Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) places system architecture at the center of the engineering process. However, architecture models alone are not sufficient: they must remain connected to the broader engineering ecosystem, including requirements management, verification, testing, and change management tools. Without this integration, stakeholders risk working with disconnected information, reducing traceability and collaboration.
To address this challenge, Obeo and Jama Software introduced a new integration between Capella and Jama Connect through Publication for Capella. The solution enables architecture models and requirements to remain connected while preserving each tool as the single source of truth for its own data.
Several challenges must be overcome to establish an effective digital thread between system architecture and requirements management.
Maintaining End-to-End Traceability: Architecture elements must remain linked to requirements, test cases, change requests, and other engineering artifacts throughout the project lifecycle.
Avoiding Data Duplication: Traditional integrations often rely on importing or duplicating data between repositories. This creates synchronization issues, uncertainty about data ownership, and increased maintenance costs.
Making Architecture Accessible: Capella models should be available not only to system architects but also to project managers, verification engineers, and other stakeholders who do not use modeling tools on a daily basis.
Supporting Large Engineering Projects: The solution must scale efficiently to large models and distributed engineering teams without compromising performance.
Publication for Capella acts as a bridge between Capella and Jama Connect. Rather than copying information between repositories, it maintains traceability links while allowing each platform to manage its own data.
Capella models are published to a web server where authorized users can browse the complete architecture using only a web browser. The published model preserves the Capella project structure, diagrams, semantic information, documentation, and navigation capabilities, while adding features such as full-text search, history management, baselines, and access control.
The integration also enables direct traceability between Capella elements and Jama artifacts. Requirements, test cases, issues, or other Jama items can be linked to functions, components, diagrams, or any other relevant architectural element. These relationships remain synchronized across both environments, allowing users to navigate seamlessly between architecture and requirements without duplicating data.
The webinar demonstrated the integration using a telescope system modeled in Capella together with a Jama Connect project containing functional requirements.
Requirements were linked directly to logical functions using a simple drag-and-drop operation from Jama into Capella. The resulting traceability links became immediately available within the Capella model and, after publication, were also visible through the web interface and from Jama itself.
The presenters also demonstrated bidirectional navigation between the two environments. Users could open a requirement from Capella, navigate to its corresponding Jama page, and return directly to the associated architectural element. Link deletion and synchronization mechanisms ensured that both repositories remained consistent while allowing systems engineers to validate changes before updating their models.
Beyond requirements, the same mechanism was applied to test cases. Test cases were linked to functional chains, and associated Capella diagrams were automatically attached to Jama items, providing testers with direct access to the architecture supporting each verification activity.
Finally, Python for Capella was used to generate traceability coverage reports, illustrating how engineering teams can automatically assess requirement coverage and identify missing links within the architecture. Benefits
By combining Publication for Capella and Jama Connect, organizations can establish a true digital thread between requirements and architecture while preserving a single source of truth for each engineering repository.
The solution improves collaboration across multidisciplinary teams, simplifies navigation between engineering artifacts, supports automated reporting through Python for Capella and M2Doc, and provides secure web access to architecture models without requiring Capella installations.