Requirements traceability for regulated products

You're building something regulated. Don't let the paperwork slow you down.

QOPR builds the documentation your product legally requires, from your first user requirement to your final verification record, and keeps every link connected so a small edit stays a small edit. Built for medical devices, CE-marked hardware, functional safety, and any product where traceability is the standard.

Aligned with ISO 13485 IEC 61508 CE Marking ISO 26262
NeedIPP-UR-003
SpecIPP-PR-014
ProofIPP-VER-031
Works for teams building to ISO 13485Medical devices 21 CFR 820FDA design controls IEC 61508Functional safety ISO 26262Automotive CE MarkingEU technical file IEC 62304Software lifecycle AS9100Aerospace
Why regulated product documentation is hard

Building a regulated product means building two things: the product, and the proof that it works.

In most industries, a good product is enough. In regulated industries, that's not enough on its own. Regulators, standards bodies, and customers require documented evidence that you defined what your product needed to do, designed it to meet those needs, and proved it works as intended, before it ever ships, gets certified, or reaches an end user.

In medical devices, that documentation package is called a Design History File (DHF), required under FDA 21 CFR Part 820 and ISO 13485. In other industries it goes by different names: a Technical File for CE marking, a Safety Case for IEC 61508, a Design Dossier for automotive. The structure is the same. The consequence of not having it is the same: your product can't be cleared, certified, or sold.

Most first-time developers discover the documentation requirement somewhere between "great prototype" and "we need to submit." By that point, rebuilding months of undocumented design decisions is painful. Starting early changes everything.

The teams that struggle with audits are the ones who tried to reconstruct their design history after the fact. The ones who pass built it alongside the product.
Understanding the Design History File

What is a Design History File, and what goes in it?

A Design History File is the complete record of how your product was designed. It exists to answer the question regulators will eventually ask: "How do you know this product does what you say it does?" In medical devices it's called a DHF. In other industries the same concept appears as a Technical File, Safety Case, or Design Dossier. Whatever it's called, a complete record typically includes:

Required by ISO 13485, IEC 61508, CE Marking & more
UR

User Requirements

What problems does your product solve? Who uses it, and under what conditions? The needs your product must meet, written down before you design anything.

PR

Product Requirements

How will your product meet those user needs? Specific, testable design inputs: dimensions, performance specs, software behaviors, material properties.

OUT

Design Outputs

The actual design: drawings, schematics, software architecture, material specs. The things you build from.

HAZ

Risk Analysis (Hazards)

What could go wrong? How likely, and how severe? Regulatory standards require a structured hazard analysis (often called a DFMEA) that links risks back to your requirements.

VER

Verification Records

Proof that your design outputs meet your product requirements: test data, inspection results, and analysis reports, linked to the specific requirements they verify.

VAL

Validation

Proof that your finished product actually meets your user's needs in real-world conditions. The end of the traceability chain.

QOPR gives each of these a structured home, and keeps them connected. Change one thing, and every linked record reflects it.

How QOPR works

Requirements that know where they came from, and where they need to go.

The hardest part of regulated documentation isn't writing any single document. It's keeping all of them connected as your design evolves. QOPR models the connections between every element, so your trace matrix stays current without a separate documentation effort.

Small changes stay small.

Edit a product requirement and your trace matrix updates instantly. Change a verification record and every requirement linked to it reflects the update. QOPR pulls every edit through the whole connected structure, so a one-line change never becomes a documentation project.

  • Forward & backward trace. Every requirement shows what it links to and what verifies it, in both directions, always current.
  • Gaps are visible. A product requirement with no verification record shows up here long before it becomes an audit finding.
  • One-click export. Generate the full matrix as a formatted Word document for your submission, on demand.
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Trace Matrix
Search… Export to Word
User Req.Product RequirementSub-Req.Verification
IPP-UR-003IPP-PR-014
Basal rate programmable 0.05–5.0 U/hr.
IPP-SW-022IPP-VER-031
IPP-UR-003IPP-PR-015
Occlusion alarmed within 30 minutes.
IPP-HW-009IPP-VER-033
IPP-UR-007IPP-PR-021
Adhesive maintains seal for 72 hours.
IPP-HW-014IPP-VAL-008
IPP-UR-011IPP-PR-027
Bolus delivery accurate to ±5% of set dose.
IPP-SW-031– pending –
4 of 14 rows · Generated just now
01: Define

Define

Capture user requirements, product requirements, and sub-requirements with structured IDs your auditors recognize.

02: Link

Link

Connect requirements to design outputs, hazards, and verification records as your design matures. QOPR enforces the links, not a convention in a spreadsheet no one updates.

03: Trace

Trace

Generate a complete trace matrix at any time showing every requirement, what it links to, and whether it's been verified. Forward and backward. Always current.

Live linking

Connect requirements the moment you write them.

Open any requirement and link it to the user needs it satisfies, the sub-requirements it breaks down into, and the records that verify it, from one panel, with live search. No copying IDs between spreadsheet tabs.

Because links are stored as real relationships and not text in a cell, your trace matrix, coverage gaps, and Word exports all stay in sync automatically.

  • Bidirectional by design. Link once; it shows up on both records, forever in sync.
  • Search as you link. Filter hundreds of requirements down to the one you mean in a keystroke.
Link sub-requirements to
IPP-PR-014Basal rate programmable 0.05–5.0 U/hr
IPP-SW-022Software · SafetyController enforces maximum basal rate limit at 5.0 U/hr.
IPP-SW-024Software · FunctionalRate adjustable in 0.05 U/hr increments via UI.
IPP-HW-018HardwarePump motor resolution supports 0.05 U increments.
IPP-SW-030Software · AuditEvery basal-rate change is timestamped and logged.
2 of 4 linkedDone
How teams usually manage this

Most teams start with spreadsheets. All teams regret it.

There's nothing wrong with starting in Excel or a shared doc. Everyone does. But as your device design evolves and your DHF grows, the cracks appear: links break, versions diverge, and nobody's sure which trace matrix is current.

And if you try to build something more structured, the setup time alone becomes a project:

Excel / Google Sheets
40+ hrs setup
Free software, your time isn't
Jira + Confluence
$5k–15k setup
Weeks of config + consultant fees
Dedicated QMS platforms
$500–2k/mo
Enterprise QMS, enterprise price
QOPR
$29/mo
Whole team. Ready in minutes.
Spreadsheets & DocsGeneral tools (Jira, Confluence)QOPR
Structured requirement IDs
Native traceability linkswith plugins
Auto-generated trace matrix
Exportable finished documents
Built for regulated products
Setup time for compliant use40+ hoursWeeks + $5–15kMinutes
Starting costFree software, your time$8–15/user/mo + setup$29/mo flat

QOPR isn't a workaround. It's what a requirements system looks like when it's designed for regulated products from the start.

Who uses QOPR

Any team that has to prove their product works the way they said it would.

Requirements traceability isn't unique to medical devices. Across regulated industries, the same challenge exists: documented evidence connecting what you designed, why you designed it that way, and how you verified it. QOPR is built for that problem, whatever the standard requires.

MDx

Medical Devices

FDA 21 CFR Part 820, ISO 13485, IEC 62304 (software), ISO 14971 (risk). The Design History File is the gold standard for requirements traceability. QOPR is built around it.

CE

CE Marking (EU)

Machinery Directive, Low Voltage Directive, Radio Equipment Directive. A CE technical file requires the same structure as a DHF: intended use, risk analysis, design specs, and test evidence.

FS

Functional Safety

IEC 61508, ISO 13849, EN 50128. Functional safety standards explicitly require requirements traceability from safety functions down through design and verification.

AUTO

Automotive

ISO 26262, ASPICE, IATF 16949. Tier 2 and 3 suppliers face the same documentation burden as OEMs but rarely have the budget for enterprise ASPICE tools. QOPR gives them a structured start.

SW

Software & SaMD

IEC 62304, EU AI Act. Software as a Medical Device and high-risk AI systems require requirements traceability from intended use through architecture and testing.

AES

Aerospace & Defense

AS9100, DO-178C, DO-254. Small aerospace suppliers and defense subcontractors are held to the same traceability standards as primes, without the same tooling budget. QOPR fills that gap.

Simple, transparent pricing

$29 per month. Whole team. Everything included.

One flat price for your entire organization: no per-seat fees, no feature tiers, no surprises. Everything you need to build and maintain a complete design history from day one.

QOPR: Full Access
$29/ month
Entire team · Unlimited products · Cancel anytime
  • User requirements, product requirements, sub-requirements
  • Risk analysis and hazard entries (DFMEA-style)
  • Verification records and test protocols
  • Auto-generated trace matrix, always current
  • Export-ready documents for any QMS or audit
  • Role-based access for your whole team
  • Multiple products under one organization
Get Early Access

Early access pricing. No commitment required.

Where QOPR fits in your process

Every stage of development. One connected record.

ISO 13485, IEC 61508, ISO 26262, and similar standards all require documented evidence at every stage of product development, from the first definition of user needs through risk analysis, design, and final verification. QOPR maps directly to that lifecycle, so your documentation structure matches what regulators expect.

1

User Needs

IPP-UR-001

Captured as User Requirements: what your product must do and for whom.

2

Risk Analysis

IPP-HAZ-002

DFMEA-style hazard entries linked to requirements: what could go wrong and how you address it.

3

Product Requirements

IPP-PR-014

Specific, testable design inputs: how your product meets those needs.

4

Design Outputs

IPP-OUT-006

Records capturing design decisions: drawings, specs, software architecture.

5

Verification & Validation

IPP-VER-031

Test protocols and records linked back to requirements. Proof it works.

When a regulator asks for your design history, QOPR generates the trace. You just print it.

Works with what you already have

You don't need a QMS to keep a good design history. QOPR generates the records.

A common misconception is that proper design documentation requires an enterprise Quality Management System. It doesn't. What it requires is that your records exist, are organized, and show the links between requirements and evidence. QOPR handles all of that.

When you're ready, QOPR exports your trace matrix, requirement specifications, verification summaries, and hazard analysis as finished, formatted documents. You can attach them to a regulatory submission, upload them to any QMS as records, print them for a paper file, or hand them directly to an auditor. The structure regulators expect is already built in.

If you do use a QMS, QOPR fits alongside it. Think of QOPR as where your requirements live and your traceability is maintained, and your QMS as the filing cabinet. They don't compete.

Export at any stage

Generate finished documents whenever you need them: before an audit, at a design review milestone, or when filing a submission. No reformatting, no manual assembly.

Fits any QMS, or none

Bring QOPR exports into any QMS platform or a shared drive. Or skip the QMS entirely and file the documents in a binder. The records are yours in a format that works anywhere.

Paper records are fine

Many early-stage teams still keep paper records. QOPR works the same way: build and trace your requirements digitally, then print the outputs and file them. You get the structure without the overhead.

29Q

Start building your design history the right way, while you still can.

QOPR is in active development and onboarding early teams. If you're building a regulated product and want documentation that grows with your design instead of catching up to it, we'd love to have you in.

Built for regulated product development. No commitment required.