System Design Description

Predefined Standard Reports

From the Simulink® Toolstrip, you can generate two predefined, standard Simulink Report Generator™ reports called:

  • System Design Description

  • System Requirements Traceability

The System Design Description report provides summary or detailed information about a system design represented by a model. You can choose report options using the report dialog box, or you can create a customized version using the Report Explorer. For details, see Generate System Design Description Reports.

You can use the System Design Description report setup file as a starting point for creating a setup file for your own report. For more information, see Print Model Reports.

The System Requirements Traceability report requires that you have Requirements Toolbox™ installed. The System Requirements Traceability report includes information about all the requirements associated with the model and its objects.

Follow these steps to generate the System Requirements Traceability report from the Simulink Toolstrip:

  1. If the Requirements tab is not available, on the Apps tab, in the Model Verification, Validation, and Test section, click Requirements Manager.

  2. On the Requirements tab, in the Share section, click Share > Generate Model Traceability Report.

What Is the System Design Description?

The System Design Description is a prebuilt Simulink Report Generator report that describes the system design represented by a Simulink model.

By default, the Simulink Report Generator generates the report for the model from which you invoke the System Design Description report option.

What You Can Do with the Report

You can use the System Design Description to

  • Review a system design without having the model open

  • Generate summary and detailed descriptions of the design

  • Assess compliance with design requirements

  • Archive the system design in a format independent of the modeling environment

  • Build a customized version of the report, using the Report Explorer

Report Contents

You can specify what kinds of information to include in the report, in terms of:

  • What elements of a model to include in the report (for example, whether to include subsystems from custom libraries)

  • Whether to generate a summary version or a detailed version of the System Design Description report by selecting the Design details checkbox.

For details, see Generate System Design Description Reports.

Summary Version

The summary version of the report includes these sections:

SectionInformation
Report Overview

Model version

Root System

  • Block diagram snapshot that represents the algorithms that compute root system outputs

    Note

    The block diagram snapshot displays the signal sample time, data type, and dimension displays only if the model displays this information. To display this information, in the model, in the Debug tab, in the Diagnostics section, expand Information Overlays and select Colors, Base Data Types, and Signal Dimensions.

  • Description

  • Notes (since R2025a)

  • Interface: The name, data type, and other properties of the system input and output signals

  • Stateflow charts, including:

    • Stateflow diagram snapshot

    • Notes (since R2025a)

Subsystems

  • The information in the Root System section

  • Path of the subsystem in the model

System Design Variables

  • Design variables

  • Functions in design variable expressions

Requirements

  • Model information

  • Document summary for requirement documents linked in model

Detailed Version

The detailed version of the report includes all the information that is in the summary form of the report, as well as more information about the system components.

SectionInformation
Report Overview

Model version

Root system

  • Block diagram snapshot that represents the algorithms that compute root system outputs

    Note

    The block diagram snapshot displays the signal sample time, data type, and dimension displays only if the model displays this information. To display this information, in the model, in the Debug tab, in the Diagnostics section, expand Information Overlays and select Colors, Base Data Types and Signal Dimensions.

  • Description

  • Notes (since R2025a)

  • Interface: The name, data type, and other properties of the root system input and output signals

  • Blocks

    • Block parameters

    • Detailed information about MATLAB Function blocks

    • Block execution order for the root system and atomic subsystems

  • Look-up tables

  • Simulink workspace variables

  • Model configuration sets

  • Stateflow charts, including:

    • Stateflow diagram snapshot

    • Notes (since R2025a)

    • States

    • Transitions between the states

    • Junctions

    • Events that trigger state transitions

    • Data types

    • Targets

    • Truth tables

Subsystems

The same information as the root system, as well as:

  • Path of the subsystem in the model

  • Referenced models

  • Subsystems from custom libraries

  • For atomic subsystems, the checksum that indicates whether the version of an atomic subsystem that generates the report differs from other versions of the subsystem

System Design Variables

  • Design variables

  • Functions in design variable expressions

  • Enumeration types

Requirements

  • Model information

  • Document summary for requirement documents linked in model

Report Captures Documentation Included in a Model

The System Design Description reports documentation included in a model, including:

  • The model description (from the model properties)

  • The block property Description

  • DocBlock model documentation blocks

To enrich the generated System Design Description, add corresponding information in the model.