Adding traceability to design verification allows teams to definitively and easily document the exact state of the verification at any point in the design process.
This provable documented status of verification is particularly important when trying to meet FuSa specifications like ISO 26262 and DO-254.
In this blog, learn how Perforce IPLM (formerly Helix IPLM) links requirements, design, and verification together to provide a fully traceable model between all three systems.
What Is Design Verification?
Design verification is a series of steps to confirm that the design works as expected.
In most cases, this verification is being done even as the design evolves. This results in a dynamic environment where it is not always clear exactly what was tested on which version of the quickly changing design.
Because of this, traceability needs to be added to the design verification process. With this added layer of data, the exact state of verification can proved, which becomes critical in industries where functional safety compliance (ISO 26262 and DO-254, for example) comes into play.
Understand Traceability For the Design Verification Process to Simplify Your Workflow
Keeping track of best practices for requirements, design, and verification management can be overwhelming. Our Traceability for the Design Verification Process white paper details the steps to link all three and ensure strong traceability.
Managing Verification
Verification can be split into two phases:
- Tests are being written or existing tests are being modified to run on the current design. This is a very dynamic phase of the verification process as it occurs when the design itself is still evolving.
- The design activity itself is done (or close to being done), and verification ramps up to drive changes to the design. This is typically in the form of bug fixes or performance fixes.
Critical to this process is connecting the verification activity to the actual design that is being used. Each test needs to be tracked with the exact design release version and environment it uses.
This connection allows for a test to be reproduced to ensure that any issues have been fixed, as well enables definitive documentation that a feature or behavior was tested on a particular release of interest.
Connecting Requirements to Releases
Design and verification teams rely on requirements management systems to document the requirements needed for each project. While these systems do a good job of documenting the initial requirements and sub-requirements, there is little linkage to design and verification plans.
A unique feature of the Perforce IPLM platform is the integration of different requirements systems. This enables communication of any changes to requirements after architectural specification and verification planning has been completed so that environments can be updated with the latest information. This capability provides a traceable path from requirements to the design and verification environment.
Connecting Tests to Releases
Perforce IPLM enables connecting the testing activity to specific design releases as part of the workflow. Since Perforce IPLM is used to build and manage user workspaces, it keeps track of the exact release of the top IP and all its dependent IPs in the workspace at all times.
Building Verification History
Perforce IPLM uses a common database to track this verification activity. Each test run adds an entry to the test database, along with a point to the exact release of the design in the workspace.
Why Perforce IPLM for Design Verification?
While design and verification teams may have solutions in place for requirements, design, and verification management, these solutions are often not connected and lack any communication between all three domains.
The Perforce IPLM platform links requirements, design, and verification together for the first time, providing a fully traceable model between all three systems.
Design and verification teams can now track the impact to changes in requirements, changes in design, and changes and results from verification. Within Perforce IPLM, design and verification teams have a single source of truth to the current state of requirements used for design, the version of design files that meets those requirements, and the verification environment that provides the evidence of meeting requirements.
Connect with one of our IPLM experts today to see how added traceability to your design verification process can benefit your business.
Learn more about Perforce IPLM