The Design Engineer Dashboard is a role-specific dashboard in TestAuto2 — Automotive Safety Solution that serves design engineers performing ISO 26262 system-level and component-level design work.
This dashboard centralizes design requirements management, functional decomposition, characteristics allocation, and design-level failure mode analysis (DFMEA). It provides design engineers with real-time visibility into traceability coverage, design gaps, and verification status across all design artifacts.
Dashboard Overview
The Design Engineer Dashboard implements the design phase of the ISO 26262 V-model, combining:
- Requirements refinement — System requirements decomposed into design requirements per system element
- Functional allocation — Functions allocated to system elements (subsystems and components)
- Characteristics management — Design characteristics (tolerances, performance parameters) linked to functions
- Design failure analysis — Component-level DFMEA identifying design failure modes and safety controls
- Verification traceability — Design requirements linked to design-level verification test cases
Dashboard Components
| Component | Type | Purpose | Data Source |
|---|
| Design Space Banner | Header | Branded space identity with purple color scheme (#4527a0 system, #5e35b1 subsystem, #7e57c2 component) | nxSpaceBanner macro |
| Design Artifact Statistics | KPI Card | Real-time count of design requirements, functions, characteristics, and documents in Design space | Lucene query: type:(desReq function characteristic) filtered by moduleFolder=‘Design’ |
| Design Document Inventory Tree | Navigation Tree | Hierarchical document list organized by system element structure showing System Element / Document relationships | nxDocInventoryTree macro with expandable tree view |
| System Requirements Refinement Coverage | Coverage Bar | Percentage of design requirements properly linked upstream to system requirements via ‘refines’ relationship | nxCoverageBar: (desReq with outgoing ‘refines’ link) / total desReq |
| Design Requirements to Test Cases Verification | Coverage Bar | Percentage of design requirements verified by test cases via back-linked ‘verifies’ relationship | nxCoverageBar: (desReq with incoming ‘verifies’ backlink) / total desReq |
| SC/CC Characteristics to Failure Modes | Coverage Bar | Advanced traceability metric tracking safety-critical/cybersecurity-critical characteristics through DFMEA failure modes | Multi-hop algorithm: SC/CC desReq → backlinks characteristics → backlinks failure modes |
| Design DFMEA Quick Links | Navigation | Direct access to component-level DFMEA Risksheet documents and related DFMEA reports for each system element | Links to …/Risks/[Component] DFMEA/ documents |
| System Structure Navigator | Report Link | Access to system hierarchy visualization and design element decomposition structure | Link to System Structure Navigator wiki page |
| Data Model Diagram | Report Link | Visual representation of RTM domain model showing work item types and relationships | Link to Data Model Diagram wiki page |
| Design Verification Sheet Link | PowerSheet Link | Interactive PowerSheet showing design requirements with linked test cases via ‘verifies’ role | Link to Design Verification Sheet PowerSheet configuration |
Coverage Metrics
System Requirements Refinement Coverage
Query Logic:
Design Reqs with 'refines' link to System Reqs / Total Design Reqs
Gap Query: type:desReq AND NOT linkedWorkItems:refines=TA*
Design Verification Coverage
Query Logic:
Design Reqs with back-linked Test Cases via 'verifies' / Total Design Reqs
Gap Query: type:desReq AND NOT backlinkedWorkItems:verifies=TA*
SC/CC Characteristics to Failure Modes Multi-Hop Coverage
Algorithm:
- Query all design requirements with classification = ‘sc’ (safety-critical) or ‘cc’ (cybersecurity-critical)
- For each SC/CC requirement, find back-linked characteristics via ‘refines’ relationship
- For each characteristic, check if it has back-linked failure modes via ‘assesses’ relationship
- Coverage = (characteristics with assessed failure modes) / (total characteristics)
Gap Analysis Query:
type:desReq AND classification.KEY:(sc cc) AND
NOT linkedWorkItems:refines=TA*
The nxLinkCoverage macro only supports single-hop traceability checks. Multi-hop coverage (requirement → characteristic → failure mode) requires custom Velocity scripts using nested #foreach loops to iterate through link relationships.
Configuration Properties
Velocity Macro Initialization
| Property | Type | Default | Description |
|---|
nextedy_solutions.vm | Import | Required | Imports Nextedy Solutions macro library providing styled components (nxSpaceBanner, nxStatsBar, nxLinkCoverage, nxCoverageBar, nxDocInventoryTree) |
#nxInit() | Initialization | Required | Initializes Nextedy macro runtime environment and session context |
#nxCommonStyles() | CSS Setup | Required | Injects common CSS classes for Nextedy dashboard styling including purple color scheme and layout components |
Dashboard Statistics Configuration
| Property | Type | Default | Description |
|---|
| Design Requirements Count Query | Lucene | type:desReq | Lucene query to count design requirement work items in Design space |
| Functions Count Query | Lucene | type:function | Lucene query to count function work items allocated to system elements |
| Characteristics Count Query | Lucene | type:characteristic | Lucene query to count characteristic (tolerance, performance parameter) work items |
| Design Documents Count | Filter | moduleFolder='Design' | Document inventory filtered to Design space folder showing all LiveDoc modules |
Coverage Metrics Configuration
| Property | Type | Default | Description |
|---|
| Refinement Link Role | String | refines | Link role used to connect design requirements to upstream system requirements (backward traceability) |
| Verification Link Role | String | verifies | Link role used to connect design requirements to test cases (verification relationship) |
| Characteristics Link Role | String | refines | Link role connecting design requirements to characteristics via downward refinement |
| Failure Mode Link Role | String | assesses | Link role connecting characteristics to failure modes in DFMEA analysis |
| Coverage Threshold | Percentage | 100% | Target coverage for all metric bars (visual indicator: green ≥ threshold, yellow 75-99%, red < 75%) |
| Gap Query Drill-Down | Boolean | true | Enables clickable gap queries on coverage bars to drill down to uncovered items |
Document Inventory Tree Configuration
| Property | Type | Default | Description |
|---|
| Space Filter | String | Design | Filters document tree to Design space modules only |
| Column Header | String | System Element / Document | Display label showing hierarchical structure of design artifacts |
| Expandable Tree | Boolean | true | Enables expand/collapse functionality for nested system elements and their documents |
| Initial Expand Level | Integer | 1 | First level of system elements expanded on page load; deeper levels expand on click |
Design Workflow Visualization
Work Item Types and Links
| Source Type | Link Role | Target Type | Cardinality | Purpose |
|---|
| Design Requirement | refines | System Requirement | 1:N | Design requirement decomposes system requirement |
| Design Requirement | verifies | Design Verification Test Case | 1:N | Test case verifies design requirement per ISO 26262 Part 4-6 |
| Design Requirement | refines | Characteristic | 1:N | Characteristic operationalizes design requirement tolerance/performance |
| Characteristic | assesses | Failure Mode | 1:N | Characteristic degradation potential linked to DFMEA failure mode |
| System Element | contains | Design Requirement | 1:N | Design requirements scoped to system element (subsystem/component) |
| Function | allocatedTo | System Element | N:1 | Function assigned to system element for implementation |
| Characteristic | characteristic | Function | N:1 | Characteristic measures performance or constraint on function |
Dashboard Integration Points
Risksheet Documents (Component DFMEA)
The dashboard links to 8 component-level DFMEA Risksheet documents:
- Camera Module - Component DFMEA (24 failure modes)
- Radar Module - Component DFMEA (18 failure modes)
- System-on-Chip (SoC) - Component DFMEA (22 failure modes)
- Safety Co-Processor - Component DFMEA (7 failure modes)
- Memory (Flash/RAM) - Component DFMEA (not yet documented)
- CAN Transceivers - Component DFMEA (19 failure modes)
- Sensor Housing Assembly - Component DFMEA (19 failure modes)
Each Risksheet displays failure modes with Severity/Occurrence/Detection ratings, post-mitigation Action Priority, and linked risk controls.
PowerSheet Configurations
| PowerSheet | Purpose | Link |
|---|
| Design Verification Sheet | Shows design requirements with verification test cases via ‘verifies’ backlinks | sheet-configurations/Design Verification Sheet.yaml |
| Design Characteristics Sheet | Expands each design requirement with associated characteristics (target values, tolerances) | sheet-configurations/Design Characteristics Sheet.yaml |
| System Structure Navigator | Hierarchical view of system elements, functions, and allocated characteristics | reports/System Structure Navigator wiki page |
Related Dashboard Pages
Version and Compatibility
| Property | Value |
|---|
| Nextedy Solutions Minimum Version | 3.0+ |
| Polarion Minimum Version | 2301.0+ |
| ISO 26262 Compliance Scope | Part 4 (System Design), Part 5 (Hardware Design) |
| Supported DFMEA Levels | System (SFMEA), Subsystem, Component (DFMEA) |
| Standard Link Roles | refines, verifies, assesses, mitigates |
- Ensure all design requirements have upstream system requirement links via ‘refines’ (100% coverage target)
- Create design verification test cases for all design requirements — ISO 26262 mandates 100% verification
- Link characteristics to design requirements to establish traceability through design decomposition
- Review SC/CC characteristics coverage to failure modes — safety-critical characteristics require DFMEA analysis
- Use the Design Verification Sheet PowerSheet to validate all design-level verification evidence
