Patent ID: 8196100

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; a memory coupled to the at least one processor; and a content management system residing in the memory and executed by the at least one processor, the content management system comprising: a code repository; a design document repository that includes a plurality of design documents that each specify design for corresponding code in the code repository; traceability rules that specify traceable methods in the code, wherein all methods in the code that are not traceable methods are non-traceable methods; a traceability update mechanism residing in the memory and executed by the at least one processor, the traceability update mechanism detects a change in code in the code repository, determines from the traceability rules traceable methods in the code and non-traceable methods in the code, determines whether the change to the code in the code repository is a change to a traceable method, and when the change to the code in the code repository is a change to a traceable method, determining at least one design document in the design document repository that corresponds to the changed code in the code repository, reads a traceability update policy to determine a first action to perform when the change in the code is detected and to determine whether to indicate the traceable methods in a display to a user, and performs the first action when the change in the code is detected, and when the change to the code in the repository is a change to a non-traceable method, not changing any design document in the design document repository; and a plug-in that visually indicates in the display to the user the traceable methods in the code when the traceability policy specifies to indicate the traceable methods in the display to the user.