Automating the Management of the Traceability Relation

Software changes are inevitable in the software development lifecycle. The scope and cost of such changes can be estimated through impact analysis. However, impact analysis is often performed only when it is absolutely necessary and the accuracy of impact analysis is not generally satisfactory. This is due to the labor intensive and error prone nature of maintaining traceability relations. This poster introduces an automated approach to traceability management that informs development activities and assists in tool integration. 1. Motivations Traceability relations assist a developer in following the lifecycle of a requirement in a forward and backward direction [2]. Being able to trace the causal relationships between requirements and other software artifacts offers several benefits, such as: 1