A Survey on Usage Scenarios for Requirements Traceability in Practice

Abstract. [Context and motivation] Requirements traceability is known as an important part of development projects. Studies showed that traceability is ap-plied in practice, but insufficient tool- and method-support hinders its practical use. [Question/problem] We conducted a survey to understand which tracea-bility usage scenarios are most relevant for practitioners. Gaining this infor-mation is a required step for providing better traceability support to practition-ers. [Principal ideas/results] We identified a list of 29 regularly cited usage scenarios and asked practitioners to assess the frequency of use for each in a typical development project. Our analysis is restricted to those 56 participants that were actively using traceability in order to ensure comparable results. Sub-jects held various roles in the development and reported about diverse projects. [Contribution] This study provides not only an initial catalog of usage scenari-os and their relevance, but also provides insights on practitioner’s traceability practices. In result, we found all scenarios to be used by practitioners. Partici-pants use traceability especially for: finding origin and rationale of require-ments, documenting a requirement’s history, and tracking requirement or task implementation state. Furthermore, we highlight topics for ongoing evaluation and better method and tool support in the area of requirements traceability