The traceability matrix shows the traces between two sets of items as a grid. One set forms the rows, the other forms the columns, and each cell shows whether the row item and the column item are traced to each other. It is the quickest way to spot coverage gaps, for example requirements with no verifying test case, and to fill them without leaving the page.
To open it, expand Analysis in the left sidebar and click Traceability Matrix. The page lists your saved matrices with their name, favorite star, Public or Private tag and creation date. Use the search box to find one by name, or click New matrix to start from scratch.
Building a matrix
Click New matrix. The page opens with three boxes above the grid: Rows ↓, Cols → and Traces.
In Rows ↓, click Add filter and choose what goes on the rows. Any item filter works here, for example Item Type is Requirement, or Descendants of a folder. See Table view for the full list of filters.
Do the same in Cols → for the columns.
In Traces, pick which trace types the grid shows. The default is the Related type; open the dropdown to add others or choose all.
Instead of adding filters by hand, you can drag items from the Items tree in the left sidebar and drop them onto the Rows ↓ or Cols → box. Dropping a single item adds it as an Item ID filter; dropping a folder or parent item adds a Descendants of filter, so all of its children appear.
The arrows button between the two boxes swaps the row and column filters.
Reading the grid
Row items are listed down the left, column items across the top, and a marker in a cell means a trace exists between that row item and that column item. The marker's icon shows the trace type and its arrow shows the direction; a stacked marker means more than one trace. Traces that break a traceability rule carry a warning color, and hovering a marker shows a tooltip such as REQ-12 is verified by TC-4 together with any Suspect or Invalid state.
Hover anywhere in the grid to highlight the whole row and column. Click a row or column header to open that item in the details sidebar, or hover it for a preview. Drag the edge of the header area to give long titles more room.
Click the View settings button (the sliders icon next to Save matrix) in the page header to change how the grid looks:
Items display - show item Name only, ID only or ID + Name in the headers.
Legend - show a key of the directions and trace types currently in the grid.
Traces counts - add a row and a column that count the traces per item.
Empty cells - switch this off to hide every row and column that has no traces under the current Traces filter, which leaves only the connected items.
Creating and changing traces in a cell
Right-click a cell to open the trace popover for that pair of items. It lists the existing traces at the top and the trace types you can add below, split by direction.
Create a trace - click a trace type in the list. The preview at the bottom of the popover spells out what the new trace will mean before you click.
Delete a trace - click the cross next to an existing trace.
Reverse a trace - click the reverse icon (Reverse trace direction) next to an existing trace to flip which item is the source and which is the target.
Change the trace type - when the cell has one trace, hover a different type in the list and click Change trace type. The old trace is replaced in one step.
The traces filter link at the bottom of the popover (Change traces filter for other trace types) jumps to the Traces dropdown if the type you need is not shown.
To work on several cells at once, click a cell, then Shift-click another to select the rectangle between them, or Cmd-click (Ctrl-click on Windows) to add cells one by one. Right-click inside the selection and the create and delete actions apply to every selected cell. Reversing and changing type only work on a single cell. Press Esc to clear the selection.
Saving a matrix
Click Save matrix in the page header and give the matrix a name. The button is disabled until both rows and columns have at least one filter. The saved matrix stores the row filters, the column filters and the Traces selection, and it opens from the sidebar tree or the list.
When you change the filters of a saved matrix, Save matrix offers Update current matrix or Save as new matrix. If you navigate away with unsaved filters, a dialog asks whether to Discard them or save first.
Managing saved matrices
Click the ... button on a matrix in the list, or on its entry in the sidebar tree, to:
Favorite or Remove favorite - favorites are marked with a star.
Make public or Make private - a public matrix is listed for everyone in the organization; a private one is only visible to you. Only the person who created the matrix can change this.
Rename the matrix.
Delete it. Deleting cannot be undone.
Traces created in the matrix are the same as traces created anywhere else in Trace.Space. See Traceability for how trace types and directions work.