Requirements Traceability Task

A Requirements Traceability Task is a requirements management software engineering task that traces software artifacts to their originating software requirements and tracks requirement changes throughout the software development lifecycle.

• AKA: Requirements Traceability, Requirement Tracing Task, Traceability Analysis Task, Requirements Tracking Task, Requirements Lineage Task.
• Context:
  • It can typically discover Requirement Dependencies through dependency analysis methods.
  • It can typically assess Artifact Completeness through coverage verification.
  • It can typically measure Test Coverage through requirement-to-test mapping.
  • It can typically support Change Impact Assessments through traceability link analysis.
  • It can typically maintain Bidirectional Traceability through forward and backward linking.
  • ...
  • It can often improve Scope Management through requirement boundary definition.
  • It can often reduce Test Costs through targeted test planning.
  • It can often facilitate Compliance Verification through audit trail maintenance.
  • It can often enable Requirement Evolution Tracking through version control integration.
  • ...
  • It can range from being a Manual Requirements Traceability Task to being an Automated Requirements Traceability Task, depending on its traceability automation level.
  • It can range from being a Simple Requirements Traceability Task to being a Comprehensive Requirements Traceability Task, depending on its traceability coverage depth.
  • It can range from being a Document-Based Requirements Traceability Task to being a Tool-Based Requirements Traceability Task, depending on its traceability implementation method.
  • ...
  • It can utilize Requirements Management Tools for traceability automation.
  • It can produce Traceability Matrices for requirement relationship visualization.
  • It can follow Traceability Standards for consistency enforcement.
  • It can generate Traceability Reports for stakeholder communication.
  • It can integrate with ALM Tools for lifecycle management.
  • ...
• Example(s):
  • Forward Traceability Tasks, such as:
    • Requirement-to-Design Traceability Task that links requirement specifications to design elements.
    • Requirement-to-Code Traceability Task that maps requirements to source code modules.
    • Requirement-to-Test Traceability Task that connects requirements to test cases.
  • Backward Traceability Tasks, such as:
    • Code-to-Requirement Traceability Task that traces code components to originating requirements.
    • Test-to-Requirement Traceability Task that maps test results to requirement validation.
    • Defect-to-Requirement Traceability Task that links software defects to affected requirements.
  • Pre-RS Traceability Tasks, such as:
    • Business-to-System Requirements Traceability Task that traces business needs to system requirements.
    • Stakeholder-to-Requirement Traceability Task that maps stakeholder concerns to requirement specifications.
    • Goal-to-Requirement Traceability Task that links business goals to functional requirements.
  • Post-RS Traceability Tasks, such as:
    • Requirement-to-Implementation Traceability Task that tracks requirement realization.
    • Requirement-to-Validation Traceability Task that ensures requirement verification.
    • Requirement-to-Deployment Traceability Task that traces requirement fulfillment.
  • Compliance Traceability Tasks, such as:
    • Regulatory Requirements Traceability Task for safety-critical systems.
    • Security Requirements Traceability Task for secure software development.
    • Quality Standards Traceability Task for ISO compliance.
  • Change Management Traceability Tasks, such as:
    • Requirement Change Impact Analysis Task that assesses change propagation.
    • Requirement Version Traceability Task that tracks requirement evolution.
    • Requirement Baseline Traceability Task that maintains configuration baselines.
  • ...
• Counter-Example(s):
  • Requirements Elicitation Tasks, which gather new requirements rather than trace existing requirements.
  • Requirements Validation Tasks, which verify requirement correctness rather than track requirement linkages.
  • Code Documentation Tasks, which document code functionality rather than trace requirement origins.
  • Project Planning Tasks, which schedule development activities rather than map requirement relationships.
  • Test Execution Tasks, which run test cases rather than maintain requirement traceability.
• See: Requirements Management, Requirements Lifecycle, Software Development Task, Traceability Matrix, Requirements Management Tool, Change Impact Assessment, Software Configuration Management, Application Lifecycle Management, Requirements Engineering Task.

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References

2011

• (Wikipedia, 2011) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Requirements_traceability
  • Requirements traceability is a sub-discipline of requirements management within software development and systems engineering. Requirements traceability is concerned with documenting the life of a requirement and to provide bi-directional traceability between various associated requirements. It enables users to find the origin of each requirement and track every change which was made to this requirement. For this purpose, it may be necessary to document every change made to the requirement.

    It has been argued that even the use of the requirement after the implemented features have been deployed and used should be traceable.

• (Kerton, 2011) ⇒ Brenda Kerton. (2011). “Requirements Traceability: Why Bother." Software Quality Connection.
  • … There are three key reasons to add a requirements traceability practice:
    • 1. Improve scope management. ...
    • 2. Improve test coverage and test cost.
    • 3. Improve change impact assessment.

2005

• G. Spanoudakis, and A. Zisman. (2005). “Software Traceability: A Roadmap.” In: Handbook of Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering. World Scientific Publishing.

1998

• (Ramesh, 1998) ⇒ Balasubramaniam Ramesh. (1998). “Factors influencing requirements traceability practice.” In: Commun. ACM, 41(12). doi:10.1145/290133.290147

1993

• O. C. Z. Gotel, and C. W. Finkelstein. (1993). “An Analysis of the Requirements Traceability Problem.” In: Proceedings of the First International Conference on Requirements Engineering. doi:10.1109/ICRE.1994.292398
  • ABSTRACT: Investigates and discusses the underlying nature of the requirements traceability problem. Our work is based on empirical studies, involving over 100 practitioners, and an evaluation of current support. We introduce the distinction between pre-requirements specification (pre-RS) traceability and post-requirements specification (post-RS) traceability to demonstrate why an all-encompassing solution to the problem is unlikely, and to provide a framework through which to understand its multifaceted nature. We report how the majority of the problems attributed to poor requirements traceability are due to inadequate pre-RS traceability and show the fundamental need for improvements. We present an analysis of the main barriers confronting such improvements in practice, identify relevant areas in which advances have been (or can be) made, and make recommendations for research

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