Requirements traceability in Cameo Systems Modeler
Satisfy, verify, derive, refine, trace — the SysML relationships that link every requirement to the design and tests that fulfill it, all from one model.
| Relationship | Connects a requirement to… | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Satisfy | A design element (e.g. a block) | This element fulfills the requirement |
| Verify | A test case | This test confirms the requirement |
| Derive | Another requirement | This requirement is derived from that one |
| Refine | A model element | This element clarifies or elaborates the requirement |
| Trace | Any element | General-purpose traceability link |
| Copy | Another requirement | A synced, read-only reusable copy |
The relationship types, and when to use each
These six relationships are the backbone of traceability in Cameo. Getting them right is what makes coverage and impact analysis meaningful.
Satisfy ties a requirement to the design element that meets it — a block, a part, or a behavior. This is the core “is it covered?” link. Every requirement that lacks a Satisfy relationship is, by definition, unallocated.
Verify ties a requirement to the test case that proves it. A Verify link drives verification: when a test case carries a pass/fail status, that status propagates to the requirement through the link, giving you a live verification picture inside the model.
Derive captures requirement-to-requirement decomposition — system requirements derived from stakeholder needs, subsystem requirements derived from system requirements. It is the relationship that makes your N-level hierarchy traceable rather than just hierarchical.
Refine links a requirement to a model element that elaborates or clarifies it — for example, a use case refining a functional requirement, or a parametric constraint refining a performance bound.
Trace is the general-purpose fallback when the relationship is real but looser than the four above. Use it when you want a traceable link without committing to satisfy/verify semantics.
Copy creates a master/slave dependency. The client (slave) requirement is a read-only synchronized copy of the master; when the master changes, the copy updates. This is the reuse mechanism for sharing a requirement across packages or models without duplicating text you'd have to maintain in two places.
Seeing traceability: tables and matrices
Cameo renders those relationships as two complementary artifacts: a Requirement Table and a Dependency Matrix.
A Requirement Table is a spreadsheet-style view. The default columns are #, Id, Name, and Text. You add requirements as rows (Add New or Insert), edit them inline, and export to CSV, HTML, or Excel. It is the fastest way to read and author requirements inside the model rather than in a separate document.
A Dependency Matrix is the traceability matrix. You configure the row elements (typically requirements), the column elements (typically design blocks or test cases), and the dependency criteria — the relationship types you want to see, such as Satisfy, Verify, Derive, Refine, or Trace — then refresh to populate. Cells show where a relationship exists, and you can create new relationships directly in the matrix by clicking an empty cell. Cameo also ships four pre-built matrices for common pairings: Derive, Refine, Satisfy, and Verify Requirement Matrices.
Coverage gaps and impact analysis
The payoff from living traceability is two-fold: coverage at a glance and impact analysis.
Coverage: a requirement with no Satisfy or Verify link shows as an empty row or cell in the matrix — a visible gap that needs no separate spreadsheet audit. For a more formal view, Cameo's Metric Suites and Metric Tables compute coverage statistics across a requirement package, and the Requirement Verification Legend shows pass/fail status propagated from test cases through Verify links.
Impact analysis: change a design element and trace, in the model, exactly which requirements are linked to it via Satisfy or Trace. Change a stakeholder requirement and trace which derived subsystem requirements inherit the change through Derive. This replaces the manual, error-prone process of hunting through a spreadsheet to find everything downstream.
Tracing to DOORS requirements
Many DoD programs keep authoritative requirements in IBM DOORS — either DOORS Classic or DOORS Next Generation. Cameo connects to both via Cameo DataHub, which imports, exports, and synchronizes requirements over OSLC. The OSLC integration with DOORS Next is the richest path: it supports live round-trip synchronization and bidirectional linking, so model elements in Cameo can be formally linked to DOORS Next requirements without duplicating the requirement text in both tools.
If your program keeps its baseline in DOORS Next, see The DOORS Next guide for the full setup and synchronization workflow.
What changes in SysML v2
In the 2026x release, SysML v2 strengthens verification traceability significantly. Query-driven dynamic views rebuild automatically as the model changes, so your traceability matrices stay current without a manual refresh. More importantly, requirement violations are flagged immediately with full traceability to the violated constraint — moving verification from a periodic manual review toward a live check that runs as you model.
NOTE SysML v2 is available only in Cameo editions that include the v2 toolset (Cameo 2026x and later). If your edition is earlier or does not include v2, the v1 traceability workflow described above applies. Verify your edition before adopting v2 workflows.
FAQ
Primarily satisfy, verify, derive, refine, and trace — plus copy for reuse. These are SysML requirement relationships that link each requirement to the design elements that fulfill it and the test cases that confirm it.
Satisfy means a design element (such as a block) fulfills the requirement. Verify means a test case confirms the requirement holds. Derive means one requirement is decomposed or derived from another — capturing system-to-subsystem decomposition.
Open a Requirement Table to see all requirements in a spreadsheet-style view, then build a Dependency Matrix configured for Satisfy and Verify relationships. Any requirement row with empty cells is a coverage gap you can see immediately.
Yes. Cameo links to IBM DOORS Classic and DOORS Next via Cameo DataHub, which imports, exports, and synchronizes requirements over OSLC — the richest integration path for DOORS Next. See the DOORS Next guide for the setup steps.
In editions that include SysML v2 (Cameo 2026x and later), query-driven dynamic views rebuild automatically as the model changes, and requirement violations are flagged immediately with full traceability to the violated constraint — moving verification toward a live check rather than a periodic manual review.