Traceability is a key to a valuable model

By Takeshi KOUNO Founder and CEO of Sparx Systems Japan

What are the differences between diagramming tools and modeling tools? One of the differences is that modeling tools can 'connect' diagrams.Traceability is a valuable connection in the model. I will introduce the benefits of Traceability and how to define Traceability by using Enterprise Architect.
There are a few pitfalls about Traceability. I will tell you solutions, including the 'two-path Traceability.

Session Recording

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Questions and Answers

Can we generate documentation based on traceability?

Yes, but currently (by using current Enterprise Architect document generation), we cannot generate whole type of Traceabilitiy information in one section. This means that we can generate the information I told today (in the slide p13), but we cannot gather Connectors,Tagged Values, placements, parent - child, etc.The document will have 'Connectors' section, then'Tagged Values' section, ...

Can I have predefined traceability rules?

In our Traceablity Suite Add - in, we can define conditions to show in the Map or the Matrix. The Matrix has a feature to save conditions as Profiles (and stored in the model), very similar to Enterprise Architect Matrix. We can specify which type of relationships to show in the Map, and the setting will be stored in the model.

Do i have to define meta model to have proper traceability

When number of your team members is large, and/or your model is large, it is very good to define meta model (e.g., define your own MDG Technology or using Perspective feature to limit usage of notation). Basically, I think we need to define which type of connectors we use to defi ne Traceability. In UML, as I told in this session, a Trace or an Abstruction are better since usually these types of connectors are not used to describe relationships for design like Association and Dependency.

Are there any additional tools available to do impact analysis layout?

If you use Pro Cloud server, I think Prolaborate has lots of features to check impact. In Japan, currently there are very few users to use Pro Cloud server and many users want to keep models in their intern al network, so the Add - in is useful and necessary in Japan.