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Before You Start

Ensure you have:
  • A component DFMEA risksheet open (e.g., Air Data Computer Interface (ADCI) - Component DFMEA)
  • Design characteristics already defined in your component’s Characteristics PowerSheet
  • Upstream SFMEA failure modes identified for the component

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Step 1: Switch to the “Identify Failure Modes” View

Open your component DFMEA risksheet and select View 3 — Identify Failure Modes from the view switcher in the top toolbar. This view focuses on the Component Characteristics and Potential Failure column groups, hiding scoring and mitigation columns to reduce clutter. The Component Characteristics column group displays each row’s linked characteristic item, its title, and the 🛡️ SC/CC classification badge — orange for SC (Safety-Critical) and red for CC (Critical Characteristic).

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Step 2: Locate or Create a Failure Mode Row

Each row in the DFMEA represents one failure mode analyzed against a specific characteristic. To add a new row:
  1. Click + Add Row at the bottom of the risksheet.
  2. In the Failure Mode column, enter a concise description (e.g., Loss of aileron position signal).
  3. In the Effects column, describe the consequence of this failure at the component level.
  4. In the Causes column, list contributing causes or enter a free-text description.
The Auto-Generated Risk Description field automatically concatenates: ON CHARACTERISTICS: <characteristic_title> FAILURE MODE: <failureMode> CAUSE: <causes>. This field appears with a whitesmoke background and updates as you populate the row.
In the Item column of the Component Characteristics group:
  1. Click the link picker icon in the Item cell.
  2. Search for the design characteristic by name or ID (e.g., ADCI-CHAR-004: Signal voltage range).
  3. Select the characteristic to link it. The SC/CC badge renders automatically based on the characteristic’s scccClassification field.
Characteristics classified as SC or CC appear with colored badges throughout the DFMEA and Reports views. Prioritize completing RPN scoring for all SC/CC rows — the FMEA Coverage Gaps report flags characteristics without any linked failure modes.
Switch to View 5 — Link Upstream SFMEA to add the Upstream Risks column. This column uses the causes link role to connect component-level DFMEA failure modes to their parent subsystem SFMEA failure modes.
  1. Click the multi-item link picker in the Upstream Risks cell.
  2. Search and select the parent SFMEA failure mode (e.g., from Sensor Interface Module Subsystem SFMEA).
  3. The column renders the linked item’s title and parent module name automatically.
SFMEA Failure Mode (Subsystem level)
        │  causes (link role)
        ▼
DFMEA Failure Mode (Component level)
        │  causeOf (link role)
        ▼
FHA Failure Condition (System level)
This upstream cascade provides full traceability for the PSSA decomposition review.
The causes link role is directional. Always link from the DFMEA failure mode to the SFMEA failure mode using the upstream column picker. Reversing the direction will break the traceability traversal used in Reports and the SSA document.

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Step 5: Verify the Characteristic–Failure Mode Traceability

Switch to View 1 — Default or View 9 — Full View to confirm:
  • The Item column shows the linked characteristic with its title.
  • The SC/CC badge appears correctly (orange = SC, red = CC).
  • The Upstream Risks column shows the parent SFMEA failure mode title and module name.
  • The auto-generated risk description is populated.
diagram
DFMEA risksheet configuration (risksheet.json) is a copy made at module creation time. If the solution template is updated (new columns, revised thresholds), existing DFMEA modules are not automatically updated. Coordinate with your configuration manager before adding columns to live analysis documents.
The exact picker UI behavior for linking characteristics — including whether the link is set via the Item cell directly or through a separate link dialog — should be confirmed in the live application. Field defaults for premitigationFMOccurrence and premitigationDetection both default to 0 and must be set explicitly before RPN is calculated.

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You Should Now See

After completing these steps, the DFMEA row should display:
  • The linked characteristic name in the Item column with the correct SC/CC badge color
  • The upstream SFMEA failure mode title and module name in the Upstream Risks column
  • A populated auto-generated risk description in the row header area
Proceed to Score Severity, Occurrence, and Detection to assign pre-mitigation RPN values, then Add Mitigation Actions to complete the DFMEA row.

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See Also

Code: modules/RiskTemplates/SubSystem-FMEATemplate/attachments/risksheet.json (0.58) · .polarion/nextedy/models/rtm.yaml (0.54) · modules/RiskTemplates/System-FMEATemplate/attachments/risksheet.json (0.54) · .polarion/tracker/fields/workitem-link-role-enum.xml (0.52) · modules/RiskTemplates/DFMEATemplate/attachments/risksheet.json (0.51) · datasets/sol-aero-ui-walkthrough/summary.md, navigation.md, dashboards/home-dashboard.md, dashboards/role-dashboards.md, dashboards/standards-compliance.md, risksheet-views/risksheet-views.md, work-item-types/data-model.md (0.50) · .polarion/nextedy/sheet-configurations/ARP 4761 Safety Assessment Traceability.yaml (0.50) · .polarion/nextedy/sheet-configurations/MIL-STD-882E Hazard Tracking Log.yaml (0.49) · .polarion/pages/spaces/_default/Requirements Traceability Summary/page.xml, Verification Validation Summary/page.xml, Risk Control Effectiveness Report/page.xml, System Decomposition Report/page.xml, FMEA Coverage Report/page.xml, Classification Consistency Report/page.xml, System FMEA Report/page.xml, System Structure Navigator/page.xml (0.49) · .polarion/tracker/fields/failureMode-custom-fields.xml (0.48)