Experiences Using Scenarios to Enhance Traceability

It is a well known fact that requirements are constantly evolving, posing great challenges to software developers. Traceability is defined as the ability to record both the origins and changes of requirements throughout the software development process [Gotel93]. In this paper we present some of the strategies we have been using to help assure traceability during software construction. They rely on the use of scenarios, an intuitive representation that facilitates communication among stakeholders. We observed that a decisive factor in getting stakeholders committed to keeping traceable information was providing a recording medium that they could be easy to manipulate and easy to understand.

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