Architecture and Design
Powersheet Architecture — How the server extension, client application, and YAML configuration layers fit together inside Siemens Polarion ALM.
Core Components — The four building blocks of every powersheet: data model, sheet configuration, Powersheet Drive, and the document entry point.
Model-Driven Design — Why Powersheet uses a declarative data model to abstract Polarion work item types and link roles into a portable configuration layer.
Configuration
Data Model vs Sheet Configuration — Understanding the separation between what data exists (data model) and how it is displayed (sheet configuration).
Configuration Hierarchy — How YAML configuration files are discovered and loaded, scoping rules for global vs project-specific storage, and key YAML patterns used in sheet configurations.
Data Modeling
Entity Types and Relationships — Defining domainModelTypes, mapping them to Polarion work item types, and declaring relationships with from, to, cardinality, and linkRole.
Navigation Properties — How direct and back create traversable paths used in expansion paths and column binding paths.
Link Cardinality — The meaning of one-to-one, many-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many cardinality values and how they affect the sheet UI.
Hierarchy and Traceability — How expansion paths let you navigate multi-level entity hierarchies such as, for example, UserNeed to SystemRequirement to DesignRequirement in an RTM model.
Constraints and Rules
Process Constraints — Enforcing engineering methodology through load, create, and pick constraints that go beyond what Polarion provides natively.
Document Rules — Restricting where work items can be created or selected using moduleFolder, moduleName, type, and component constraints.
Polarion Integration — How Powersheet embeds inside Polarion as a server extension, registers administration pages, and stores configuration in SVN.
See Also
- Getting Started — Hands-on tutorials for your first data model and sheet configuration
- Reference — Complete YAML property reference for data models and sheet configurations
- FAQ — Answers to common configuration and setup questions
Last modified on July 10, 2026
