In Part 1 of the blog series on Syndeia-JIRA interface, we described how Syndeia can connect to and browse JIRA repositories, and generate and connect SysML blocks from JIRA issues so that the block’s value properties mirror the issue characteristics like status, last update, etc. In Part 2, we showed how a multi-level SysML structure (e.g. requirements, blocks, and activities) could generate a set of corresponding issues in JIRA, with each SysML element connected to its own issue and directly accessible through the Syndeia interface.

Combining these two use cases, we can show how a complete Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) can be modeled in SysML and then connected to JIRA, which becomes the tool for monitoring task status, assigned personnel, expected completion date, current activity and many other project management characteristics. We start by building the WBS as a block structure in the SysML tool (Figure 1), assigning the <JIRA_Issue> stereotype to the individual tasks.

Figure 1: SysML WBS before connection to JIRA issue tracking project

From the Syndeia dashboard, we drag the top-level block, UAV Project, into a JIRA project. Three processes are triggered by this single action

• Each block creates a corresponding issue (task) in JIRA
• A persistent connection is created between each block and issue pair
• Value properties (with default values) are created in each SysML block from the initial values of the JIRA issue attributes.

Figure 2 SysML WBS after connection to JIRA issue tracking project

In SysML, the WBS structure now appears as in Figure 2. Note that each block has a full set of value properties. The key value reflects the issue ID automatically assigned by JIRA to the connected issue. Through Syndeia, all these values may be compared and synchronized with the JIRA project (note, however, that there are sync restrictions on read-only attributes in JIRA, such as key). The SysML blocks can be connected within the SysML model to activities, requirements, and any other SysML element through allocations and other dependencies. They provide project management visibility to anyone with access to the SysML model, even if they do not have access to the JIRA repository.

For those that do have access to Syndeia and JIRA, we can open the JIRA task directly from the SysML block in the modeling tool’s browser or diagrams (via Syndeia), as shown in Figure 3, where new activity can be logged and status changed.

Figure 3 JIRA issue (task) corresponding to Task 2 in the SysML WBS.

In this blog series on Syndeia, SysML and JIRA, we have illustrated two important points in the larger context of connecting models in Model-Based Engineering (MBE).

1. In some use cases, it is enough to “link” existing elements in SysML and another tool. In others, we need to “generate and sync”, i.e. use an element in one tool to create an element in the other with some common attributes that can be compared and updated on an ongoing basis.
2. In some use cases, creating connections individually between existing elements is sufficient. When there are hundreds of connections to be made, model transforms of multilevel structures can create those connections in a single step, saving time and reducing errors.

Syndeia is designed to support all these different kinds of use cases, satisfying customers’ needs for their specific engineering processes. Contact us at info@intercax.com to request an evaluation license of Syndeia to try out your own innovative ideas.

Related posts:

• Video introduction to Syndeia JIRA interface
• Syndeia and JIRA, Part 1
• Syndeia and JIRA, Part 2
• Syndeia and JIRA, Part 3 (this post)

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