Maintain bidirectional traceability among requirements and work products.

The intent of this specific practice is to maintain the bidirectional traceability of requirements. (See the definition of “bidirectional traceability” in the glossary.) When requirements are managed well, traceability can be established from a source requirement to its lower level requirements and from those lower level requirements back to their source requirements. Such bidirectional traceability helps to determine whether all source requirements have been completely addressed and whether all lower level requirements can be traced to a valid source.

Requirements traceability also covers relationships to other entities such as intermediate and final work products, changes in design documentation, and test plans. Traceability can cover horizontal relationships, such as across interfaces, as well as vertical relationships. Traceability is particularly needed when assessing the impact of requirements changes on project activities and work products.

The supplier maintains comprehensive bidirectional traceability to requirements defined in the supplier agreement by the acquirer, and the acquirer verifies that traceability. The acquirer maintains bidirectional traceability between customer requirements and contractual requirements.

Example Work Products

1.    Requirements traceability matrix

2.    Requirements tracking system

Example Supplier Deliverables

1.    Comprehensive requirements traceability matrix managed by the supplier as required by the supplier agreement

Subpractices

1.    Maintain requirements traceability to ensure that the source of lower level (i.e., derived) requirements is documented.

Traceability from customer to contractual requirements is maintained by the acquirer. Traceability from contractual requirements to derived or additional requirements is maintained by the supplier.

2.    Maintain requirements traceability from a requirement to its derived requirements and allocation to work products.

Requirements changes that affect the architectures of products being acquired can affect many stakeholders.

3.    Generate a requirements traceability matrix.

A comprehensive traceability matrix, tracing from customer requirements to contractual requirements is maintained by the acquirer. A comprehensive traceability matrix, tracing from contractual requirements to lower level requirements is maintained by the supplier.