Suspect links and changed objects

Changes to objects in Rational® DOORS® can affect the validity of data in linked objects. Linked objects are marked as having suspect links if the object that they are linked to has changed. You can check modules for suspect links, and display information about changes that have caused links to be marked as suspect. If necessary, you can update the module and then clear suspect links.

Objects that have been changed are not marked as having suspect links. Objects that are linked to changed objects are marked as having suspect links. If changes are made to both the source object and target object of a link, the link is marked as suspect at both ends. If you clear the suspect link at the source, it also clears the suspect link at the target.

Attention: Links are only marked as suspect if the attribute that is edited is set to Affect change dates. This setting is part of the attribute definition, and is selected in the attribute definition by default. You can edit the attribute definition to change the setting.

Currently date values are stored on the server in UTC (universal coordinated time), and are displayed in the client according to the client time zone. In version 8.0 and earlier, date attribute values did not include the information to make time zone adjustments. As a result, date attribute values in migrated data might not display as expected. If clients in multiple time zones were working on the data before it was migrated, suspect links might not operate as you would expect.

For information about suspect links, see this video on YouTube: IBM Rational DOORS - Linking and traceability.

Related concepts:
Standard links, external links, and collaboration links

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