Traceability & Linking

Create and manage trace links across your entire project graph.

Understanding Traceability

Traceability is the ability to trace any requirement back to its source and forward to its verification. It answers two fundamental questions for every requirement in your project:

• Where did this come from? — Which document section, stakeholder need, or higher-level requirement gave rise to this requirement?
• How is this verified? — Which test case, analysis report, or inspection record demonstrates that this requirement has been met?

AIRGen implements traceability using a Neo4j graph database. Every entity in your project — requirements, documents, document sections, architecture blocks, and diagrams — is stored as a node in the graph. Trace links are stored as edges connecting those nodes.

This graph-based approach provides several advantages over traditional traceability matrices:

• Multi-hop navigation — Follow chains of trace links across multiple levels (e.g., stakeholder need to system requirement to software requirement to test case) without manual cross-referencing.
• Impact analysis — When a requirement changes, instantly see all downstream entities that may be affected.
• Coverage gaps — Identify requirements that lack upstream sources or downstream verification evidence.

Creating Trace Links

You can create trace links from the Links page or from the detail panel of any entity (requirement, document section, or architecture block).

From the Links Page

1. Navigate to Links in the project sidebar.
2. Select an existing linkset or create a new one (see Linksets below).
3. Click Add Link.
4. In the Source field, search for or browse to the source entity. This can be a requirement, document section, or architecture block.
5. In the Target field, search for or browse to the target entity.
6. Select the Link Type from the dropdown. Available types include:
   • derives-from — The target was derived from the source (e.g., a software requirement derived from a system requirement).
   • satisfies — The target satisfies or fulfils the source (e.g., a design element satisfies a requirement).
   • verifies — The target provides verification evidence for the source (e.g., a test case verifies a requirement).
   • refines — The target provides a more detailed statement of the source (e.g., a detailed requirement refines a high-level requirement).
7. Click Create to save the link.

From an Entity Detail Panel

Open any requirement, section, or architecture block and scroll to the Trace Links section. Click Add Link to create a new link with the current entity pre-filled as the source. This is the fastest way to build traceability as you review individual entities.

Linksets

A linkset is a named collection of related trace links, grouped by purpose. Linksets make it practical to review traceability in context rather than viewing every link in the project at once.

To create a linkset:

1. Navigate to Links in the project sidebar.
2. Click Create Linkset.
3. Enter a descriptive name that reflects the relationship category. Examples:
   • "Stakeholder Needs to System Requirements"
   • "System Requirements to Software Requirements"
   • "Requirements to Test Cases"
   • "Document Sections to Requirements"
4. Add an optional description to clarify the linkset's scope and purpose.
5. Click Create.

Once a linkset exists, all new links created within it are automatically grouped together. You can view linksets as filterable tabs on the Links page. Each linkset shows the total number of links it contains and a summary of source and target entity types.

AI-Powered Link Suggestions

Manually creating every trace link in a project can be time-consuming. AIRGen offers AI-powered suggestions to accelerate the process.

To generate link suggestions:

1. Open a linkset on the Links page.
2. Click Suggest Links in the toolbar.
3. AIRGen analyses the entities in your project using two methods:
   • Text similarity — Compares the textual content of requirements, sections, and architecture blocks to find semantically related pairs.
   • Graph proximity — Examines existing connections in the project graph to identify entities that are likely related but not yet linked.
4. A list of suggested links appears, ranked by confidence score. Each suggestion shows the proposed source, target, link type, and a brief explanation of why the link was suggested.

For each suggestion, you can:

• Accept — Click to create the link immediately.
• Edit — Modify the link type or swap the source and target before accepting.
• Dismiss — Remove the suggestion from the list. Dismissed suggestions will not reappear unless the underlying entities change significantly.

Graph Viewer

The Graph Viewer page provides a visual, interactive exploration of your entire project graph. It renders entities as nodes and trace links as edges in a force-directed layout.

To use the Graph Viewer:

1. Navigate to Graph Viewer in the project sidebar.
2. The viewer loads all entities and links in the current project. Nodes are colour-coded by type:
   • Blue — Requirements
   • Green — Document sections
   • Purple — Architecture blocks
   • Orange — Diagrams
3. Use the mouse wheel or pinch gesture to zoom in and out.
4. Click and drag the background to pan across the graph.
5. Click on any node to select it. The detail panel on the right displays the entity's metadata, attributes, and a list of all trace links connected to it.
6. Double-click a node to expand its neighbourhood, showing all directly connected entities.

Filtering the Graph

For large projects, the full graph can be dense. Use the filter controls in the Graph Viewer toolbar to focus on what matters:

• Entity type — Toggle visibility of requirements, sections, architecture blocks, or diagrams.
• Linkset — Show only links belonging to a specific linkset.
• Search — Type a keyword to highlight matching nodes and dim everything else.