An investigation of requirements traceability to support systems development

Abstract

A primary concern in the development of large-scale, real-time, complex, computer-intensive systems is ensuring that the system meets the specified requirements. Further, the requirements themselves evolve and undergo many changes during the development process. In such a context, it is essential to maintain traceability of requirements to various outputs to ensure that the systems meets the current set of requirements. An empirical study, utilizing focus group and protocol analysis techniques, was conducted with students from the Naval Postgraduate School. Their input, along with current literature, was used to explore factors to be taken into account while developing a model of traceability, and the appropriateness of the two data collection methods in future research.