An overview of traceability: Towards a general multi-domain model

Abstract

Traceability for some people, is merely a tool to keep a history over something important that happened in the past. For others, is has no added value to their actual processes or products. In fact, it is becoming more and more valued. Traceability is still a vast area of research and an undiscovered field that if it is well used and managed, can provide a set of critical information or lead to something bigger. Many researches are still working to enhance its use and its integration by providing solutions to help users better manage and control their different elements (products, source code, documents, requirements, specifications, etc.). Nowadays, it is used in almost all domains as it can provide reliable information and helps improve efficiency and productivity. In this paper, we first present the state of the art on traceability and its use, through several examples. Then we provide a list of major techniques used in this field and propose our own traceability definition models.