Requirements Traceability Research Articles

Software Requirement Engineering: Traceability Techniques and Tools

Requirement Traceability is one of the activities in managing requirements. It is important for software projects and is affecting the quality of software products. Requirement Traceability is a method to analyze the effect of changes among various software development lifecycle parts. Agile methodologies have been presented as an alternative to traditional software engineering methodologies. The transformation between traditional and agile methodologies is a hard task so the need for traceability grows. This paper introduces traceability research at the requirement engineering on the traceability literature published during the last years. It also investigates and discusses the requirements for traceability issues. It finally presents several requirement traceability techniques and tools to support traceability.

Vaccine traceability: Key learnings from the supply chain initiative by manufacturers from emerging countries

The use of global standards, and the placement of barcodes and data matrix codes on vaccine labels and other levels of packaging are crucial elements for the traceability of finished vaccine products. Vaccine manufacturers are committed to improving health through their products, as vaccine production offers opportunities that can be leveraged to benefit immunization systems. In 2019 the Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers Network (DCVMN) created the Supply Chain Initiative aimed at prioritize and explore traceability opportunities; concomitantly procurement agencies announced traceability requirements for vaccine global supply. Vaccine traceability brings benefits including supply chain reliability and safety through enhanced product movement visibility, and a reduction of falsified and expired vaccines circulating in the supply chain. DCVMN has coordinated the development and implementation of global traceability standards, at both primary and secondary vaccine packaging levels, to encourage and enable sharing these experiences. Six pilot studies in four different countries showed successful implementation, and constituted part of larger vaccine traceability work within the respective organizations. The main findings from these pilot studies indicated that stepwise approaches to the adoption of traceability standards allowed vaccine manufacturers to learn by doing, initially with lower risk, and to spread their investments over time. Because the value of traceability is in its scale of adoption and the use of the data, it remains important for all stakeholders to engage in and prioritize the journey of vaccine traceability, but also to suitably manage the financial risks. The DCVMN Supply Chain Initiative has demonstrated that its members are committed to driving supply system changes that benefit immunization, while recognizing that supply chain traceability is part of a larger healthcare ecosystem and should be adopted by countries and immunization programmes as well.

Performing traceability: Unpacking the artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) trade circuit in Peru

To what extent can traceability requirements improve the transparency in artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM)? This article addresses the crucial but rarely explored problem of gold traceability, and what happens when gold moves from mine to market. Building on transparency discussions that scrutinize the power dynamics behind information demands, we argue that the push for origin information of minerals can create an ideal scenario for performative governance (Ding, 2020) in which actors feign traceability to continue participating in the gold value chain. To present evidence of these dynamics, we outline how gold circulates in two ASGM constellations in Peru: Arequipa (in the Andes) and Madre de Dios (in the Amazon). We find that Northern market concerns regarding the legal origin of gold has created contradictions in Peru's formalization regulatory framework. To bypass these barriers, actors along the value chain will benefit from the assistance of “logistical entrepreneurs” (Schouten et al., 2019) to secure gold production and trade. We conclude that, rather than promoting meaningful change towards a more responsible and transparent gold value chain, traceability requirements can promote more opaque practices and introduce more complexity into an already highly informal sector such as ASGM.

Towards an IoT and Blockchain-based System for Monitoring and Tracking Agricultural Products

This paper presents the design and implementation of a monitoring and data collection system for agricultural product preservation during transportation to meet authenticity and traceability requirements. The system is built and performed using blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT) technology to use and integrate their benefits. This system comprises a private blockchain network built on the Ethereum platform and powered by the GoQuorum protocol, which enables distributed data exchange among members using a common protocol and cryptographic techniques while ensuring the transparency and integrity of the information. A wireless sensor network has been designed and implemented for collecting data from sensors about the storage environment of agricultural products. This study also proposes using LoRa technology to build low-cost wireless communication networks with broad coverage for data collection from sensor nodes mounted to agricultural products. Furthermore, the integrated online map web assists in real-time monitoring and tracing of information on the process of transporting agricultural products, as well as querying data for completed contracts. Experiments were conducted close to the reality of the application’s desire to deploy the system to calibrate and evaluate the functioning, with promising results.

Requirements Traceability: Recovering and Visualizing Traceability Links Between Requirements and Source Code of Object-oriented Software Systems

Requirements Traceability: Recovering and Visualizing Traceability Links Between Requirements and Source Code of Object-oriented Software Systems

Requirements Traceability: Recovering and Visualizing Traceability Links Between Requirements and Source Code of Object-oriented Software Systems

Requirements Traceability: Recovering and Visualizing Traceability Links Between Requirements and Source Code of Object-oriented Software Systems

An Orchestration Method for Integrated Multi-Disciplinary Simulation in Digital Twin Applications

In recent years, the methodology of Model-Based System Engineering (MBSE) has become relevant to the design of complex products, especially when safety critical systems need to be addressed. It allows, in fact, the deployment of product development directly through some digital models, allowing an effective traceability of requirements, being allocated upon the system functions, components, and parts. This approach enhances the designer capabilities in controlling the product development, manufacturing and after-market services. However, the application of such a methodology requires overcoming several technological barriers, especially in terms of models integration. The interoperability and management of several models—developed within different software to cover multiple levels of detail across several technical disciplines—is still very difficult, despite the level of maturation achieved by Systems Engineering. This paper describes a possible approach to provide such a connection between tools to allow a complete multi-disciplinary and heterogeneous simulation to analyse complex systems, such as safety-critical ones, which are typical of aerospace applications. Such an application is within a defined industrial context, placing particular attention on the compatibility of the approach with the legacy processes and tools.

Enhancing Traceability Link Recovery with Fine-Grained Query Expansion Analysis

Requirement traceability links are an essential part of requirement management software and are a basic prerequisite for software artifact changes. The manual establishment of requirement traceability links is time-consuming. When faced with large projects, requirement managers spend a lot of time in establishing relationships from numerous requirements and codes. However, existing techniques for automatic requirement traceability link recovery are limited by the semantic disparity between natural language and programming language, resulting in many methods being less accurate. In this paper, we propose a fine-grained requirement-code traceability link recovery approach based on query expansion, which analyzes the semantic similarity between requirements and codes from a fine-grained perspective, and uses a query expansion technique to establish valid links that deviate from the query, so as to further improve the accuracy of traceability link recovery. Experiments showed that the approach proposed in this paper outperforms state-of-the-art unsupervised traceability link recovery methods, not only specifying the obvious advantages of fine-grained structure analysis for word embedding-based traceability link recovery, but also improving the accuracy of establishing requirement traceability links. The experimental results demonstrate the superiority of our approach.

ProCon: An automated process-centric quality constraints checking framework

When dealing with safety–critical systems, various regulations, standards, and guidelines stipulate stringent requirements for certification and traceability of artifacts, but typically lack details with regards to the corresponding software engineering process. Given the industrial practice of only using semi-formal notations for describing engineering processes – with the lack of proper tool mapping – engineers and developers need to invest a significant amount of time and effort to ensure that all steps mandated by quality assurance are followed. The sheer size and complexity of systems and regulations make manual, timely feedback from Quality Assurance (QA) engineers infeasible. In order to address these issues, in this paper, we propose a novel framework for tracking, and “passively” executing processes in the background, automatically checking QA constraints depending on process progress, and informing the developer of unfulfilled QA constraints. We evaluate our approach by applying it to three case studies: a safety–critical open-source community system, a safety–critical system in the air-traffic control domain, and a non-safety–critical, web-based system. Results from our analysis confirm that trace links are often corrected or completed after the work step has been considered finished, and the engineer has already moved on to another step. Thus, support for timely and automated constraint checking has significant potential to reduce rework as the engineer receives continuous feedback already during their work step.

Алгоритмизация производственных процессов

Purpose: To develop algorithm for the technology of interaction between main participants of railway freight transportation, ensuring downtime reduction and safety of cargo transportation. Methods: Algorithmizing method was used — development of flowchart for the process, reflecting the logic of traceability of requirements to working functions, basing on projecting functional-logical architecture for the process of freight transportation paperwork. Results: Intellectualization of transport company employees’ actions is associated with a variety of transportation technologies, including digital ones. Namely this is becoming a key element which ensures meeting requirements of speed and safety of transportations to working competences and intensity of transport organizations’ employees. Main research results are: formalization of JSC “Russian Railways” employees’ and consignors’ actions and their compliance with processing results; flowchart building for process “Way Bill Approval” with fixating the process main tasks with their corresponding linkage to fulfiller’s labor functions. Effectiveness evaluation of algorithmizing the process “Way Bill Approval” in accordance with the algorithm target functional was performed. Practical significance: Time savings at the formation of waybills, reduction of direct costs on the actions of freight transportation informational provision and increasing customer focus of the company were proved by conducted monetization assessment.

Moving beyond least developed country status: Challenges to diversifying Bangladesh’s seafood exports

Bangladesh is due to graduate from Least Developed Country status, resulting in the loss of preferential market access for textiles and ready-made-garments in key import markets. The paper examines the opportunities and constraints for developing a stronger export market orientation in the Bangladesh fish and seafood sector. We discuss the role of public and private standards in food safety and quality, as well as empirical evidence for their effect on fish and seafood value chains. We assess the factors limiting diversification into fish and seafood exports and constraints to value chain enhancement. The experience of export-oriented shrimp value chains provides lessons for the aquaculture sector. High costs of compliance with public and private standards and inability to meet traceability requirements for food safety and quality present a significant challenge. In diversifying beyond domestic markets for fish and seafood, the policy challenge lies in striking an appropriate balance between intervention and guidance.

A Systematic Literature Review of Issue-Based Requirement Traceability

Issue reports are software artifacts that often specify the changed requirements of software systems. As software systems evolve according to these changed requirements, issue reports have become the essential artifacts that should be covered by requirement traceability. While researchers have developed automatic approaches for establishing the traceability links of issue reports, no papers have surveyed these approaches. In this paper, we conduct a systematic literature review of issue-based requirement traceability. We searched for articles published in renowned conferences and journals in the software engineering field from 2011 to 2022. From 1,347 initial articles, we identified 40 relevant articles. We investigated four aspects of issue-based traceability: problems, artifact pairs, techniques, and evaluation targets. Our findings are as follows. First, the challenges of issue-based requirement traceability are relevant to accuracy, effort, support, information, and trustworthiness. Second, issue reports are linked to commits, source code, user reviews, and test cases. Third, the studies mainly adopted machine learning and information retrieval techniques to generate and recover trace links. Finally, the main evaluation targets were open-source projects, but open datasets were also provided.

Метод розроблення специфікацій та вимог в процесі реінжинірингу ІТ-проектів

In this study, the aim is to create and improve a methodology for synthesizing requirements and specifications for the re-engineering of IT projects with maximum efficiency and business orientation. The main task is to adapt outdated IT systems to the changing technical environment, in particular to cloud technologies and security system requirements. To achieve these goals, the proposed methodology uses the analysis of archaic systems, the reverse engineering method, expert surveys, documentation analysis, and black-box modeling. The application of these methods allows for the identification and revision of requirements and specifications, ensuring a high level of quality and efficiency in the process of re-engineering IT projects. The article further discusses the practical aspects of applying the methodology, prospects for further development, and the peculiarities of using various statistical methods in the process of improving re-engineering results. The operating principles of the method are described along with the main approaches and techniques that promote the analysis of existing IT systems, the synthesis of requirements and specifications, quality control, and successful project implementation. The individual components of the method include the collection of data about the existing system and the analysis of archaic systems to restore the definition of requirements. The use of the black-box model for testing the developed system is discussed, including the analysis of the obtained results, correction of requirements, and improvement of specifications. The methodology includes documentation analysis tools, reverse engineering, surveys and data visualization tools, as well as analytical techniques such as a formula for parallel testing, a formula for requirement traceability matrix, and a formula for forecasting requirements based on discrepancy rate analysis. As a result of implementing the IT project reengineering method, successful transition from old to new technologies can be achieved, the IT industry can be optimized, and conditions can be created for adaptation to modern technical environments, ensuring stability and reliability of the implemented reengineering projects. Based on the analysis of modern sources, previous experience, and conducted research, it can be asserted that the method for synthesizing specifications and requirements in the process of reengineering IT projects is of great importance and relevance for the modern development of information technology and business processes.

The traceability method of electronic transformer calibrators based on time series-weighted correlation degree extension integrating Hilbert phase-shift.

The traceability method directly affects the reliability and accuracy of the measurement of electronic transformers. The stability and unreliable traceability performance of analog devices would affect the traditional analog differential method. Thus, we propose a digital differential method combining a time series-weighted correlation degree extension integrating Hilbert phase-shift of four-term continuous third-derivative Nuttall window function, effectively suppressing the end effect problem and realizing the high-precision addition of the differential. Results of simulation experiments showed that the differential's deviation was <10-10, much less than that (1.32 × 10-4) due to the analog differential. The voltage and current ratio difference's combined standard uncertainty was 5.01 × 10-5 and 5.08 × 10-5, respectively, and 0.1718' in the phase error. Finally, an automatic traceability detection system was constructed. Compared with the traditional method, the accuracy and stability of the automatic system were better and could meet the traceability requirements for 0.05-accuracy electronic voltage transformer calibrator.

TaqMan Probes for Plant Species Identification and Quantification in Food and Feed Traceability.

In the last few years, the traceability and labeling of processed food and feeds have gained increasing importance due to the impact that mislabeling and product fraud may have on human/animal health or on the quality of final products, such as milk, cheese, and meat, as a consequence of animal dietary. The presence of contaminants or possible frauds due to the use of alternative plant materials in food and feeds can greatly impact the economy; therefore, they are becoming important targets for product certification by competent institutional services. This is especially relevant when complex matrixes are considered, in which the visual identification of the different components is quite difficult or even impossible. Despite the existence of mandatory traceability requirements for the analysis of feed/food composition addressed by European Community regulations, the labels do not always provide a sufficient guarantee about the ingredients and additive composition of those products. In this sense, the development of new methodologies that aim to assess the traceability of feed and food complex matrixes is crucial. In this chapter, a general protocol is presented for the establishment of quantitative real-time PCR-based techniques based on TaqMan assays applied to feed/food traceability, with a special focus on applications in the areas of food and feed security (e.g., for the detection of plant species involved in allergenic reactions), fraud detection (e.g., genetically modified organisms), and certification (e.g., protected denomination of origin).

CCQM Key Comparison track A CCQM-K168: Non-polar analytes in high carbohydrate food matrix: trans-zearalenone in maize powder

Main textDemonstrating competency and equivalence for the measurement capacity of contaminants and nutrients in primary foodstuffs is a priority of the OAWG 10-year strategy for Track A core comparisons. Such measurements have posed significant challenges for reference material producers and calibration service providers. This key comparison (KC), under the topic of "non- polar analyte in high carbohydrate food matrix: trans-Zearalenone (trans-ZEN) in maize powder", was a sector of the model system selected to align with this class within the OAWG strategy. Evidence of successful participation in formal, relevant international comparisons is needed to demonstrate the Calibration and Measurement Capabilities (CMCs) of National Metrology Institutes (NMIs) and Designated Institutes (DIs).17 NMIs and DIs participated in the Track A KC CCQM-K168 "non-polar analyte in high carbohydrate food matrix: trans-ZEN in maize powder". Participants were requested to evaluate the mass fraction (μg/kg) of trans-ZEN in maize powder material. Methods like liquid-liquid extraction and SPE were applied in the pre-treatment, and HPLC-MS/MS and HPLC-FLD were used for detection by the participants. The mass fractions for trans-ZEN were in the range of (91.8 to 169) μg/kg with standard uncertainties of (1.5 to 24.7) μg/kg, and corresponding relative standard uncertainties from 1.5% to 14.6%. Two laboratories, INTI and BAM were excluded from the key comparison reference value (KCRV) evaluation. INTI result was identified as an outlier and confirmed their method had insufficient specificity. For BAM the calibration approach they used does not meet the CIPM traceability requirements. The other 15 laboratories included in the calculation of the consensus KCRV all agreed within their standard uncertainties. Hierarchical Bayes was used as estimators in calculating KCRV and standard uncertainty.Successful participation in CCQM-K168 demonstrates the measurement capabilities in determining mass fraction of organic compounds, with molecular mass of 100 g/mol to 500 g/mol, having low polarity pKow < -2, in mass fraction range from 1 μg/kg to 1000 μg/kg in a high carbohydrate food matrix.To reach the main text of this paper, click on Final Report. Note that this text is that which appears in Appendix B of the BIPM key comparison database https://www.bipm.org/kcdb/.The final report has been peer-reviewed and approved for publication by the CCQM, according to the provisions of the CIPM Mutual Recognition Arrangement (CIPM MRA).

A systematic mapping study on machine learning methodologies for requirements management

AbstractRequirements management (RM) plays an important role in requirements engineering. The development of machine learning (ML) is in full swing, and many ML software management techniques had been used to improve the performance of RM methods. However, as no research study is known that exists systematically to summarise the ML methods used in RM. To fill this gap, this paper adopts the systematic mapping study to survey the state‐of‐the‐art ML methods for RM primary studies and were finally selected in this mapping, which was published on 36 conferences and journals. The 24 factors affecting the ML method of RM are determined, of which 9, 11 and 4 are the three parts of RM, namely requirements baseline maintenance, requirements traceability and requirements change management separately. The 18 objectives of the ML method for RM are summarised, of which 6, 7 and 5 are the three parts of RM. The eight ML methods used in RM and their time sequence are summarised. The 18 evaluation indexes for RM in the ML method are determined, and the performance of these methods on these parameters is analysed. The research direction of this paper is of great significance to the research of researchers in demand management.

On the influence of architectural languages on requirements traceability

AbstractToday, a considerable number of Architectural Languages (ALs) have been proposed for specifying and analyzing the architecture of software systems. Despite the popularity of different ALs, how ALs influence software system maintainability has not received much attention. One of the most important tasks in software maintenance is requirements traceability. Requirements traceability establishes links between requirements and other software artifacts, facilitating system maintenance. In this paper, we analyze the influence of ALs on requirements traceability. Taking into account the ALs used by the industry, we analyze how ALs influence traceability among requirements and architecture models. We conducted an evaluation with our industrial partner CAF. The results show significant differences in AL performance. We also analyze the results in terms of AL concepts, requirements model elements, and AL type in order to understand the performance differences. General‐Purpose/Research Languages achieve the best results for all of the performance indicators, providing a mean precision value of 0.51, a recall value of 0.38, a combined F‐measure of 0.40, and an Matthews Correlation Coefficient value of 0.33. Those ALs that influence engineers to use more generic and domain‐independent terms to specify their architectures obtain the best results during requirements traceability. Our results have the potential to help AL designers to improve their languages and also to help practitioners make a more informed decision about whether or not a given AL meets their traceability needs.

Security Requirements Specification and Tracing within Topological Functioning Model

Specification and traceability of security requirements is still a challenge since modeling and analysis of security aspects of systems require additional efforts at the very beginning of software development. The topological functioning model is a formal mathematical model that can be used as a reference model for functional and non-functional requirements of the system. It can also serve as a reference model for security requirements. The purpose of this study is to determine the approach to how security requirements can be specified and traced using the topological functioning model. This article demonstrates the suggested approach and explains its potential benefits and limitations.

PM 4/17 (3) Certification scheme for olive trees and rootstocks

<scp>PM</scp> 4/17 (3) Certification scheme for olive trees and rootstocks