Polarion – the new plug-in for the ReQonsult MATLAB Connector

The Gap Everyone Knows

Requirements are managed in Polarion, and models in MATLAB. To synchronize the two, exports, spreadsheets, or custom scripts are required. However, these methods often fail or become outdated. Maintaining them takes time that engineers should actually be spending on design work.

There are alternatives, such as ReqIF exchange between ALM/PLM systems and the MATLAB Requirements Toolbox. However, this is not a solution for day-to-day work because you have to manually move files back and forth and reconcile links and deletions—which simply shifts the workload to someone else’s desk.

ReQonsult’s MATLAB integrations bridge this gap. For example, you can link your MATLAB and Simulink artifacts directly to Polarion work items, thereby ensuring full traceability within Polarion.

Polarion Integration at a Glance

One Click to Connect

Add a Polarion server in the Server Configuration dialog you already know. Enter the server URL and a Personal Access Token, validate, and you’re in. Multiple projects on the same server are available immediately — no extra setup.

You can configure multiple Polarion servers (e.g. internal + customer-facing. To get step-by-step help retrieving a Personal Access Token (PAT) from Polarion, you can use the AI assistant.

Figure 1: Server Configuration: The Polarion server was added alongside other systems. The project filter ensures that the focus is on links and imports.

ReQonsult MATLAB Connector

The ReQonsult MATLAB Connector connects MATLAB to ALM/PLM systems and enables bidirectional traceability. Requirements, tests, and changes are efficiently linked—which saves a significant amount of time.

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Set up Preferences for the Connector Behavior

Connector behavior is controlled by preferences, including configuration of surrogates, debug verbosity, and data model mapping. For teams, this also offers a team-wide baseline with room for local overrides.

Figure 2: System-agnostic preferences

Figure 3: Polarion-specific preferences

Figure 4: Team-centralized settings

Import What You Actually Need

Open the Import dialog and browse your Polarion server like a file tree. Projects expand to reveal:

• Documents: organised by space, preserving heading hierarchy

• Collections: curated cross-project item sets with optional revision pinning

• Work Item Types: query-based flat imports by type (requirements, test cases, risks, …)

The imported ReqSet mirrors the document structure: heading depth, item order, and type classification. Headings become containers. Configure Container and Informational types to match your MATLAB setup.

All standard Polarion field types are supported. Enumerations resolve to readable labels; standard and custom fields come in via the configurable Fields to Import list.

Select Document or Query to import to Simulink Requirements or to preview in System Browser

Figure 5: Import dialog: Polarion projects with documents, collections, and work item types

The imported ReqSet mirrors the document structure: heading depth, item order, and type classification. Headings become containers. Configure Container and Informational types to match your MATLAB setup.

All standard Polarion field types are supported. Enumerations resolve to readable labels; standard and custom fields come in via the configurable Fields to Import list.

Frozen Items and Document Baselines

If a document contains revision-pinned (frozen) items, the ReqSet preserves each pinned revision. You’ll see a revision indicator; content reflects the exact state at that revision — not today’s head.

Importing a baselined document (URL with ?revision=N) brings in the document as it existed then. Items added or removed since the baseline appear or disappear accordingly — baseline comparisons stay straightforward.

Link Directly — No Import Required

Link MATLAB artefacts to Polarion items without importing first. Keep the Direct Linking dialog open, select diagram objects, and link to Polarion artefacts. Pick the context (document, query, etc.) when you click “Open view for Direct Linking” in the “Select to Import” dialog.

Figure 6: Direct Linking dialog

Register an URL with your favorite content

You’re not obligated to use the nodes from the project hierarchy for import or direct linking. Instead, you can simply register any appropriate URL from Polarion. For instance, you can create a filter on a table view or select a baseline for a document. Begin by importing or directly linking from here.

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Push Traceability Back to Polarion

This is where the integration stops being read-only. Need Polarion reports showing which requirements your team implemented — or how Simulink objects and System Composer architectures are reused? Push linking information from MATLAB with Update Backlinks. You create forward links in MATLAB; Polarion reflects them on the other side.

Surrogate Work Items — Traceability Both Teams Can See

Link Simulink blocks (or System Composer components) to Polarion requirements and run Update Backlinks. The Connector creates surrogate work items in Polarion — one per linked MATLAB artefact. Each surrogate contains:

• The MATLAB artefact name and a diagram screenshot (auto-updated on every backlink push)

• A hyperlink back to the live model (opens at the correct block)

• Work-item links to every requirement the artefact traces to

One block, many requirements: one surrogate, three outgoing links. Many blocks, one requirement: three surrogates, each with its own hyperlink. The mapping stays correct from both sides.

Figure 7: A surrogate item in Polarion

Your Link Semantics, Carried Over

MATLAB’s Requirements Toolbox assigns link semantics — Relate, Implement, Verify, Derive, and more. ReQonsult maps these directly to Polarion link roles.

Fully configurable: Send Implement links to an implements role, Verify links to a verifies role — so traceability reports reflect what you actually mean.

Figure 8: Map MATLAB links to Polarion link roles

Incremental Sync — No Duplicate Surrogates

Running Update Backlinks does not blindly recreate everything. ReQonsult:

1. Finds existing surrogates by MATLAB URL — not by name. Rename a block; no duplicate appears.

2. Updates only what changed — title, description, attachment, or link roles.

3. Cleans up orphans — delete a block or remove all links, and its surrogate disappears from Polarion.

Surrogates survive renames, repositioning, and property changes. The hyperlink back to MATLAB stays stable.

Project Updater: New Release

With Release 2607 of our Polarion Project Updater, you can manage Polarion templates from creation through rollout. This release combines centralized template management, clear conflict resolution, and secure updates.

Read the press release

Refresh Keeps MATLAB Current

Traceability runs both ways. When a requirement changes in Polarion — title, status, new item, deleted item — click Refresh in MATLAB to re-fetch and update the ReqSet:

• New items appear in the hierarchy

• Deleted items are removed

• Changed items are flagged as suspected if already linked to MATLAB artefacts

Suspected links are native to the Requirements Toolbox: they signal that the requirement changed after linking. Review whether the design still satisfies the update. ReQonsult sets this flag automatically.

Configurable for Polarion

Every team’s Polarion setup differs. The Preferences dialog gives per-server control over the behaviour that matters most:

Setting	Purpose
Fields to Import	Which Polarion fields appear as ReqSet attributes (comma-separated display labels)
Container Work Item Types	Structural container types (e.g. heading, folder) that roll up implementation and verification stats
Information Work Item Types	Default Work Item Type for Surrogate
Polarion work item type for MATLAB surrogates	Polarion work item type for MATLAB surrogates
Type Mapping for Surrogates	As an extension to the default, map MATLAB object types to specific Polarion work item types
Default Link Role for Surrogate	Fallback link role when no mapping is set
Link Type Mapping	Map MATLAB link types to Polarion link roles
Hyperlink Role	Hyperlink role label for back-navigation links
Simplified Attachment Comparison	Compare attachments by size for faster sync; disable for CRC-based comparison

Jump from MATLAB to Polarion in One Click

Every imported requirement has an Open the Item on the Server action. It opens the work item in Polarion — correct project, document, and item. For frozen items, navigation opens the pinned revision. Cross-project references navigate to the source project, not the importing one.

Tested Against Real-World Scenarios

Given the complexity of the solution, including integration with various ALMs, diverse architectures, and workflows, we prioritized test automatization.

We rigorously tested the integration against over 50 distinct end-to-end scenarios, encompassing import, linking, MATLAB and Polarion changes, synchronization, configuration, end-to-end round trips, and infrastructure elements like authentication, pagination, and concurrency. In total, the platform incorporates over 1,400 unit and functional tests.

Getting Started

• Install the ReQonsult Toolbox in MATLAB (double-click ReQonsult.mltbx or run from the context menu).

• Open a model in Simulink

• Switch to the toolstrip

• Open Server Configurations and add a Polarion server (URL + PAT)

• Open Select Data for Linking, browse to your document or query, and click Import To Simulink

• Create links from model blocks to requirements via the Requirements Toolbox perspective (Open Requirements View in the ReQonsult toolstrip)

• Click Update Backlinks — surrogates appear in Polarion

The Polarion integration is included in the standard ReQonsult license for Polarion-enabled configurations. Contact us to activate or request a trial.

About the Author

Nick Entin He is Head of Research & Development at ReQonsult and an internationally recognized expert in application lifecycle management and software development. As one of the key architects behind Siemens Polarion, he combines decades of experience with strategic foresight and a keen sense for future-proof product development.

You can learn more about the ReQonsult MATLAB Connector on our product page.

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