Scalable mechanisms for requirements interaction management

Capturing requirements, and managing tradeoffs among them, are critical yet complex activities. Well-designed computerized tools can effectively support these activities. A key challenge in construction of these support tools is how to scale them to handle a large volume of information. Particularly crucial are the ways in which large numbers of requirements and their interrelationships are presented to users. They need to be able to zoom in and out through the space of information so as to be able to see the big picture, and to locate and focus on specific details when needed. This paper describes a harmonious combination of techniques that support such scalability. The techniques have been embodied in a NASA tool, DDP, for defect detection and prevention. They have been exercised in uses of this tool for requirements/risk tradeoffs, and the use of this tool to capture institutional knowledge-bases of information.