Use the Workbench

Start with a question, not a canvas. Architect is most useful when you can say what you need to review—for example, “which control mitigates this hazard?” or “does this requirement have verification evidence?” Then choose the smallest view that can answer it.

Orient yourself

The workbench gives the same model three complementary entry points:

Area	Use it for	Good first action
Model Explorer (top nav)	Find elements by layer, kind, or name	Open one known requirement, function, or hazard
Viewpoints (top nav)	Select an ontology-defined viewpoint and one of its views	Choose context, risk, requirements, or verification
Main view	Read the selected diagram, table, or analysis	Follow one relationship at a time
Details and findings	Inspect attributes, links, and validation messages	Decide whether a gap is real, intentional, or a modeling error

The top navigation also carries Documents, Use Cases, Ontology, Import, and a Tools menu holding the cross-cutting analyses (Design Structure Matrix, Traceability Matrix, Statistics Dashboard, Compliance Wizard, and Model Diff).

A five-minute review

Use the included GPCA model and trace a single patient-bolus concern.

1. In the Model Explorer, open needSafeTherapy.
2. Read its outgoing and incoming relationships. They explain why the need is present and what claims depend on it.
3. Switch to a requirements or functional view to see the design response.
4. Switch to a risk view to find the related hazard and control.
5. Switch to verification coverage to see whether the requirement has an associated verification case and evidence.

If a view becomes crowded, return to the selected element and ask a narrower question. A crowded diagram is a sign to change the lens, not to add another copy of the model.

Explore the current vocabulary

Open the Ontology tab when you are unsure which element kind or relationship belongs in a model. It shows the vocabulary selected by the project's active profile; it is a reference, not a second place to author project meaning.

Find dependencies and gaps

Tools → Design Structure Matrix highlights dependency patterns. Use it to prepare a technical discussion, then return to the connected elements to understand the engineering reason for a dependency.

The Problems area reports validation and consistency findings. Treat each finding as a review prompt: inspect the affected source and decide whether to add missing information, correct a relationship, or document an explicit scope boundary.

Optional assistance

Where a provider is configured, the AI Tools section under the DHF tab can help query or draft model content. Review generated text and all source changes as carefully as any other engineering input; assistance does not approve a requirement, risk control, or evidence claim.

The assistant cannot write to the model on its own. Edits it suggests are staged as proposals and are written only when you approve them. See Intelligence & AI for setup and behaviour, and AI Coding Tools (MCP) to use the model from Cursor or Claude Code.