Traceability Usage and Adaptation in Practice

Traceability usage within different projects is as manifold as the domains in which traceability is applied. A traceability information model (TIM) describes the traceability for a project. A basic TIM consists of at least two types of artifacts and a traceability relation between these artifacts [3]. One of the open traceability challenges is the traceability adaptation during usage [1]. The TIM should be adaptable to changing contexts and needs. We investigate the usage of traceability, in particular the adaptation of TIMs. Therefore, it is important to study whether TIMs are used explicitly, i.e. a TIM is defined and documented for a project upfront, or TIMs are used implicitly, i.e. project participants know which artifacts are intended to be traced, but a formal documentation of the TIM is missing. Several studies and experience reports reflect the usage of TIMs in practice [4]. However, experience reports describing the adaptation of a TIM during the project are rare. Therefore, we report on the results of two expert interviews regarding the usage and adaptation of TIMs in practice. The interviews show that in two different domains TIMs adapt during the project. In particular, we identified events and roles which caused the need to adapt the TIM and we describe which parts of the TIM are affected by the adaptation.