| Requirements traceability aims to improve project communication, to support dealing with the effects brought upon by change, to preserve system and decision knowledge and to help assure quality. Even though mandated for Naval command and control projects, there remains poor software requirement traceability take-up due to a perceived lack of benefit in its use. Static link based traceability schemes, if not properly conceived and maintained, can create an unmanageable tangle of links, often providing little to no return on the time and money invested. Based on analysis of a subset of the roughly 3000 individual requirements for the Navy's CCS330 command and control system, this thesis will investigate whether a heterogeneous tracing strategy based on requirement-defect risk analysis may be an alternative to traditional link-based traceability strategies. Attributes considered include probability of defect, degree of impact, standards/mandates, evolution/maintainability of requirements, requirement type (Functional/Non-Functional) and granularity. A successful application of a heterogeneous tracing strategy will simplify tracing by better matching link types to requirement types while minimizing cost and maximizing value as compared to a link-based strategy and a no trace strategy. |
