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Visualizing Requirement Relationships
Relationships between Requirements and other elements - including other Requirements - are a critical aspect of Model Based Systems Engineering. In many ways these relationships are the important bridges between specification and design, or problem and solution. These relationships can be viewed in a wide range of specialized windows and user interface mechanisms. One of the first things a newcomer to Enterprise Architect will observe is that these relationships are not visibly nested under elements in the 'Project' tab of the Browser window. It has been a conscious design decision not to clutter the 'Project' tab with these relationships, but rather to make them visible in other displays that can be docked and viewed at the same time as the elements they relate to.
This illustration shows the 'Details' tab of the Inspector window with the 'Relationships' node expanded to show all the relationships that are connected to the 'Low Light Visibility' Requirement, which has been selected in the 'Project' tab. There is also a dedicated Relationships window.

There is also a wide range of other windows where relationships can be visualized. For more information see the The Browser Window topic.
Traceability Window
The Traceability window is a helpful and unique feature of Enterprise Architect that allows relationships to be explored, so that the modeler can effectively take walks through the graph of elements and their connections. It is a useful window to have open when you want to view how an element is connected and also what the connected elements are connected to. So, for example, in this model of the Boom Gate when the 'Low Light Visibility' Requirement is selected, the Traceability window will show that it is connected to the 'Strip Lighting' Block that satisfies the requirement.

The Traceability window can be opened from the ribbon option 'Design > Element > Trace'.
The modeler in this situation might also be interested in the structural aspects of the 'Strip Lighting' Block and so can follow this element's relationships to discover its structural relationships, walking the graph to find answers to questions and exploring the model.
If you are not concerned about viewing the relationships it is best not have this window open, as its contents must be rendered each time you change focus to another element and, for well connected elements, this can take some time, increasing the time it takes to move around the model. For more information see the Traceability Window Help topic.
Relationships Window
The Relationships window is a useful window to have open when working with crosscutting concerns, as is typically the case with Requirements. When an element is selected in a window, the Browser window or a diagram, the Relationships window displays a list of the connectors that either target the selected element (target) or emanate from the element (source). Another useful aspect of this window is that the 'View' column indicates whether the relationship is visible in the currently open diagram.
The Relationships window can be opened from the ribbon option 'Start > All Windows > Properties > Responsibilities > Relations'.
A modeler can also locate all diagrams that contain the selected relationship, by choosing the 'Find in all Diagrams' option from the context menu. In this illustration it can be seen that the 'deriveReqt' relationship that connects the 'Low Light Visibility' Requirement and the 'Illumination' Requirement exists in two diagrams. For more information see the The Relationships Window Help topic.

Relationship Matrix
The Relationship Matrix is a great tool for visualizing the connections between the elements in any two Packages, in an interface resembling a spreadsheet with rows and columns. The tool is particularly useful when used with Requirements, and allows an engineer to see how Requirements are related to other elements, including other Requirements.

The Relationship Matrix can be opened from the ribbon option 'Design >Package > Package/Matrix'. Select whether the current Package is the source Package, target Package, or both.
Where a relationship exists an arrow icon will be displayed in the cell at the intersection of the source and target elements, with the arrowhead showing the direction of the relationship. The matrix can also be configured to highlight the rows or columns that do not have any relationships in a separate color. This and other options can be configured on the Options window, available from the
in the Relationship Matrix header.
These options allow you to tailor the way that the matrix is displayed, including whether elements are sorted and their names are prefixed with the Package name, and whether source and target element rows and columns without connections are highlighted. For more information see the Relationship Matrix Help topic.
Insert Related Elements
The Insert Related Elements feature is a productivity tool that allows an engineer or other stakeholder to quickly construct a diagram by inserting a central element and then asking the tool to find all elements related to this element, down to an arbitrary depth of connectivity. This helps the engineer to effectively explore the graph of elements and create a diagram that shows how other elements in the repository directly relate to this central element and how other elements relate to those elements. Element and connector types can be specified for inclusion or exclusion, and the depth can be changed to bring more or fewer elements and connectors into the diagram. The diagram can be automatically laid out or the diagram layout tool can be used to reorganize the layout to make it more appealing or relevant.

The Insert Related Elements feature can be used by selecting an element in a diagram and then using the ribbon option 'Design > Element > Add Element > Related Element'.
The feature can be used as an exploratory tool where the rendered diagrams are constructed as part of an enquiry process and are discarded after they have served their purpose. Alternatively, the feature can be used to create more permanent diagrams that can be saved and reused for visualization. Either way the tool will save the engineer time, and enable the creation of accurate and expressive diagrams that are bound to impress stakeholders who would otherwise not have been able to visualize the connections between elements. For more information see the Insert Related Elements Help topic.
Kanban Diagrams
Kanban diagrams can be used to visualize requirements (and other elements) as they pass through the stages of an industry standard or proprietary process or methodology. The concept of Kanban has its origins in process efficiency analysis in the automotive industry in the latter years of 20th Century Japan. It has since then been adopted by a number of software and system communities as an effective way of managing requirements from the backlog or queue to their implementation. Enterprise Architect has a full and pragmatic implementation of Kanban that can support a number of different requirement processes.

In this diagram we see a number of columns that represent the stages in the requirements process, allowing elements to be dragged between columns - typically from left to right but occasionally elements can be returned to a Backlog, for example. The diagram is completely configurable by the engineer, allowing the number of columns and their names and a wide range of other aspects of the diagram to be configured, including Bound Properties, Work in Progress limits and colors to name a few.

It is also possible to show the progress that has been made on a particular requirement, by applying resource allocations and displaying each resource as a progress bar showing the percentage completion for the task. In this diagram we see a number of elements, one of which shows three resources working on the same element. For more information see the Kanban Boards Help topic.
