Excel Requirements and Mapping File

Create a requirements file in Excel to import requirements into Silk Central or to update them. In the requirements file, define requirements and their hierarchy, along with their priorities, risks, review status, and custom properties.

To map the requirements in your requirements file to the requirements in Silk Central, use an XML mapping file. The mapping file maps the columns in the Excel document to the requirement properties in Silk Central. You need the Modify Office import mapping files permission to edit the mapping file.

Property Mappings

Click Edit Mapping on the Import Requirements from Excel File or Update Requirements from Excel File dialog to map the requirements in your Excel file to Silk Central as follows:
  • Header Row: Specify the row in your Excel requirements file which contains the column names to be used for mapping the properties.
  • First Data Row: Specify the row that contains the first requirement. This row and all rows below are interpreted as requirements.
  • Separator Characters: Specify the characters that should be interpreted as separators within property values. This is used for multi-list properties.
  • Name, Description: Specify the column names in the header row that are mapped to requirement name and description, respectively.
  • External GUID: Specify the column name in the header row that contains the unique ID within your requirements file for each requirement. These IDs can be used in External Parent GUID to create a hierarchy of your requirements.
  • External Parent GUID: Specify the column name in the header row that contains the parent of a requirement. In your requirements file, enter the parent's External GUID to specify the parent of a requirement. If this cell does not contain data, the requirement is added directly to the generated root requirement. The following rules apply:
    • If a requirement has no parent ID set, it is added as a child to the generated root requirement
    • If a requirement has an invalid parent ID, it is added as a child to the generated root requirement
    • If a requirement has its own external ID set as parent ID, it is added as child to the generated root requirement
    • If two or more requirements have a circular dependency through their parent IDs, they are not imported into Silk Central
  • Priority, Risk, Reviewed: Specify the column names in the header row that are mapped to the localized values for these properties. Mapping the columns for these properties is mandatory.
  • Optional: If you have defined custom properties, specify the column names in the header row for each of them to be mapped correctly.
  • Save as: Specify the name of the file to be saved with your mapping information. This file is saved on the application server in <Silk Central data directory>\OfficeImportMappingFiles\requirements\xlsx\<client ID>, for example C:\ProgramData\SilkCentral\instance_<instance number>_<instance name>\OfficeImportMappingFiles\requirements\xlsx\1.

Sample Excel Requirements File

The following example shows a sample requirement, two subrequirements, and the corresponding external IDs. This sample Excel requirements file matches the default property mappings.
1 RequirementName RequirementDescription ID ParentID Priority Risk Reviewed
2 Customer Account Management - Basics As user of the web shop I want to be able to ... ID_1 Medium High No
3 Customer Account Management - Personal Details As user of the web shop I want to be able to ... ID_1.1 ID_1 Medium Medium No
4 Customer Account Management - Shipping Details As user of the web shop I want to be able to ... ID_1.2 ID_1 Medium Medium No