Understanding the Interface - Nextedy Documentation

What you will achieve

By the end of this tutorial, you will be familiar with every major area of the Nextedy RISKSHEET interface: the toolbar, column headers, column group headers, the data grid, row headers, hierarchical row levels, context menus, cell editors, filtering controls, and saved views. You will know how to navigate a risk analysis table, identify different column types by their visual cues, understand the hierarchical row structure used for Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and Hazard Analysis and Risk Assessment (HARA) workflows, and perform basic interactions such as editing, sorting, and filtering. Risksheet is a generic tool that supports any risk management methodology, including FMEA, HARA, Threat Analysis and Risk Assessment (TARA), STRIDE, and Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) analysis. The examples on this page use FMEA terminology, but the interface concepts apply identically to every methodology.

Prerequisites

Risksheet is installed on your Siemens Polarion ALM instance (see Installation)
You have access to a Polarion project with at least one risksheet document
You are logged into Polarion with a valid license (see Evaluate Risksheet)

If you do not have an existing risksheet document, follow Evaluate Risksheet to set one up before continuing with this tutorial. The recommended approach is to pick the closest Nextedy solution template for your industry and methodology, then adapt it — never start from a blank configuration.

Open a Risksheet Document

Navigate to your Polarion project and open a LiveDoc document that contains a risksheet. The grid loads within the document page, replacing the standard Polarion table view with an interactive, Excel-like sheet.You should see the full grid occupying the document area, with a toolbar row above and the data grid below.

The Risksheet grid inside a Polarion LiveDoc, showing the top panel, toolbar, header area, and data grid

The layout divides into four zones stacked top to bottom: the top panel area, the Risksheet toolbar, the header area (group headers and column headers), and the data grid containing all risk item rows. The Polarion navigation bar is shown on the left. All data shown in the grid lives in Polarion as standard work items — Risksheet does not maintain its own data store. Every change you make is saved as an edit to a Polarion work item, subject to Polarion’s authorization rules and traceable through Polarion’s audit infrastructure.

Explore the Toolbar

The toolbar row sits at the top of the grid. From left to right, it provides buttons for the most common operations:

Button	Action	Notes
Menu	Open the Risksheet menu	Hosts configuration, override, and other commands. Configuration is opened via Menu > Configuration > Edit Risksheet Configuration (only available to users with administrator permissions)
Save	Save all pending changes to the server	Batches multiple edits into one save operation
Undo	Undo the last edit	Client-side undo, works before save
Redo	Redo an undone edit	Cleared when you make a new edit
+ Item	Add a new top-level risk item	Adds a row at the highest hierarchy level
+ Failure mode	Add a new failure mode under the current item	Labels reflect the configured `levels`
+ Cause	Add a new cause under the current failure mode	Labels reflect the configured `levels`
Delete	Remove the selected item	Trash icon; clears or deletes the row depending on context
+ Task	Add a downstream task (mitigation, control)	Label reflects `dataTypes.task.name`
Unlink Task	Unlink the selected task from the risk
Refresh	Reload the grid data from the server	Circular-arrow icon; pulls the latest work item values
Views	Switch between saved column visibility presets	Only visible if views are configured
Fullscreen	Expand the grid to fill the browser window
Search	Search for any specific data on the Risksheet
Find & Replace	Open a sidebar to find and replace the text

At the top-right of the toolbar, Export to XLSX downloads the current view as an Excel file (respecting column visibility settings) and Export to PDF generates a formatted PDF export (configurable through the PDF export configuration).Hover over each button to see its tooltip description. The toolbar buttons are context-aware: some are disabled when there are no pending changes (Save, Undo, Redo) or when you lack the necessary permissions (configuration access).

Use Ctrl+S (or Cmd+S on macOS) to save, Ctrl+Z to undo, and Ctrl+Y to redo. Copy cells with Ctrl+C and paste with Ctrl+V. These shortcuts work whenever the grid has focus.

Understand Column Headers and Groups

Risksheet supports two header rows above the data cells:

Column group headers — the top row that spans multiple columns under a shared label (for example, “Initial Risk Assessment” or “Revised Assessment”). These groups are configured via the headerGroup property on individual column definitions. The height of this row is set by headers.columnGroupHeader.height (default: 32 pixels). Groups can be collapsed to hide their member columns; columns marked with collapseTo: true remain visible as a summary when the group collapses.
Column headers — the row directly above the data cells showing individual column names (for example, “Severity”, “Occurrence”, “Detection”, “RPN”). The height is set by headers.columnHeader.height (default: 32 pixels). Each header displays the value from the column’s header property.

Click a column header to sort the grid by that column. Click again to reverse the sort direction. A third click removes the sort. Sorting is performed entirely client-side, so results appear instantly with no server round-trip.

Click the collapse icon on a column group header to hide grouped columns. The column whose definition includes collapseTo: true stays visible as a summary; click the icon again to expand and show all columns.

Navigate the Row Structure

Risksheet creates a visual hierarchy through cell merging, configured by the levels array in the sheet configuration. The underlying data model itself has exactly two entity types — risk items and downstream task items — both stored as ordinary Polarion work items. The grid can show three, four, or more visual levels by merging cells that share the same value in a designated control column.Each entry in the levels array requires three properties:

Property	Type	Purpose
`name`	string	Display name shown in the navigation and zoom menus (for example, “Item”, “Failure mode”)
`controlColumn`	string	Column ID whose value is used as the grouping key for cell merging
`zoomColumn`	string	Column ID used as the target for zoom or drill-down navigation

A typical FMEA sheet configuration uses three visual levels on the risk side, plus a downstream task entity:

levels:
  - name: Item
    controlColumn: item
    zoomColumn: item
  - name: Failure mode
    controlColumn: failureMode
    zoomColumn: failureMode
  - name: Cause
    controlColumn: systemItemId
    zoomColumn: causes
dataTypes:
  risk:
    type: failureMode
  task:
    type: mitigation
    role: mitigates
    name: Task
    zoomColumn: taskTitle

In this example, all risk rows are the same Polarion work item type (failureMode). The three visual levels appear purely through cell merging — the “Item” column merges consecutive rows that share the same item, and the “Failure mode” column merges consecutive rows that share the same failure mode. Downstream mitigation tasks are separate Polarion work items configured under dataTypes.task.

The row header column appears on the left side of the grid. It displays the work item ID and can show conditional color coding based on risk values. For example, the headers.rowHeader.renderer property names a cell decorator function (defined in the cellDecorators section) that color-codes row headers based on the revised RPN value, giving you an at-a-glance risk summary.

Identify Column Types and Edit a Cell

Click any editable cell in the grid to enter edit mode. The cell editor that appears depends on the column type configured in the sheet configuration:

Column Type	Editor	Behavior
`text`	Multi-line text input	Free-form text
`enum:<id>`, `rating:<id>`	Dropdown selector	Shows values from the referenced Polarion enumeration; can show descriptions when `showEnumDescription: true`
`multiEnum:<id>`	Multi-select checkbox dropdown	Shows up to 2 selections, then “+N more”
`boolean`	Checkbox toggle	Click to toggle true/false
`date`	Date picker	Stores as `YYYY-MM-DD`
`datetime`	Date-time picker	Stores as ISO datetime
`int`, `float`, `currency`	Numeric input	Validates numeric entry
`itemLink`	Link picker with search	Browse or create linked work items
`multiItemLink`	Multi-link picker	Link to multiple work items
`taskLink`	Task link picker	Link or create downstream task items

Severity, occurrence, and detection scales are not defined inside the sheet configuration. They are Polarion enumerations defined once in Administration > Enumerations and referenced from a column via type: rating:<enumId> plus bindings: <fieldId>. The server loads the available values automatically.After editing, your change is held in memory until you click Save or press Ctrl+S. Risksheet batches multiple edits and sends them to the server together, so you can make several changes before saving. The toolbar Save button shows an indicator when there are unsaved changes.

Some cells cannot be edited. Cells with a formula (calculated columns), a serverRender script, or that reference system fields such as id, type, project, created, updated, or outlineNumber are automatically read-only. Columns explicitly marked with readOnly: true, and any grid viewing a historical revision (not the current head), are also read-only. Read-only cells display a visual indicator when you attempt to click them.

Use the Context Menu

Right-click any row to open the context menu. The menu provides row-level operations:

Menu Item	Action	Availability
Open Row Item	Opens the work item in the standard Polarion editor	Always available
Open Linked Item	Opens a linked work item from an item link or task column	When the cell contains a valid item link
New [Level] Item	Creates a new work item at the specified hierarchy level	When `levels[].showInMenu` is `true` and the grid is editable
New Task	Creates a downstream mitigation task linked to the selected row	When the `dataTypes.task` configuration allows task creation
Remove Row Item	Removes the selected item from the grid	In editable grids only
Freeze Pane	Freezes columns to the left for horizontal scrolling	Always available
Unfreeze Pane	Removes column freezing	When columns are currently frozen

The available menu items depend on the row’s hierarchical level, the dataTypes configuration, and your Polarion user permissions. Custom context menu actions can also be added through the configuration’s extensibility points.

Use Filtering

Risksheet supports column-level filtering for any column where filterable is set to true (the default). Click the filter icon in a column header to open the filter panel, then select or deselect values to narrow the displayed rows.Filtering is performed client-side, so results appear instantly. You can apply filters to multiple columns simultaneously. Filtered rows are hidden from view but not removed from the data — clearing the filter restores all rows.

Filters persist within your browser session but are not saved across page reloads. Filters are applied on the client and do not affect other users viewing the same document.

Switch Saved Views

If your sheet configuration includes saved views (defined in the views array), use the Views dropdown in the toolbar to switch between different column visibility presets. Each view shows a different subset of columns, allowing you to focus on specific aspects of the analysis without scrolling through all columns.A view is defined by its name and a columnIds array listing the columns to show. The special value @all includes every column, and a - prefix excludes a specific column from the set. One view per configuration may be marked defaultView: true to load automatically when the document is opened.

views:
  - name: Full FMEA
    defaultView: true
    columnIds:
      - "@all"
  - name: Risk Summary
    columnIds:
      - failureMode
      - rpn
      - status
  - name: Mitigation Tracking
    columnIds:
      - "@all"
      - "-initialAssessment"

Common view configurations include:

View Name	Columns Shown	Use Case
Full FMEA	All columns visible	Comprehensive analysis review
Risk Summary	Failure mode, RPN, status	Management reporting
Mitigation Tracking	Mitigation actions, assignee, due date, status	Action item follow-up
Initial vs. Revised	Severity, occurrence, detection, RPN for both initial and revised	Before/after comparison

You can also reset your personal column width and visibility customizations back to the configuration default using the reset columns command.

Next Steps

Now that you understand the interface layout and basic interactions, continue with these tutorials:

Basic Configuration — learn how to customize the sheet configuration
How-To Guides — task-oriented guides for specific workflows such as column configuration, export, and review management
Concepts — deeper explanations of architecture, data model, and traceability

​What you will achieve

​Prerequisites

​Next Steps

What you will achieve

Prerequisites

Next Steps