Section 10
Traceability and Lineage
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10.1 Traceability is structural #
Traceability of Obligations must be embedded in the structure of the System description itself, through identifiers, naming, and placement. Any index, matrix, or ledger used for traceability must be derived from those embedded links rather than maintained alongside them. A mapping artifact maintained by hand, which can drift from the structure it describes, is prohibited. [GP-55]
10.2 Bidirectional traceability #
Traceability must be bidirectional: from any Obligation up to its parent Obligations and down to the Realization elements and Verification Procedures that satisfy it. Verification and validation must be traced separately. Completeness of traceability is itself a checkable property (§16). [GP-56]
10.3 Versioned input lineage #
Every input artifact that influences a result must be versioned, and the result must reference the exact versions of the inputs used. The conditions that produced any result must be reconstructable from the Project Record alone, and the result must be reproducible wherever the Verification Procedure that produced it is itself repeatable. [GP-57]
10.4 The realization system is traced like the System #
The realization system (the processes, supply chain, support, etc. that produce and support the Realization) must be described with the same rigor as the System. A change in the System description and a change in the description of the realization system must be traceable against each other in one connected record. [GP-58]