Check traceability across models
Overview
Trace Page is the screen for checking the traceability between models. On the tree-format trace page, you can arrange models with a hierarchical structure and check the traceability and scope of influence across multiple models.
Below, we will explain how to check traceability across models in the following order.
- Switch screen
- Arrange target models
- Narrowing down traceability confirmation targets
- Check traceability across models
- Narrow down the target models to display
- Check trace coverage for each target model
switch screen
To view the trace page, do the following:
-
From the ribbon, do one of the following:
- Click Home > View > Trace on the ribbon.
- Click View > Page > Trace on the ribbon.
- Click Traceability > Page > Trace on the ribbon.
-
To return to the editor page for editing the model, do one of the following:
- Click Home > View > Editor on the ribbon.
- Click View > Page > Editor on the Ribbon.
- Click Traceability > Page > Editor on the ribbon.
Arrange target models
To add lanes to the trace page for arranging target models, follow these steps:
- Execute the [Add Lane] command from the menu button on the upper right of each lane to display the hierarchical structure of the model in a tree.
- Selecting a model from the tree will add a lane to the right showing the selected model.
- Even if the model has a derivation relationship recorded, the trace line will not be displayed unless the model displayed in the right lane is the derivation destination of the derivation relationship.
To change the model displayed in the lane, follow these steps:
- Change the model from the pull-down list at the top of each lane to switch the model displayed in the lane.
To change the order of the lanes, do the following:
- Execute the [Move Left]/[Move Right] commands from the menu button on the top right of each lane to swap the order with the adjacent lanes on the left/right.
Narrowing down traceability confirmation targets
Follow the steps below to narrow down the elements to be checked for traceability based on the meta model entity and hide the elements that do not need to be checked on the trace page.
- Return to the editor page and select the model you want to hide on the trace page.
- Click View > Pane > Inspector from the ribbon to display the inspector.
- Select the Metamodel tab in the tabs at the top of the inspector.
- Uncheck the Show in Trace Page check box in the View group.
- Switch to the trace page and the lane will no longer display elements corresponding to the same entity. It is also excluded from coverage calculations.
Check traceability across models
Use the following procedure to check the traceability and influence range across the target model, starting from any element displayed in the lane.
- Clicking on an element of the model displayed on the lane will highlight the associated element based on the derived relationships and hierarchical structure of that element.
- Expand each lane's tree as necessary to see details for each child element.
The meanings of the icons displayed on the lane are as follows.
| icon position | meaning |
|---|---|
| Rightmost | Whether there is a derivation relation from which the element is derived |
| Leftmost | Whether there is a derivation relation from which the element is derived |
| Icon type | Meaning |
|---|---|
 | Has one or more derived relations |
 | No derived relations |
 | Not included in trace coverage calculation |
| no icon | the element itself cannot have a derivation relationship, but a parent element that owns a descendant that can have a derivation relationship |
Trace lines are displayed between lanes when there is a derived relationship between elements on adjacent lanes. The types of trace lines displayed are as follows.
| Line type | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Solid | Trace lines between elements for which a direct relationship is defined between the metamodels of the elements to which the trace lines are connected trace line between) |
| Dot | A trace line between elements that indirectly defines a relationship between the metamodels of the elements to which the trace line is connected trace lines between elements) |
- To hide trace lines between child elements represented by dotted lines and only display trace lines between elements represented by solid lines, from the ribbon, select Traceability > Traceability > Trace to Display > Disable Show Indirect Trace.
- To see both dotted and solid lines, enable Traceability > Traceability > Trace to Display > Show Indirect Trace from the ribbon.
- To show only trace lines of selected elements, select [Traceability] > [Impact Range] > [Show Only Trace Lines of Selected Elements] from the ribbon.
A scroll bar displays the positions of the model elements relative to the selected model element.
- Disable [Traceability] > [Impact Range] > [Scroll Bar] > [Show Impact Range] from the ribbon to hide the model position relative to the selected model element in the scroll bar. to
Narrow down the target models to display
Use the following procedure to narrow down the target models to be displayed and check the traceability and influence range starting from the selected element.
- Select a starting element from the model displayed on the lane.
- Related elements are highlighted based on the derivation relationships and hierarchical structure of the selected element, so click the Traceability > Impact Range > Filter by Impact Range button on the ribbon.
- Only the relevant elements that were highlighted are displayed on the lane.
In addition to [Filter by Impact Range], the methods for narrowing down the target models to be displayed provided by Next Design are as follows.
These are available from the buttons displayed at the bottom of each lane.
- Keyword filter
- Element without origin/Element without derivation
Note that you can apply only one of these target model refinements at a time.
:::
:::tip
- You can update the refinement state by selecting another model in [Filter by Impact Range] and clicking the [Filter by Impact Range] button again.
- By clicking the [Clear Filter] button during [Filter by Impact Range], you can clear the narrowed down state.
:::
Check trace coverage for each target model
The percentage displayed at the bottom of each lane allows you to check the coverage of trace information between the source (left) and destination (right).
- Coverage is calculated by the following formula for each trace direction (source/destination) for each lane.
coverage = number of elements with one or more derivation relations/number of elements that can have derivation relations
- If an element itself cannot have a derived relationship but its descendants can, it will appear as a parent element in the lane tree, but will not be included in the denominator of the formula.
- Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number. However, less than or equal to 1% is rounded up to 1%, and greater than 99% but less than 100% is rounded down to 99%.
- Calculated based on trace configuration information and product application status.
- If one element can have multiple types of derivation relations in the same trace direction, and if there is at least one derivation relation of any one type, the element is calculated as having a derivation relation.
- For example, if a requirement model element can have two types of derivation relationships, one with a logical design model element and another with a physical configuration model element, if there is one or more derivation relationships for the former, the derivation for the latter Even if there is no relationship, it is calculated as having a derived relationship.
To exclude certain elements from trace coverage calculations, follow these steps:
- Right-click the element on the lane that you want to exclude from the trace coverage calculation to open the context menu.
- Run Exclude traceability coverage from calculation from the context menu to open the Exclusion setting of Traceability Coverage dialog.
- From the Trace Direction choices, select a direction to exclude from calculations.
- Enter the reason in the [Reasons for excluding the calculation of trace coverage] text box and click the [OK] button.
- The icon of the side selected in [Trace Direction] changes to an icon indicating that the trace coverage is not calculated.
- Click Traceability > Traceability Coverage > Show Models Excluded from Calculation from the ribbon to list the elements that are excluded from calculation and why.
- To specify metamodel entities and collectively exclude corresponding elements from the target of trace coverage calculation, please refer to "Narrowing down the target of traceability confirmation" above.
- To specify the models and relationships for which trace coverage is calculated, see Modeling > Traceability Checking > Saving and Switching Traceability Viewpoints. please.