus field on select → Description when you mostly edit text, so a click on a row opens its description editor.
• Use Paper Mode to read the document like a page without attribute columns; switch it off to edit attributes in columns.

Common mistakes

• Adding is greyed out. A filter or sort is active (⚠ Filter/Sort Active in the toolbar), or you are viewing a baseline. Click the warning, or Back to Main.
• Numbers jumped after a move. Automatic renumbering rewrites the numbers of the sibling group. Turn it off in Display Options… to keep hand-set numbers, or lock the items whose numbers must not change.
• Removed an item and it is still in the Database. Remove from Document only unlinks it. Use Remove ▾ → Delete from Database… to delete it.
• Letter or roman numbering became decimal. Automatic renumbering and Auto Number… produce decimal numbers (1, 1.1, 1.1.1). Keep lettered appendices by numbering them by hand with automatic renumbering off.

How it connects to other features

• Feeds in: Import creates documents from Word, Excel, CSV, ReqIF, XMI and text; templates create the skeleton; AI generators add requirements.
• Feeds out: requirements trace to functions, assets and test cases (Traceability); the quality checker, TBD/TBR register, suspect links and approvals work on the document's requirements; More ▾ → Functional Analysis (functions, FFBD, tables)… derives functions from it; reports produce the RVTM, VCRM and change reports; Review Packages assemble documents into compilations.
• Everywhere else: each item is an entity, so it appears in the Database, the Entity View and diagrams such as Spider and Tree.

The document list

Open Needs & Requirements → Documents. Each document is a card with a thumbnail of its outline, the name, the type, other labels, "N items · N requirements", Avg quality N% (when requirements have scores), N TBD/TBR (open items), and Modified with the date of the latest change to the document or any item.

Click a card to open the document. The address documents/<id> opens a document directly; add ?baseline=<id> or ?baseline=latest to open a baseline, or ?find=<text> to start a search.

The document page

Top bar

• + New {Class} adds an item of the current class at the end of the document. Its ▾ opens the class menu: Add Existing Entity…, Insert Document… (compilations only), the header Add at the bottom, every Statement class (the current one has a ✓), and Other class….
• ✦ AI ▾ holds the document's AI tools (see AI tools).

Toolbar

Structure buttons are disabled when nothing is selected, when the selected item is locked, while a filter or sort is active, and in a baseline.

Left pane

The left pane has four tabs. ‹ hides the pane and › on the left edge shows it again. Drag its right edge to resize it (180 to 500 px). When the page is narrower than about 1,100 px, the pane folds away and opens as an overlay from ›; clicking outside closes it.

• Outline: the hierarchy with each item's color swatch, number and name, 🔒 on locked items, and ▾/▸ toggles. Click an entry to select the item and scroll to it. Drag to reorder (see Restructure); invalid drop targets are marked and refused (an item cannot go under its own child, under a locked item, or under a class that cannot be decomposed by it). Rows of the part of the document in view are highlighted; Show Position in Outline scrolls the outline to that part. Deep levels beyond what fits show an L{n} level tag instead of more indentation.
• Filter: Classes pills (All Document Entities, then Only {Class}s per class with counts; click an active pill again for All {Class}s, which includes subclasses) and Labels check boxes with counts. Match: AND / Match: OR decides whether an item needs every checked label or any of them; Clear Label Filter unchecks them. Filtered rows keep their indentation and authoring pauses while a filter is on. A dot on the tab marks an active filter. The open or closed state of each group is remembered in this browser.
• Baselines: Main {Type} (the working copy), each baseline of this document with its creation date and approvers, + Create Baseline, and under Project baselines the project-wide baselines. Click one to view it read-only.
• Comments: every comment on the document and its items, grouped by item, with "(N unresolved)". Show resolved includes resolved comments. Each comment has Resolve/Reopen and × (delete). Type in Comment on this document… and click Post Comment to comment on the document itself. The tab shows the unresolved count.

The document body

The body shows the document's type and labels, the item count, "Last baseline: {name}" and "document numbering" when meta numbers are on. Below them:

• No. and the title: click to edit the document number and name.
• The document description (click to edit in the rich text editor).
• The table. The Entity column holds each item: toggle, number, name, badges and description. Further columns are the attribute columns chosen in Display Options… (in paper mode there are none).

Each row shows:

• ▾/▸ to collapse or expand its children.
• The number and name: click to edit; Enter saves, Esc cancels. Pasted line breaks become spaces.
• Badges: 🔒 (locked), ⚡ (the item carries guidance; point at it to read it), 💬 n (unresolved comments; click to open them in the inspector), ⚠ Suspect (an upstream requirement changed), the class badge, and the gap indicators S (satisfied by), T (traced to) and V (verified by), each shown when the item has that link.
• The description, edited in the rich text editor.
• A colored bar on the left edge: blue when the item is unchanged since the latest baseline, amber when it is new or changed.
• Attribute cells: Labels chips with × to remove and + to add (the menu lists the labels the class allows, or "No more labels"); text attributes edit in place; other attributes use their type's editor; Quality Score shows a colored bar (green 67% and above, amber 34% to 66%, red below) or Quality: stale — re-run when the text changed after the last check; "—" means the class has no such attribute.

Click a column header to sort ascending, again for descending, a third time to turn sorting off. Sorting lists items flat, without hierarchy, and pauses authoring. Drag the right edge of a header to resize the column (the Entity column is at least 300 px wide, others at least 80 px); widths are kept per document in this browser. A blank spacer row separates top-level sections.

Click a row to select it. Click empty space below the table, press Esc or click ✕ to deselect. ↑ and ↓ move the selection between rows.

Quick add

The bar under the document holds Quick add, the section list (End of document or Under {number name} for each top-level section), the text field and Add. Type a requirement and press Enter or click Add. The item gets the current class, the text as its description and a name made from the first words after "shall", "must", "will" or "should" (up to five words, title case). The field accepts up to 2,000 characters. While a filter or sort is on, the field reads "Clear the filter or sort to add entities".

Inspector

The selected item opens in the inspector on the right with the full entity panel (see Model and Database). In a document, the decomposed by and decomposes relationships are read-only there because the outline controls them. The footer has Deselect and Collapse Children. Locked items open read-only.

Adding items

New items

+ New {Class} adds at the end, + After after the selected item, + Child as the last child of the selected item (the parent expands). Without a selection, + After and + Child add at the end. A new item is named "New {Class}", is selected, and its name opens for editing.

Other classes

Other class… opens Add Entity to Document with Class (any class) and Name. Use it for non-Statement items such as an Asset description or a Test Case in a test plan.

Existing entities

Add Existing Entity… opens an entity picker without the document and its current items. The entity is added with its whole decomposition; the toast reads "Added {entity} with N child entities" when it brings children.

Restructure

Indent, outdent and move

• Indent makes the item the last child of the sibling above it. The first item of a group cannot be indented.
• Outdent makes the item the next sibling of its parent.
• Move up/down swaps the item with its neighbor. Locked items and locked neighbors do not move.
• When a move is not possible, the toast reads "Cannot move the selected entity in that direction."

Drag and drop

Drag in the Outline tab. The list scrolls when you drag near its top or bottom edge. Drop on the upper 28% of a row to place the item before it, the lower 28% to place it after, the middle to make it a child; drop on the document's name at the top to make it a top-level item at the end.

Move dialog

More ▾ → Move… opens Move with "Select the new parent for this {class}." Choose Top Level, or Sub-level and a parent from - Select New Parent Entity - (the list excludes the item's own subtree, its current parent, locked items and parents the schema does not allow). Children move along. Errors: "Select a new parent entity." and "Cannot move the entity there. The new parent is inside it, or the entity is locked."

Numbering

Automatic renumbering

With Renumber siblings automatically when adding or moving on (the default), adding, moving, indenting, outdenting, removing or splitting renumbers the affected sibling group and all descendants:

• Top-level items get the prefix plus a running number starting at the document's starting number (1 unless changed in Auto Number…).
• Children get their parent's number, a period and a running number (3, 3.1, 3.1.1).
• Locked items keep their numbers but still take a position.

With it off, a new item gets the next number after the item before it (or the parent's number plus .1 for a first child); existing numbers do not change; moving an item renumbers only the moved subtree; move up/down swaps the two numbers.

Next-number rules

When Holarch continues a sequence it increments the last part of the previous number and keeps separators and a trailing period, colon or parenthesis:

• Digits: 1.9 → 1.10, 2. → 3.
• Letters: a → b, z → aa, Z → AA, Appendix A → Appendix B
• Roman numerals of two or more letters: IV → V, IX → X. A single letter counts as a letter (I → J).
• Anything else gets .1 appended.

Auto Number

More ▾ → Auto Number… (with nothing selected) renumbers the whole document. With an item selected, Auto Number (from here)… renumbers that item, its later siblings and all their children. The dialog has:

• Prefix (for example MR.) and Starting Number (digits only). With an item selected, both are prefilled from its number.
• Add prefix only: adds the prefix to every number that does not start with it and keeps the numbers otherwise.
• A preview line ("Preview: MR.1, MR.1.1, MR.1.1.1 …") and the note "Locked entities keep their numbers."
• Run. The toast reads "Document renumbered". An invalid starting number shows "Enter a starting number to auto-number {document}."

The prefix and starting number of a whole-document run are saved with the document and used by later automatic renumbering.

Document numbering (meta numbers)

Display Options… → Always use Document's meta value for number keeps numbers per document: when you turn it on, each item's current number is copied into the document, and from then on number edits change only this document. Use it when the same requirement appears in two documents under different numbers. The body shows "· document numbering" while it is on. Exports and reports use the document numbers.

Templates

Built-in templates

Each document type has one built-in template in two variants:

• (Outline): numbered sections with starter tables (for example the Revision History and Approvals tables) and no guidance.
• (With Guidelines): the same sections with a short writing guide in each description, followed by the starter content.

The wizard shows the section count of each template (for example "39 sections" for the Requirements Specification).

Custom templates

More ▾ → Save as Template… opens Create New {Type} Template with Template Name and Include Files and Images. A custom template stores every item's class, name, number, description, level, labels and plain attribute values (quality results are left out). Custom templates are saved in this browser, appear under Custom templates in the wizard for documents of the same type, and are available in every project you open in this browser. If the browser's storage is full, the toast reads "Browser storage is full; template not saved."

Apply a template to an existing document

More ▾ → Template… opens Apply Template with Document type, Template and Save this document as a template…. Apply adds the template's sections, with their numbers and nesting, to the end of the document ("Added N sections"). Undo removes them.

Rich text editor

Click a description (or the document description) to edit it. The editor opens in place with a toolbar, a word and character counter ("words: N · chars: N") and the hint "⌘↩ save · Esc cancel". It saves when you press ⌘↵, click ✓, or click outside it; Esc cancels. Each save is one undo step.

Toolbar

Font, size and styles that wrap the selection need a selection; otherwise the toast reads "Select some text first."

Tables

Insert Table asks for Rows (default 2), Columns (default 3) and Header row (on). Inside a table, ▦ or right-click on a cell offers Add row above, Add row below, Add column before, Add column after, Add head row, Add caption, Merge with right cell, Delete row, Delete column, Remove head, Remove caption and Delete table. Tab and Shift+Tab move between cells.

Images and files

• Image… inserts a picture file as a figure. You can also paste an image or drop an image file into the editor, and pasting an image address (ending in .png, .jpg, .jpeg, .gif or .webp) inserts the picture.
• Images larger than 4,000 px on the longest side are reduced to fit ("Image reduced to W × H px (the limit is 4000 px on the longest side).").
• An image file above the per-file limit is redrawn at 1,600 px width as JPEG; if it is still too large the toast reads "Image exceeds the N MB limit."
• Embedded File… attaches any file as a download link with an icon for its type; files above the limit show "File exceeds the N MB limit."

Links and embedded links

• Link… (Insert Link) takes a URL and Text. Addresses without http:, https:, mailto: or # get https://. Links open in a new tab.
• Embedded Link (Document)… (Insert Embedded Link) links to another document: Document, Version (Current or Baseline: {name}) and Text. In the Word output, documents linked this way can be appended as appendices. Without documents the toast reads "No documents to link to. Create a document first."

Live content

• Diagram… (Insert Diagram): choose the Diagram type and the entity (or a whiteboard or frame). It inserts a picture of the diagram, with a caption, that links to the live diagram.
• Entity Notation…: pick an entity and an Attribute; the editor shows its "Current value (updates live)". The value stays current wherever the description is shown. Double-click a notation to change its attribute (Edit Entity Notation).
• Table Notation…: a Query (for example class:Requirement AND label:"Functional Requirement", default order:modified-), Attributes (in column order) (default Number, Name), Limit (default 10) and a preview. The rows are recomputed whenever the description is shown. See search syntax.
• Special Character…: ± ° µ Ω ≈ ≠ ≤ ≥ × ÷ √ ∞ ∑ π Δ arrows • … — – © ® ™ § ¶ € £ ¥ ¢ ½ ¼ ¾ ² ³ ✓ ✗.

AI text tools

✦ works on the selection, or on the current paragraph when nothing is selected: Improve it, Simplify it, Fix any mistakes, Make it shorter, Make it more detailed, Complete sentence, Change tone… (Academic, Assertive, Casual, Confident, Constructive, Empathetic, Exciting, Fluent, Formal, Friendly, Inspirational, Professional), Translate… and Translate every block… (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Ukrainian), and Insert AI Content…. The preview shows Current, Suggested and Changes; choose Replace, Retry or Discard. With nothing to work on, the toast reads "Nothing to rewrite here."

Pasting

Pasted formatted text keeps its structure (headings, lists, tables, links) but loses classes, inline styles (except on table cells) and Office markup. Scripts, frames and unsafe links are removed from all rich text.

Rich text shortcuts

Find in the document

Click Find or press ⌘F. The search box shows "n of m". The search covers each item's number, name, description, the values in the displayed columns and quality-check messages, and skips items hidden by a filter. Enter or ▼ goes to the next match, Shift+Enter or ▲ to the previous one, Esc clears the text and × closes the box. Collapsed sections open to show a match; matching rows are highlighted and the current one is marked.

Find and replace

More ▾ → Find And Replace… opens Find and Replace with Find, Replace, the fields Name, Number and Description (Number off by default), Case sensitive and Whole word. The line under the fields reads "N entities match (locked entities are skipped)." Replace All changes every match in the document's items in one undo step ("Updated N entities", or "No matches"). In rich text, only the text changes: formatting, links and notations stay intact.

Item tools (More menu, with an item selected)

The menu starts with Selected: {item}.

• Auto Number (from here)…: see Auto Number.
• Descending Bulk Attribute…: sets one value on the item and all its descendants. Choose Add Label, Remove Label or an attribute, then the value. "Applies to {item} and its N descendants. Locked entities are skipped." Toast: "Updated N entities (k locked skipped)".
• ✦ Expand Requirements…, ✦ Generate Requirements…, ✦ Generate Risks…, ✦ Generate Test Case… (requirements only): AI generators; every result is previewed before it is added.
• Lock Entity / Unlock Entity: a locked item cannot be edited, moved, renumbered or deleted; it shows 🔒.
• Move…: see Move dialog.
• Quality Check (this requirement): checks the selected requirement and opens its results.
• Splitter…: see below.
• Transform…: changes the class. New class lists Statement classes for statements and all creatable classes otherwise; Also transform children applies it to the subtree. "Attributes that do not exist on the new class are kept but hidden." Locked items are skipped. Toast: "Transformed N entities".

Splitter

Splitter — {item} breaks one item into several:

• By Sentence or By Paragraph, and Add as Children or Add as Siblings.
• ✦ Suggest split with AI asks the AI for singular requirements (up to 20). Rows whose text contains a web address start unticked, and when the original is approved, baselined or locked, replacing its text is an unticked opt-in; a diff shows row 1 against the original.
• The table lists Number, Name and Description per row, with + (Add New Row After) and × (Remove Row). The first row ("orig.") replaces the original item; ticked rows are created with the same class and labels.
• Numbers are proposed automatically and reassigned after the split when automatic renumbering is on. Toast: "Split applied".

Document tools (More menu)

Acronym Extractor

1. Acronym Extractor — Setup: choose Extraction fields: All, Name and Description (default), Name and Number, Number and Description, Name, Description or Number. Click Next.
2. Acronym Extractor — Validate: the acronyms found (two or more capitals, up to eight characters, not all digits), each with a definition taken from the words next to it whose initials spell it ("Concept of Operations" → CONOPS). They are grouped as High confidence (95%) (several occurrences and a definition), Medium confidence (65%) (one occurrence and a definition) and Low confidence (40%) (no definition). High-confidence acronyms not yet defined in the project are ticked. Edit the acronym and Name / Definition, and click "N occurrences" to see each place it appears. Acronyms already defined show "already defined". Click Next ("Select at least one acronym." if none is ticked).
3. Acronym Extractor — Generate: Output is {document} Acronym Document, {project} Acronym Document or An “Acronyms” section in this document. Options: Create hyperlinks to replace acronyms (live entity notations in descriptions), Pull existing acronyms (reuse acronym Statements already in the project) (on), Link each acronym to this document (related to) (on). Click Generate.

Each acronym becomes a Statement with Number = acronym, Name = definition and the label Acronym. With nothing found: "No acronyms found in this document."

Open menu

Open ▾ works on the selected item, or the document when nothing is selected:

• Entity View and History… (every recorded change with a word diff per field and Revert on each modification).
• General Diagrams: Hierarchy, Risk, Timeline, Tree. LML: Spider, Action, Asset (each where the class supports it).
• Views: Traceability Matrix (the document as the row axis) and Requirements Quality Checker (scoped to the document).

View menu

⚙ View ▾ has Collapse All, Expand All (when something is collapsed), Collapse Children (of the selected item), Reset View (clears collapse, filters, sort and search, shows the left pane at its default width, resets column widths and sets the columns back to Rationale, Quality Score and Labels), Display Options…, Paper Mode (✓ when on), Hide Outline and Filters / Show Outline and Filters, and Help.

Display Options

Columns are remembered per document in this browser, and the last choice is the starting point for documents you have not configured. The other options are saved with the document.

Baselines

Create a baseline

+ Create Baseline (Baselines tab) or More ▾ → Baseline… opens Create Baseline:

• Name (required; default "{document} Baseline N").
• Approvals: one row per approver with Name, Role and Statement (default "Approved for release."). The first row is prefilled with your name. + Add Approver adds rows; × removes one; rows without a name are ignored.
• "A baseline is a read-only snapshot of this document: its entities, their attributes and relationships. Approval records are dated now and cannot be edited afterwards."

Create saves it ("Baseline created").

View a baseline

Click it in the Baselines tab. The banner reads "Viewing baseline “{name}” (read-only) — created {date}" with the approvers, and offers:

• Back to Main: returns to the working copy.
• Edit (document baselines): Edit Baseline renames it and adds approval records under Add Approvals. "New records are dated now and added to the list. Existing records cannot be changed."
• Changes Since: opens the change report from this baseline.
• Revert to Baseline: "Overwrite this document's entities, order and structure with baseline "{name}"? Entities added since are removed from the document (not deleted). Undo is available." For a project baseline: Restore Project Baseline, "Replace the entire project with project baseline "{name}"? Undo is available."
• Delete: "Delete baseline "{name}"?"

In a baseline, editing, quick add and structure tools are off, the outline shows 🔒, and Reports produce the outputs from the baseline ("Download Reports — baseline “{name}”").

Change report

Baseline Change Report compares a Source baseline with a Target (a later baseline or Current). It lists "N changes" with Number, Name, Change Type, Field and Change (a word diff for modified text). Change types: Added, Removed, Modified (fields Name, Number, Description, Class, Image, any attribute), Label Added, Label Removed, Relationship Added, Relationship Removed and Relationship Attribute. Export XLSX downloads it with Number, Name, Class, Change Type, Field, Old Value and New Value. Without baselines: "Create a baseline of this document first."

Reports

Reports opens Download Reports: choose the Report (listed alphabetically; the last choice is remembered), set its options, edit the File Name (up to 99 characters) and click Create. Preview shows the first 60 rows of spreadsheet reports ("Preview is available for spreadsheet reports." for others). Reports use the document numbers and, in a baseline, the baseline's content.

In the matrix reports, a requirement with no linked item (or, in the VCRM, no method) is shaded red, the requirement cells merge over its related rows, and the two header rows are frozen.

Word output

Basic Document Output (DOCX) builds a Word file:

1. The title and an italic line with the type, "No. {number}" and, from a baseline, "Baseline: {name} ({date})".
2. Revision History (Version, Date, Author, Changes): one row per baseline of the document, oldest first, up to the exported baseline. The first reads "Initial baseline"; later rows read "N added, N removed, N modified" or "No changes". Author is the baseline's creator or its approvers.
3. Approvals (Role, Name, Statement, Date) from the latest (or exported) baseline.
4. If the document has a section named "Revision History" or "Document Revision History", or "Approvals", "Approval", "Sign-off", "Signoff", "Signatures" or "Signature", the generated table goes into that section instead of the top. The built-in templates use these names.
5. The document description, then the table of contents and a page break.
6. Each item as a Word heading (Heading 1 to Heading 6 by depth, deeper levels stay at 6) with its number and name, its description, and an Attribute/Value table of the chosen columns that have a value.
7. Appendices: each document linked by an embedded link starts on a new page with "{document} Appendix" and its contents, one level down.

Format: US Letter portrait, 1 inch top and bottom margins, 0.875 inch side margins, Calibri 11 pt, real heading styles (so Word's navigation pane and table of contents work), table header rows shaded and repeated on each page. Word asks to update fields when it opens the file; until then the table of contents shows "Right-click and choose Update Field to build the table of contents."

Rich text conversion: bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, superscript, subscript, inline code (Consolas), highlight, text color and web links are kept; headings inside descriptions become bold paragraphs (not table-of-contents entries); lists become indented "•" or "1." paragraphs; code blocks become shaded monospace lines; quotes become indented italic; tables keep merged columns and header shading; PNG, JPEG and GIF pictures are embedded up to about 6.5 inches wide. SVG and WebP pictures are left out of Word files.

Comments

Comment on an item in the inspector's Comments tab or on the document in the left pane's Comments tab. A row with unresolved comments shows 💬 n. Resolve, reopen and delete comments in either place. The Comment Report (XLSX) collects them. See Comments and reviews.

Compilations

A document labeled Compilation assembles other documents. Insert Document… (in More ▾ and the + New ▾ menu) picks a document not yet included; it appears as a top-level item with its own contents below it ("Inserted {document}"). Without other documents: "No other documents to insert." Review packages use compilations; see Review Packages.

AI tools

The top bar's ✦ AI ▾ lists, for a selected Requirement or Statement, Improve Wording…, Make Measurable… (requirements), Simplify…, Split into Singular Requirements…, Draft Rationale…, Suggest Name…, AI Quality Review (this requirement)…, Expand Requirements… and Generate Test Case… (requirements); Generate Risks… for any selected item; and for the document Generate Requirements…, Summarize Document…, Translate Document… and AI Quality Review (N requirements)…. Every AI result is previewed and applied as one undo step. In a baseline the tools are disabled. See AI.

Keyboard shortcuts

On Windows and Linux use Ctrl for ⌘ and Alt for ⌥. Row shortcuts work when no field has focus. ⌘↵ and ⌥⌘↵ also work while editing a number or name. See Keyboard shortcuts and the rich text keys above.

Settings remembered in this browser

The selected left-pane tab, whether the pane is hidden, its width, the inspector tab, the columns and column widths per document, the list sort, the open filter groups, the current class for new items, the last report type and the custom templates are kept in this browser. Display options other than columns, numbering prefix and start, and paper mode are saved with the document and shared with everyone on the project.

Messages

Limits

Related

• Requirements: attributes, quality checks, TBD/TBR, suspect links, approvals and requirement import options.
• Traceability: linking requirements to functions, assets and tests.
• Import and export: every import and export format.
• Model and Database: entities, the inspector, labels, history and locks.
• Schema extensions: custom document types and attributes.
• Help: Documents, Rich Text Editor, Acronym Extractor, Write and Trace Requirements.