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.

Such bidirectional traceability is not always automated. It can be done manually using spreadsheets, databases, and other common tools.

Example Work Products

1.    Requirements traceability matrix

2.    Requirements tracking system

Subpractices

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

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

Work products for which traceability may be maintained include the architecture, product components, development iterations (or increments), functions, interfaces, objects, people, processes, and other work products.

3.    Generate a requirements traceability matrix.