What Is Traceability?
TRACEABILITY
Traceability is likely an important part of your job if your organization produces
something that requires you to keep track of specs, changes, requests, results, and
versions, Yet considering how many companies still track requirements manually, and how
many development teams use disparate systems for application lifecycle management, the
benefits of traceability may not be widely understood.
Let’s go over what traceability means, how it is used in various parts of development,
and the purpose it serves for each.
What Traceability Is and Why it Is Important
Traceability means the ability to trace something. In product development, it refers to
the ability to track and trace requirements to artifacts, test runs, and anything else in
the product lifecycle. Tracing creates transparency and accessibility for every step of
development, including who completed what tasks and when.
Purpose of Traceability
The purpose of traceability is to keep track of and record the history of an item —
which is often used to comply with regulations and minimize risk. In regulated
industries, it is crucial.
But more specifically, some high-level examples of how traceability is used include:
Risk mitigation
Quality control
Ship or release faster
Operational efficiency
Proving (not just meeting) compliance — in a fraction of the time
Where Is Traceability Used?
Traceability is useful before, during, and after development in a number of industries.
It provides a record of what has been done, so you don’t have to start from scratch
on a new build, for example. It makes it easier to assess risk and also prevent
mistakes during development. And it makes proving compliance a faster, easier
process. In some cases, traceability is even mandated by government regulations.
Simply put, you use traceability to build high-quality products faster, and to meet
compliance needs. Next, we will review traceability in better detail as it applies to
different parts of product development.
What Is Traceability in Software Engineering?
Traceability in software engineering is the ability to trace work items across the
development lifecycle. It’s used to keep track of what’s going on in the development
lifecycle — and show what’s happened. Achieving regulatory compliance is a
common purpose for traceability in software engineering. And for semiconductor
development, you need to establish verification traceability.
Traceability works by linking two or more work items in application development.
This link indicates a dependency between the items. Requirements and test cases
are often traced.
For example, you might link a hazard to a feature requirement that mitigates that
hazard. Once that link is established, you can trace the relationship to verify that
requirement was met. The hazard should go away when the requirement has been
met.
In this situation, you can use traceability in a few different ways. To verify the hazard
was mitigated, you can trace the link forward to the requirement. If you want to know
the reason for the requirement, you can trace it back to the hazard.
This traceability could also be extended to test cases and test runs. You’d then be
able to trace forward or backward from any item. This is helpful for getting insight
into your software lifecycle (for both managerial and regulatory purposes).
What Is Requirements Traceability?
Requirements traceability is the ability to trace a requirement forwards and
backwards in the development lifecycle.
Requirements are traced forward through other development artifacts, including test
cases, test runs, and issues. Requirements are traced backward to the source of the
requirement, such as a stakeholder or a regulatory compliance mandate.
The purpose of requirements traceability is to verify that requirements are met. It
also accelerates development. That’s because it’s easier to get visibility over your
requirements.
Traceability is also important for analysis. If a requirement changes, then you can
use traceability to determine the impact of change. You’ll see what the requirement
is connected to. And you’ll be able to see how changing that requirement will impact
related issues or tests.
Many organizations do this by creating a traceability matrix. This establishes an audit
trail, which is critical in regulated industries.
What Is Traceability in Software Testing?
Traceability in software testing is the ability to trace tests forward and backward
through the development lifecycle.
Test cases are traced forward to test runs. And test runs are traced forward to issues
that need to be fixed (or are traced forward to a passed test case). Test cases and
test runs can also be traced backward to requirements.
Traceability in software testing is often done using a traceability matrix.
Such a matrix might include:
Requirements, user stories, or epics.
Test cases for those requirements/user stories/epics.
Test runs (and their results).
Issues or defects (and whether they’ve been resolved).
Within the traceability matrix, you’ll be able to see forward and backward traceability
of each component.
How to Use Traceability
Traceability isn’t inherently easy. But you can master it with some help. Using a
traceability tool will always be the most efficient way to track and trace artifacts. Our
tool, Helix ALM, is a great example. We actually offer a free trial if you want to start
right away. Otherwise, learn how to create and use a requirements traceability matrix
with our guide (no download required.)
