Tracing All Around in Reengineering

0 7 4 0 7 4 5 9 / 0 2 / $ 1 7 . 0 0 © 2 0 0 2 I E E E during the reengineering process. We propose tracing “all around”—from existing code to the legacy system’s design to its requirements during reverse engineering, and from the modified requirements to the new design and the new code during development of the successor system. In effect, this means integrating traceability during reverse engineering with (more standard) traceability during forward engineering. Our approach uses the Requirements Engineering Through Hypertext (RETH) method and tool to install traces during both reverse and forward engineering.2,3 Our experience in a real-world reengineering project suggests that all-around tracing can yield immediate benefits that appear to be specific to reengineering. In this article, we describe all-around tracing and present a case study to demonstrate how our approach can be useful in reengineering efforts.