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Moving around the application

How to use the global navigation bar

  1. Spira’s main global navigation is the horizontal bar at the top of the application - visible on every page
  2. It lets you move between all pages of the application

  3. From left to right, it has links and dropdowns for the following:

    • the My Page (shown by the application icon)
    • the workspace dashboard (shown by the workspace icon - eg product, or program)
    • the workspace selector
    • the artifact selector
    • reporting (if relevant)
    • the user menu (shown by your user avatar)
    • the dynamic administration menu, where relevant

How to view in-app help

Every page in Spira has a link to the exact right place in our online documentation for that page. To open the help:

  1. Click on your user avatar from the top right of any page in the app
  2. Click on the "Documentation" entry from the dropdown
  3. This will open the correct page and place in a new tab

What are workspaces and how to pick one

  1. To start getting things done in the application you need to select a workspace to explore, manage, or work on. Workspaces can be products (e.g. for a specific application) or programs (that groups a number of products together)
  2. Change your workspace by using the workspace selector dropdown on the global navigation bar
  3. Each workspace has a dedicated dashboard which provides a "one-stop shop" for understanding the overall status of the current workspace, with comprehensive, easily digestible (and customizable) information.
  4. Access the workspace dashboard by clicking the large workspace icon on the navigation bar

How to open a product

  1. Open the workspace dropdown from the global navigation bar
  2. Each workspace type has a unique icon. The icon for products is a single hexagon. They are nested inside of programs (this icon is three hexagons)
  3. Click on the product you want to open
  4. By default this will open the product home page
  5. But if you are changing from one product to another then the page you are on will stay the same, but for the new product

What are artifacts and how to pick one

  1. Artifacts are the building blocks of a product or program and contain all of their data.
  2. Each artifact holds different data and is used in different ways. For instance, requirements are one artifact, and releases are another. They both work differently, and are not interchangable.
  3. Spira has specific artifacts designed to help you do things like test, plan, track bugs and tasks, and more.
  4. By using the artifact selector on the global navigation bar you can see all the artifacts available to you for the current workspace.
  5. To learn more about each artifact, hover over the artifact name in the artifact selector to see its tooltip
  6. If you do not see the artifacts you expect for a particular product, it may be because of your role on the product. Discuss this with your product administrator

Using the user menu

  1. Clicking on your user avatar on the global navigation bar will open the user menu
  2. At the top there is a large user avatar next to your name. Clicking on this will open your user profile
  3. Other links in the user menu let you access various help: documentation for the page you are on; keyboard shortcuts; or in-app onboarding tours.
  4. From the user menu you can also go to your timecard (SpiraTeam or SpiraPlan only), and change your dark mode settings

Artifact list and details pages

  1. Each artifact has its own dedicated pages of the Spira application.
  2. For example, when viewing a product, you can go to the incident artifact from the artifact selector of the global navigation bar. This will take you to the incident list page.

  3. What is an artifact list page?

    • An artifact list page has a table that lists 15-500 artifacts at a time. You can, depending on the specific artifact, move things around this table, sort, or filter the table.
    • On the left hand side of many list pages there are sidebars that help you navigate around the list more quickly or easily, or provide other useful information
    • At the top of each list page there is a toolbar with buttons to do things like add or delete items on the list, apply or remove filters, and more

  4. Clicking on a specific artifact from its page or elsewhere will open the artifact details page. What is an artifact details page?

    • An artifact details page shows all the information about a single artifact - you can only view one at a time
    • There are often different tabs on the main part of this page to help you focus on different parts of the page. For instance there maybe an attachments tab, or a test coverage tab
    • On the left hand side of the detail page there will be a sidebar that helps you navigate between other relevant artifacts without having to go back to the artifact list page
    • At the top of each list page there is a toolbar with buttons to do things like save any changes, email the artifact to a teammate, or create a new artifact