A study to support agile methods more effectively through traceability

Abstract

Traceability is recognized to be important for supporting agile development processes. However, after analyzing many of the existing traceability approaches it can be concluded that they strongly depend on traditional development process characteristics. Within this paper it is justified that this is a drawback to support adequately agile processes. As it is discussed, some concepts do not have the same semantics for traditional and agile methodologies. This paper proposes three features that traceability models should support to be less dependent on a specific development process: (1) user-definable traceability links, (2) roles, and (3) linkage rules. To present how these features can be applied, an emerging traceability metamodel (TmM) will be used within this paper. TmM supports the definition of traceability methodologies adapted to the needs of each project. As it is shown, after introducing these three features into traceability models, two main advantages are obtained: 1) the support they can provide to agile process stakeholders is significantly more extensive, and 2) it will be possible to achieve a higher degree of automation. In this sense it will be feasible to have a methodical trace acquisition and maintenance process adapted to agile processes.

Software and Systems Traceability

“…This fact was stressed by Espinoza and Garbajosa, who proposed a model-based approach to planning traceability in agile projects (Espinoza and Grabajosa, 2011). This extends Ramesh's previous work on metamodels , and the general practice of using Traceability Information Models (TIMs) as outlined in the chapter "Traceability Fundamentals" of this book.…”

Trace++: A Traceability Approach to Support Transitioning to Agile Software Engineering

“…The work in this paper tackles four of these problems. We have selected problems that are often cited in the literature [6] [16][26] [41], and that involve tracking information between different types of artifacts generated during the software development life-cycle. In the following we describe the four problems of our concern in terms of their context, associated source and target artifacts, additional information set, and proposal to establish traceability relations.…”

An ontology for ISO software engineering standards: 1) Creating the infrastructure

“…Another validation exercise involves investigating the practical use to which ISO stand-ards have been previously put, using documented case studies. Some examples include the creation of a Spanish maturity model based on ISO standards [26], the application of ISO/IEC 24744 to traceability [27] and the utilization of RM--ODP, ISO/IEC 10746 [28] to intelligent transport systems [29]. These case studies will be used to evaluate whether the proposed revisions to SC7 standards will still permit (i.e.…”