Traceability is about understanding how high-level requirements
(objectives, goals, aims, aspirations, expectations, needs) are transformed
into low-level requirements, how they are implemented, and how they are verified.
Using traceability can provide the following benefits [HUL05]:
- Greater confidence in meeting objectives
Establishing traceability engenders greater reflection on how objectives
are satisfied. Traceability permits coverage analysis to ensure that
everything you have done everything that you agreed to do and only what you
agreed to do.
- Ability to assess the impact of change
Traceability permits various forms of impact analysis that can be used to
assess the impact of a proposed change on the cost, schedule, and technical
aspects of the project.
Traceability provides greater clarity about how work contributes to the
whole.
- Ability to track progress
It is notoriously difficult to measure progress when all that you are doing
is creating and revising artifacts. Traceability processes allow precise measures
of progress, such as: Is there a design artifact for each requirement? Is
there a test case for each requirement?.
- Ability to balance cost against benefit
Relating product components to the requirements allows you to compare benefits
to costs.
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