Steps
1. Navigate to the Requirements Traceability Report
From the Home Dashboard, scroll to the Reports section and click the Requirements Traceability Report link. Alternatively, use the sidebar navigation if pinned as a favorite.
The report page will load showing the complete V-model traceability visualization.
2. Review the Report Sections
The Requirements Traceability Report includes five main sections:
| Section | Content | Purpose |
|---|
| Executive Summary | Statistics bar showing total requirements count, coverage percentages, gap counts | Quick health check for audit readiness |
| Customer → System Traceability | Table listing all Customer Requirements with their refined-by System Requirements | ISO 26262-8 Clause 6 bidirectional decomposition |
| System → Design Traceability | System Requirements decomposed into Design Requirements via ‘refines’ link | V-model left side: requirements refinement |
| Design → Verification Traceability | Design Requirements linked to Verification Test Cases via back-linked ‘verifies’ | V-model right side: requirement verification |
| Validation Coverage | Customer Requirements linked to Validation Test Cases | User-level requirement validation |
- Green = Complete coverage
- Orange = Partial coverage
- Red = Missing links
3. Drill Down to Gap Items
Click any gap count number (shown in red) to execute the corresponding Lucene query and display unlinked work items.
Example gap queries:
type:customerRequirement AND NOT backlinkedWorkItems:refines=TA*
type:sysReq AND NOT linkedWorkItems:refines=TA*
type:desReq AND NOT backlinkedWorkItems:verifies=TA*
- Directly edit link fields to fix gaps
- Bulk select items and use the context menu to establish links
- Export the gap list to Excel for offline gap closure tracking
A single missing Customer → System link creates downstream gaps in the entire traceability chain. Always fix gaps from top (Customer Requirements) to bottom (Test Cases) to avoid duplicate rework.
4. Export the Report to PDF
Scroll to the bottom of the Requirements Traceability Report page and click the Export to PDF button (typically rendered by a Velocity macro in the page footer).
The PDF export will include:
- All traceability tables with current link status
- Coverage percentage bars rendered as visual elements
- Work item hyperlinks converted to readable ID references
- Timestamp and project version metadata for audit trail
Create a Polarion baseline before generating the traceability report for certification audits. Reference the baseline name in the PDF export filename (e.g., RTM_Report_Baseline_v2.1.pdf) to ensure immutable audit evidence.
5. Schedule Periodic Report Reviews
Use the report as a recurring checkpoint in your safety process:
ISO 26262 Milestone Target Coverage Report Check Frequency
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Item Definition (Part 3) Customer→System Weekly during concept phase
≥80%
System Design (Part 4) System→Design Bi-weekly during system design
≥90%
Hardware/Software Design Design→Tests Weekly before design freeze
(Part 5/6) 100%
Verification Phase All chains Daily during V&V execution
100%
Configure Polarion workflow actions to trigger email notifications when traceability coverage falls below target thresholds. Use the nxLinkCoverage macro gap count result in custom workflow conditions.
Verification
After generating the report, you should see:
- Executive summary showing overall traceability completion percentage (target: ≥90% for ASIL C/D projects)
- Color-coded coverage bars for each V-model traceability chain
- Clickable gap counts that drill down to specific unlinked work items
- PDF export option for offline review and audit submission
- Timestamp footer showing report generation date
For a complete traceability chain, the report will display:
See Also
