What you will achieve
By the end of this tutorial, you will understand the TestAuto2 — Automotive Safety Solution architecture, recognize its key components (Risksheet, PowerSheet, Dashboards, Reports), and understand how these elements work together to support ISO 26262, ISO 14971, AIAG-VDA FMEA, and IATF 16949 compliance workflows.
Prerequisites
- Polarion ALM 23.x or later installed and accessible
- Valid Nextedy Risksheet license
- Valid Nextedy PowerSheet license
- TestAuto2 solution package installed (see Installation and Setup)
- Basic understanding of automotive functional safety standards (ISO 26262 or ISO 14971)
Step 1: Navigate to the Home Dashboard
After logging into Polarion, navigate to the TestAuto2 project. You will land on the Home Dashboard, the central command center for the solution.
What you should see:
- A project banner with “TestAuto2 — Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) Functional Safety” title
- A statistics bar showing counts of key artifacts (Requirements, Failure Modes, Test Cases, etc.)
- Document inventory organized by space (Requirements, Design, Risks, Testing)
- Quick links to Space Dashboards and Role Dashboards
- Reports section with links to Traceability Report, FMEA Reporting, and Safety Readiness Scorecard
Bookmark the Home Dashboard for fast access. It serves as your single point of entry for all solution features.
Step 2: Understand the Four Solution Pillars
TestAuto2 is built on four integrated technology pillars:
| Pillar | Technology | Purpose | Example |
|---|
| Risksheet | Nextedy Risksheet | Interactive tabular risk analysis (HARA, FMEA, PFMEA, Control Plans) | HAZID - AEB System (23 hazards) |
| PowerSheet | Nextedy PowerSheet | Requirements traceability matrices and characteristics sheets | Whole RTM Sheet, System Verification Sheet |
| Dashboards | Polarion + Velocity macros | Live metrics, coverage bars, document inventory, gap queries | Safety Readiness Scorecard |
| 📄 Reports | Velocity-based LivePages | Standards-compliant exports and traceability analysis | ISO 26262 HARA Report, FMEA Reports |
- Risksheet is where you create and edit risk analysis data (hazards, failure modes, process FMEAs)
- PowerSheet is where you link and verify requirements, characteristics, and verification test cases
- Dashboards provide real-time visibility into completeness, coverage, and compliance metrics
- Reports generate formal documentation for audits and safety assessments
All four pillars read from and write to the same Polarion work item database. Changes in Risksheet automatically update coverage metrics in Dashboards and appear in Reports.
Step 3: Explore the V-Model Data Architecture
TestAuto2 implements a V-Model data structure that maps functional safety requirements flow-down (left side of V) to verification and validation activities (right side of V).
What you should see when navigating:
- Requirements Space Dashboard: Customer, System, and Design Requirements with refinement links
- Design Space Dashboard: Functions, Characteristics, and Design Specifications
- Risks Space Dashboard: Hazards, Failure Modes, Risk Controls with FMEA documents
- Testing Space Dashboard: Test Cases with verification/validation links to requirements
Step 4: Review the Standards Compliance Model
Navigate to Standards Compliance Overview from the Home Dashboard. This live report shows compliance coverage across four automotive safety standards.
What you should see:
A matrix table showing:
| Standard | Requirements | Traceability | Verification | FMEA Coverage | Overall |
|---|
| ISO 26262 Part 3 (Concept) | 0% | 100% | 48% | N/A | 49% |
| ISO 26262 Part 4 (System) | 87% | 100% | 84% | 100% | 92% |
| ISO 26262 Part 5 (Hardware) | 92% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 97% |
| ISO 26262 Part 6 (Software) | 100% | 100% | 100% | N/A | 100% |
| AIAG-VDA FMEA | N/A | N/A | N/A | 94% | 94% |
| IATF 16949/APQP | 73 chars | 60% | N/A | N/A | 60% |
- Requirements %: Requirements with linkedWorkItems / total (indicates derivation from higher level)
- Traceability %: Requirements with any link (refines, verifies, assesses) / total
- Verification %: Requirements with back-linked test cases / total
- FMEA Coverage %: Failure modes with post-mitigation assessment / total
- Overall: Average of applicable metrics (N/A excluded)
Any metric below 90% indicates a compliance gap. Click on percentage values to drill down to gap queries showing uncovered items.
Step 5: Understand the System Hierarchy
TestAuto2 organizes the AEB system into a three-level decomposition:
SYSTEM: AEB System
├── SUBSYSTEM: Sensor & Housing Subsystem
│ ├── COMPONENT: Sensor Housing Assembly
│ ├── COMPONENT: Camera Module
│ └── COMPONENT: Radar Module
├── SUBSYSTEM: ECU & Processing Subsystem
│ ├── COMPONENT: System-on-Chip (SoC)
│ ├── COMPONENT: Safety Co-Processor
│ ├── COMPONENT: Memory (Flash & RAM)
│ └── COMPONENT: Power Management IC (PMIC)
└── SUBSYSTEM: Vehicle Interface Subsystem
└── COMPONENT: CAN Transceivers
- System Elements (17 total) organized in a tree structure
- Each element shows counts of allocated Functions, Failure Modes, Characteristics
- Click on any element to see allocated work items
- Use this navigator to understand which FMEA documents analyze which system elements
Each FMEA document is named after the system element it analyzes (e.g., “Camera Module - Component DFMEA”). Use the System Structure Navigator to locate the FMEA for a specific element.
Step 6: Explore a Sample Risksheet
Navigate to Risks space from the Home Dashboard, then click on HAZID - AEB System document.
What you should see:
A Risksheet table with the following column groups:
- Situation Analysis: System Element, Category, Operational Phase, Operational Situation
- Hazard Identification: Hazard name, Description, Cause(s), Consequence(s)
- HARA Classification: Severity (S0-S3), Exposure (E0-E4), Controllability (C0-C3), ASIL (QM/A/B/C/D)
- Safety Goal: SG ID, Safety Goal Title, SG ASIL
Sample hazard row:
| Hazard | Severity | Exposure | Controllability | ASIL | Safety Goal |
|---|
| Failure to detect obstacle - no braking | S3 | E4 | C3 | D | SG-02: Ensure obstacle detection reliability |
- Click any cell to edit values inline
- Right-click row header to insert/delete hazard rows
- Use dropdown pickers for enumeration fields (S, E, C)
- ASIL is auto-calculated from S × E × C using ISO 26262 lookup table
Step 7: Explore a Sample PowerSheet
Navigate to Requirements space, then click on System Requirements Specification PowerSheet.
What you should see:
A traceability matrix showing:
- Root entities: Customer Requirements (25 rows)
- Expanded columns: System Requirements that refine each customer requirement
- Verification columns: Test Cases that validate/verify each requirement
- Coverage indicators: Visual icons showing link completeness
Navigation:
- Click expand icons to see linked System Requirements
- Click ▼ collapse icons to hide detail
- Click requirement IDs to open work item details
- Use column filters to show only gaps (requirements without links)
PowerSheet supports multi-level expansion. Expand Customer Req → System Req → Design Req → Test Case to see the complete V-model chain for a single customer need.
Step 8: Check a Role Dashboard
Navigate to Safety Engineer Dashboard from the Home Dashboard.
What you should see:
A role-specific view showing:
- My Assigned Hazards: Work items assigned to you (type: hazard, riskRecord, failureMode)
- Pending Reviews: Documents in “inReview” workflow status requiring approval
- ASIL Breakdown: Chart showing count of hazards by ASIL level (QM, A, B, C, D)
- FMEA Completion: Progress bars showing % of failure modes with post-mitigation assessment
- Safety Goals Coverage: % of safety goals with linked risk controls
What you should understand:
- Each role dashboard filters the project data to show relevant work for that role
- Safety Engineers focus on HARA, ASIL determination, and safety goal derivation
- Design Engineers focus on DFMEA, characteristics, and design verification
- V&V Engineers focus on test case creation, verification coverage, and validation evidence
Step 9: Generate a Sample Report
Navigate to FMEA Reports from the Home Dashboard.
What you should see:
A comprehensive report showing:
- Design FMEA Summary: Total failure modes (260), high-priority count (AP=H), mitigation coverage %
- Process FMEA Summary: Total process failure modes (16), occurrence/detection distribution
- Action Priority Breakdown: Charts showing failure modes by H/M/L priority before and after mitigation
- Risk Reduction Tracking: Table showing pre-mitigation vs post-mitigation ratings
Report usage:
- Use Print or Export to PDF to generate formal FMEA deliverables
- Share report URL with stakeholders for live review (requires Polarion login)
- Embed report in safety case documentation as evidence of risk analysis completeness
All reports are Velocity-based LivePages that regenerate on every page load, ensuring data is always current. No manual export/refresh required.
Step 10: Understand the Workflow Lifecycle
All risk specification documents (HARA, FMEA, Control Plans) follow a six-state workflow:
What each state means:
- Draft: Editable, work in progress, no approval required
- In Review: Read-only (typically), awaiting signature from project_approver role
- Approved: Formally signed off, ready for publication
- Published: Final release, suitable for baselining and audit reference
- Rework: Action to return to Draft from any state (invalidates signatures)
Navigate to any FMEA document and check the Document Information panel to see current workflow status and available actions.
What you have learned
You now understand:
- The four solution pillars: Risksheet (risk analysis), PowerSheet (traceability), Dashboards (metrics), Reports (documentation)
- The V-Model architecture: Requirements flow-down on left side, verification/validation on right side, risk analysis in the middle
- The standards compliance model: How ISO 26262, AIAG-VDA, and IATF metrics are calculated and visualized
- The system hierarchy: Three-level decomposition (System → Subsystem → Component) driving FMEA document structure
- The workflow lifecycle: Six-state approval process for risk specification documents
Next steps
Now that you understand the solution architecture, proceed to hands-on tutorials:
- Your First HARA Session: Create a HAZID document, identify hazards, assess ASIL, derive safety goals
- Create Your First FMEA Document: Build a Design FMEA, define failure modes, calculate Action Priority, link risk controls
- Understanding the Navigation: Master sidebar navigation, space dashboards, and role dashboards
- Finding Your Role Dashboard: Customize your workspace based on your role (Safety Engineer, Design Engineer, V&V Engineer, etc.)
For deeper conceptual understanding:
