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Release Notes for Spira v7

Version 7.5 (March 2023)

Summary

  • SpiraPlan and SpiraTeam users can now try out the new beta task board. More flexible and powerful than ever before, you can organize your board into columns, swimlanes, and groups to help you focus on the most important tasks at any time.
  • Template admins can now fully customize exactly what requirement statuses show on the beta planning board, and in what order. This helps you tailor the beta planning board even further to your needs.
  • A new SpiraApp for SpiraTeam and SpiraPlan lets you conduct multiple parallel approvals of a requirement, with a one click creation of tasks that can be pre-named, and pre-assigned to relevant reviewers
New Features

  • APIs

    • Implement a v7 of the SOAP API [RQ:4418]
    • Implement a v7 of the REST API [RQ:4417]

  • Cross-Cutting Functionality

    • As a requirement analyst, I can request approval of multiple managers before a requirement can proceed through the workflow, so we can have strong oversight and audit trails [RQ:4513]
    • Move background processes from an in memory dictionary to a database table to reduce errors with multiple CPU cores in IIS (and maybe load balancing) [RQ:4505]
    • As a manager, I can manage associations between requirements and releases, and from releases to other releases (in same product only), so it is easy to see/report all requirements that are active for a release [RQ:4510]

  • Beta Planning Board

    • As a manager using the planning board, when columns are set to status, I can see only the requirement statuses I need and in the correct order for my product, so I can better track and manage work [RQ:4420]
    • As a product template admin, I can set what statuses should show on the beta planning board and in what order, so product teams can use the boards more efficiently [RQ:4419]

  • As a manager, I can use the new beta task board, so I can better oversee and track the work of my teams

    • As a manager, I can filter the task board by any currently active release or sprint, so I can focus on the most relevant work at any time [RQ:4408]
    • As a manager, I can set the group by, rows, and columns, so I can quickly and intuitively arrange the board to help me see and manage relevant tasks [RQ:4409]
    • As a task board user, I can group the board by to release, requirement, status, priority, type, person, or team, so I can focus on the most important data [RQ:4413]
    • As a task board user, I can set the columns on the board to release, requirement, status, priority, type, or person, so I can focus on the most important data [RQ:4414]
    • As a task board user, I can set the rows to release, parent requirement, status, priority, type, or person, so I can focus on the most important data [RQ:4415]
    • As a task board user, cards always show in the correct place and can be quickly moved or reordered, so my team can see and manage our work [RQ:4410]
    • As a task board user, I can change the way a task card looks, so I can see the most meaningful information at that moment [RQ:4411]
    • As a task board user, I can view more information about a task and, if I have permissions, edit the task right from the task board, so I can work more efficiently [RQ:4412]

  • Administration (SpiraPlan only)

    • As an administrator, I want to see a list of changes made in the system, to be able to audit and review products and schedules more easily. [RQ:4477]
    • As an administrator, I want to see details of a change made in the system, to allow for a more granular inspection of product or enterprise-level changes. [RQ:4478]
Bug fixes and enhancements

  • Add an email option to never include the password in a new user confirmation email (when users are created by a system admin) [IN:7805]

  • APIs

    • Add ability to see product custom property values on RemoteProject API Object [IN:7771]
    • Add API call to retrieve a paginated set of users [IN:6780]
    • Add API endpoints to allow users to perform full CRUD operations on workflows [IN:7841]
    • Add CRUD operations for Pull Requests in the API [IN:7833]
    • Data Mapping API Endpoints do not validate permissions beyond project membership [IN:7779]
    • Expand User API Object to include all information from admin user screen [IN:7936]
    • Fix the REST API when retrieving active Releases [IN:6835]
    • Improve the naming of API calls to get workflow transitions from ..._RetrieveWorkflowTransitions to ..._RetrieveWorkflowTransitionsForUser [IN:7827]
    • Users without permissions to view certain artifact types should not be able to view and make comments on those artifacts through the API [IN:7773]

  • Bug Fixes

    • Add the ability to set limits in the database for the rate at which large calculation stored procedures run (like test case parameter cache refresh) to improve performance [IN:7864]
    • Do not let users be able to select the same option for more than one dropdown on the beta planning boards [IN:7813]
    • Fix description for 'Edit Custom Lists' and 'Product Definitions' (system-wide custom properties) [IN:7781]
    • Fix the product icon missing from the Schedule dashboard widgets [IN:7534]
    • Fix the default sort order on the beta Planning Board to be by Importance/Priority [IN:7740]
    • Fix the export to svg button not displaying on the document details page when working with diagrams [IN:7885]
    • Fix Worx SpiraApp URLs to add slash between artifact token letters and ID [IN:7832]
    • Installer: On 'failQuietly' SQL Commands, change logging behavior to only give summary message, and not full output. [IN:7807]
    • Installer: Renaming indexes should not cause an error, even if index does not exist [IN:7808]
    • Improve performance by improving how attachments are retrieved [IN:7850]
    • Remove all entries of a SpiraApp that are no longer in us [IN:7894]

Version 7.4 (January 2023)

Bug fixes and enhancements

  • Enhancements

    • Add an API call to retrieve all test sets that contain a specific test case to mirror the functionality on the test set tab of the test case details page in the application [IN:6894]
    • Add API calls to get all releases / requirements that are children of a specified parent release / requirement [IN:5482]
    • Add custom report table for [Attachment Versions] [IN:7757]
    • Add custom report table for Cross Product Associations [IN:4242]
    • Add custom report tables for Source Code Associations and Source Code Commits [IN:7632]
    • Add JSON File for displaying names of custom data sync fields in ClickUp Data Sync [IN:7737]
    • Change WorX SpiraApp summary text and description as per software owner's request [IN:7634]
    • If no release provided for a test execution, set the wizard's release dropdown to a "Please Select" value and ensure a valid release is provide for execution to start [IN:1205]

  • Bug Fixes

    • Fix API calls not properly creating manual test runs that have no end date [IN:7596]
    • Fix API to get test sets or test sets for a folder not correctly filtering by a release [IN:7303]
    • Fix blank password custom properties blocking certain API calls [IN:7058]
    • Fix intermittent XSRF error that can show up when having multiple Spira tabs open at the same time [IN:7694]
    • Hide the vertical arrows showing up on grids when users zoom in / out of the page [IN:7630]

Version 7.3 (December 2022)

Summary

Introducing our next generation planning board for SpiraTeam and SpiraPlan. Available as a beta alongside the existing planning board, the new board has a brand new look, big new features (including swimlanes), and simpler to use than ever.

SpiraPlan admins can create teams and assign members of a product to those teams (in beta). Currently teams are available exclusively on the beta planning board.

New Features

  • Beta Planning Board

    • The new beta planning board has powerful functionality with a new layout and overhauled design to let you plan work effortlessly [RQ:4286]

    • There are useful main display modes that dictate how you use the boards

      • The Product backlog lets managers prioritize ("groom") unplanned work items that do not have a scheduled release [RQ:4368]
      • The Release backlog lets managers review planned or in progress work items [RQ:4369]
      • The sprint backlog lets managers review work in a release and its sprint, or for a single sprint [RQ:4370]
      • When working on the release or sprint backlog there is a release dropdown [RQ:4381]

    • **The planning board makes it easy to customize how the board is organized to help you focus on the right information **

    • Planning board cards design updated with greater customization

      • Planning board cards always show a standard set of information that is useful and meaningful [RQ:4382]
      • Planning board cards can optionally show the artifact's description, type, status, and position [RQ:4375]
      • Planning board cards can optionally show the artifact's task progress and task mini indicators [RQ:4376]
      • Planning board cards can optionally show the artifact's test coverage and test case mini indicators [RQ:4377]

    • Incident cards can be shown alongside requirement cards for certain views of the Planning Board

      • When organizing the planning board by priority, incident priority names are matched to requirement importance names [RQ:4379]
      • Incident cards can be displayed alongside requirement cards in certain views of the planning board [RQ:4380]
      • Teams/Tracks Support in Boards (SpiraPlan only) [RQ:2316]

  • System Administration

Bug fixes and enhancements
  • Retain the user-designated ordering on the planning board in all cases (including the first time a card is moved, and moving a card to the end of a stack) [IN:6467]
  • Ensure all incident progress tooltips are shown in the user's local time zone and not in UTC [IN:6573]
  • Improve performance by caching user avatar images in the browser [IN:7287]
  • Fix the SpiraApp for WorX actions that happen when you click the buttons in the column grids [IN:7391]
  • Do not restrict task start and end dates to its release's dates, so that changes to a task whose dates fall outside those of its release are not blocked [IN:7435]
  • Fix the status filter dropdown on the requirement sorted list page not being localized [IN:7470]
  • Show the correct testing settings for SpiraTest (show "Allow users to mark every step in a test case as N/A at once" and hide "Users can create tasks...") [IN:7488]

  • Fix concurrency dates and concurrency checks to serialize using the Invariant Culture to avoid problems using certain cultural settings (for example, Thai) [IN:7499]

  • Logging in and out

    • Fix a user being logged out and redirected to a broken URL by removing the product ID portion of this broken URL [IN:7584]
    • Fix the browser from getting stuck in a loop if there is unsaved user input after client-side forced session termination [IN:7587]
    • Fix the error that can occur when starting test execution if you have lost the authorization in the current tab for any reason [IN:7607]
    • Fix some actions on the detail pages causing a logged out user to be redirected to a broken URL if their Form Manager, onRetrieve wasn't calling proper URL redirect on Auth Failure [IN:7669]

  • On premise installer

    • Fix the installer for on premise customers so that users are informed when they are using an incorrect SQL Version for an upgrade [IN:7588]
    • Fix the wrong installer version number being recorded in the web.config file [IN:7612]
    • Fix edge case null reference exception in the installer [IN:7638]
    • When on premise customers upgrade, include the version they are upgrading from on the summary screen and in the log [IN:7610]

  • Documentation and logging

    • Change the color of the message box about the best browser to use for the document spreadsheet from red to yellow [IN:7563]
    • Clarify the API documentation about what happens when the user create call is made but the user already exists [IN:7618]
    • Fix the help link used for the Rapise Floating Licenses administration page [IN:7490]
    • Correct the v6 SOAP API documentation example for the Document_AddFile method documentation [IN:7654]
    • Record a success audit log message into the event log when any datasync 'Reset Sync' button is pressed. [IN:7525]
    • Turn off logging for a specific "TaraVault active for a product" check to not confuse users with extra noise in the logs [IN:7608]

Version 7.2 (October 2022)

Summary

Manage products in a whole new way (SpiraPlan only). New system level custom properties and custom lists let program users see and manage your products with custom data and through new dedicated pages and custom report options. You can use these new features for improved Project Portfolio Management, to implement product charts, and much more.

Along with existing support for creating and editing dynamic documents inside Spira (including diagrams and documents), the new spreadsheet editor lets you create simple spreadsheets to better organize your teams and track work. You can have multiple sheets, apply formatting to cells, use a wide number of functions, and even import from and export to Excel spreadsheets.

New Features
  • Allow users to create and edit simple spreadsheets as an option for inline documents [RQ:4322]

  • Email all system administrators every time that the concurrent user limit is exceeded by a user trying to login but can't due to license issues [RQ:4361]

  • Improved Product Management and Customization

Bug fixes and enhancements
  • Add a link on the product home page, overview widget to the new product details page, shown to program members only [IN:7501]
  • Add a new dedicated "Account Lockout Period" security setting, so system admins can specify how long a user is locked out for once they enter too many wrong passwords within the relevant window [IN:5010]
  • Add a new system admin security setting to enforce stricter security only possible on HTTPS sites [IN:7359]
  • Fix a typo in the 7.1 onboarding tour about TaraVault [IN:7443]
  • Fix editing tasks or requirements on the release details page not triggering notification events [IN:6954]
  • Fix the documentation link on the user's Add 2-Step Authentication page [IN:7396]
  • Improve explanatory text in two places in administration for the flag that disables rollup calculations, and also the 2 pop-up messages [IN:7338]
  • Improve the error pages throughout the app, with a more consistent design in more places, and showing stack trace information to system admins only [IN:6293]
  • Reduce css file sizes by removing Internet Explorer 11 specific rules and values [IN:7412]
  • Show more of the test case names on the test case grid of the test set details page (up to 150 characters) [IN:7299]
  • Show the program artifact dropdown when a user goes to a program page before ever going to a product [IN:7474]
  • Update the minimum SQL Server required version under which SpiraPlan can be installed to 2016 [IN:7424]
  • Set the minimum required version of .NET that the application will work under to 4.8 [RQ:3085]
  • When a product has rollup calculations disabled, also disable test case parameter hierarchy refreshes [IN:7422]

Version 7.1 (August 2022)

Summary

Cloud customers can now more easily and flexibly set up source code integration inside SpiraTeam and SpiraPlan. TaraVault is the default provider for Git or Subversion. Along with other quality of enhancements you can now, for each product, either user TaraVault or any other cloud based source code provider. This lets you pick the best provider for each product.

Our latest SpiraApp integrates SpiraPlan and OctoPerf seamlessly. Kick off load testing in OctoPerf directly from SpiraPlan and the results of the test get logged against each relevant test case.

New Features
Bug fixes and enhancements
  • Improve diagram export options when viewing a diagram on the document details page to save a diagram as an SVG [IN:7134]
  • Replace Internet Explorer to Edge in sample data, as Internet Explorer has finally, officially retired [IN:7311]
  • Do not let a product have more than one source code provider in active use at any one time [IN:7321]
  • Let product admins disable / enable TaraVault for a product (in addition to full deactivation (hard deletion) as now) [IN:7324]
  • Fix typos and a screenshot in the 7.0 walkthrough popup [IN:7328]
  • Fix the documentation link on the System and Product Admin > SpiraApps settings pages [IN:7330]
  • Fix Product Template custom lists letting you save a blank value name (even though it shows an error suggesting this not allowed) [IN:7384]

Version 7.0 (July 2022)

Summary

SpiraApps bring a brand new of tailoring SpiraTest, SpiraTeam, and SpiraPlan to your needs. Dedicated SpiraApps will extend what is possible, each addressing a specific use case. This release introduces the first 7 SpiraApps and expect more to follow:

  • The FMEA SpiraApp adds full support for Failure Mode & Effects Analysis (FMEA) in the Risk Management module in SpiraPlan (only - not available in SpiraTeam or SpiraTest)
  • New SpiraApps deepen the integration with Github Actions, GitLab Pipelines, and CircleCI Pipelines. Start a new Pipeline or Action directly from SpiraPlan.
  • Two new SpiraApps let you work faster than ever. Create rich descriptions that are automatically added when you create a new artifact. And quickly create a preset list of new tasks or test cases on a requirement or a release to manage workloads better than ever.

We have updated our data synchronization platform to improve ease of use and simplify setup for administrators, with tailored guidance and information right inside the app.

New Features

  • Data synchronization

    • Improve ease of use when configuring the most common datasync plugins with better field names and additional helper text [RQ:4280]

  • Testing

  • SpiraApps

    • CircleCI SpiraApp integration lets users launch pipelines from Spira and see their results in Spira as builds [RQ:4141]
    • GitLab CI SpiraApp integration lets users launch pipelines from Spira and see their results in Spira as builds [RQ:4142]
    • GitHub CI SpiraApp integration lets users launch actions from Spira and see their results in Spira as builds [RQ:4143]
    • Extend the built-in risk functionality by supporting FMEA with a dedicated FMEA SpiraApp that calculates the Risk Priority Number [RQ:4140]
    • Improved WorX Manual Testing Accelerator functionality, as a new SpiraApp [RQ:4225]
    • Allow users to quickly create preset tasks or tests cases for a specific requirement or release [RQ:4176]
    • Allow users to create artifacts from their details pages with pre-populated descriptions (as defined in the SpiraApp settings) [RQ:4224]

  • SpiraApps Administration

  • SpiraApps Architecture

    • SpiraApps can be added by Inflectra, storing their functionality, logic, and descriptions in the system [RQ:4211]
    • SpiraApps can be configured by users with system-wide settings [RQ:4212]
    • SpiraApps can be configured by users with product-specific settings [RQ:4213]
    • SpiraApps can run from the button menu toolbar on specific artifact detail pages [RQ:4207]
    • SpiraApps can run from the button menu toolbar on specific artifact list pages [RQ:4206]
    • SpiraApps can run from a custom column shown on artifact grids [RQ:4208]
    • SpiraApps can display as a dashboard widget on the product and reporting home pages [RQ:4209]
    • SpiraApps can run as behind-the-scenes actions, running user-driven events, on artifact details pages [RQ:4214]
Bug fixes and enhancements
  • Add a new API call to get all requirements covered by a specific test case [IN:5862]
  • Add a new API call to update an existing test set test case mapping (can update its owner, planned date, and isTeardown status) [RQ:4277]
  • Enforce a minimum of two minutes for authentication expiry settings [IN:7174]
  • Fix GitHub Actions integration so that results are always recorded, even if the JSON body contains longs (previously only ints were supported) [IN:7215]
  • Fix GitHub and CircleCI build creation dates not always being the correct timezone [IN:7270]
  • Fix incorrect special character display on the incident and risk workflow transition detail pages [IN:7197]
  • Fix LIS source code commit dates in sample data so that there are no commits in the future [IN:6881]
  • Fix some accented characters not displaying correctly in certain places [IN:7103]
  • Improve the experience of adding comments to an artifact by only showing the "Add Comment" button when a user cannot otherwise edit the artifact (but can add comments) [IN:7111]
  • Let users define product level 'definitions of done' to apply to a requirement through using the new "Task and Test Case Presets" SpiraApp [IN:6052]