A trace relationship is a special directional dependency relationship between two content items; for example, a trace between documents and content of different types. Trace relationships are configured by your administrator and are comprised of an upstream trace and a downstream trace. To create a trace relationship, you only need to specify the start and end points; the specific relationship is created automatically if it has been configured by your administrator.

To learn more about trace relationships in the context of other document relationships, see Relationships in the Document Model.

For example, John is working on requirements document ABC and creates a change order requesting work. Bob, a manager, assigns the change order to test suite document XYZ. Dan, another analyst, modifies test suite document XYZ to satisfy the change order, then creates traces back to requirements document ABC to illustrate how the changes reflect the requirements stated in the originating document.

There can be multiple traces to or from the same content. Like other fields on content items, reverse trace relationship fields can only be updated if the content is editable.