An analysis of the requirements traceability problem

In this paper1, we investigate and discuss 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 here. In the remainder of the paper, 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

Extended requirements traceability: results of an industrial case study

Contribution structures offer a way to model the network of people who have participated in the requirements engineering process. They further provide the opportunity to extend conventional forms of artifact-based requirements traceability with the traceability of contributing personnel. In this paper, we describe a case study that investigated the modeling and use of contribution structures in an industrial project. In particular, we demonstrate how they made it possible to answer previously unanswerable questions about the human source(s) of requirements. In so doing, we argue that this information addresses problems currently attributed to inadequate requirements traceability

Economic Evaluation of Food Traceability Systems through Reference Models

Food supply chains complexity present a real challenge to perform economic evaluation of food traceability systems and their innovation/upgrades. In order to perform a supply chain wide economic evaluation a conceptual framework is developed using food traceability reference models. Reference models allow interaction with chain members’ requirements that come from legal and/or customer sources. The paper demonstrates how the requirements will have a definite effect on the costs and design of food traceability systems through the resources they demand. Even though this is a first step into addressing the challenge, more investigation is needed to clarify the boundaries of the two requirements and their economic effects on food traceability systems and their innovations/upgrades.Food traceability, Food traceability systems, Reference models, Economic evaluation., Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Industrial Organization,

Contribution structures

The invisibility of the individuals and groups that gave rise to requirements artifacts has been identified as a primary reason for the persistence of requirements traceability problems. This paper presents an approach, based on modelling the dynamic contribution structures underlying requirements artifacts, which addresses this issue. We show how these structures can be defined, using information about the agents who have contributed to artifact production, in conjunction with details of the numerous traceability relations that hold within and between artifacts themselves. We describe a scheme, derived from work in sociolinguistics, which can be used to indicate the capacities in which agents contribute. We then show how this information can be used to infer details about the social roles and commitments of agents with respect to their various contributions and to each other. We further propose a categorisation for artifact-based traceability relations and illustrate how they impinge on the identification and definition of these structures. Finally, we outline how this approach can be implemented and supported by tools, explain the means by which requirements change can be accommodated in the corresponding contribution structures, and demonstrate the potential it provides for "personnel-based" requirements traceability

Traceability and AOSD - From Requirements to Aspects

The traceability question is addressed through the development of a framework to go from requirements to aspects using the Design by Contract methodology. It is demonstrated that by starting at the requirements stage, and specifying an early aspect in the same semi-formal language as the system's existing requirements, we have the basis from which to design the aspects at the implementation stage. The language of pre- and post-conditions is shown to match closely that of aspects, in that pre-conditions match the aspect's pointcut, and the post-condition matches the advice part of the aspect. This thus gives us traceability from 'early aspects' to 'late aspects'. This approach will shed some light on the relationship between requirements and their refinements to pre- and post conditions, and the traceability of requirements in the face of reuse over time. The addition of a new crosscutting requirement is investigated in terms of the framework, demonstrating the relationship between early and late aspects and traceability. The framework promises to help with the design of the late aspects. We propose the concept of relevancy: information in a requirement beyond its specification as pre- and post-conditions, as a way of identifying join points

Why and How Your Traceability Should Evolve: Insights from an Automotive Supplier

Traceability is a key enabler of various activities in automotive software and systems engineering and required by several standards. However, most existing traceability management approaches do not consider that traceability is situated in constantly changing development contexts involving multiple stakeholders. Together with an automotive supplier, we analyzed how technology, business, and organizational factors raise the need for flexible traceability. We present how traceability can be evolved in the development lifecycle, from early elicitation of traceability needs to the implementation of mature traceability strategies. Moreover, we shed light on how traceability can be managed flexibly within an agile team and more formally when crossing team borders and organizational borders. Based on these insights, we present requirements for flexible tool solutions, supporting varying levels of data quality, change propagation, versioning, and organizational traceability.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, accepted in IEEE Softwar

Change Impact Analysis for SysML Requirements Models based on Semantics of Trace Relations

Change impact analysis is one of the applications of requirements traceability in software engineering community. In this paper, we focus on requirements and requirements relations from traceability perspective. We provide formal definitions of the requirements relations in SysML for change impact analysis. Our approach aims at keeping the model synchronized with what stakeholders want to be modeled, and possibly implemented as well, which we called as the domain. The differences between the domain and model are defined as external inconsistencies. The inconsistencies are propagated for the whole model by using the formalization of relations, and mapped to proposed model changes. We provide tool support which is a plug-in of the commercial visual software modeler BluePrint