Factors Influencing Requirements

Influencing Requirements Traceability Practice R equirements traceability is viewed as a measure of system quality and is mandated by many standards governing the development of systems (for example, MIL–STD-498). Though the importance and role of traceability in supporting systems development have been long recognized, there are wide variations in the quality and usefulness of the practice [7]. Environmental, organizational, and technical factors influence the implementation of requirements traceability. In this article, we identify and discuss how such influences impact the adoption and use of traceability. The results reported in this article are based on data from a series of empirical studies conducted over four years with the goals of capturing the current practices and trends in requirements traceability, developing reference models to guide improved practice, and understanding the factors that facilitate or impede traceability practice. The primary research question explored in this article is: What are the critical factors that influence the practice of requirements traceability? The study is guided by the theoretical framework for understanding the issues around the adoption of CASE tools developed by Orlikowski [5]. This framework, developed using the grounded theory approach, considers a wide range of factors, including the social context, the motivations and actions of the participants, and the implementation process in systems development. Our adaptation of the basic framework, presented in Figure 1, can be explained in brief as follows: Institutional contexts and the strategic conduct of organizational actors interact over time influencing each other. Balasubramaniam Ramesh Findings from a comprehensive survey identify the major issues that motivate users to employ traceability practices— or not.