Traceability

Traceability identifies the way a given process has been, or is to be, developed in a system. The process can be an internal, model-management process, where you monitor work by asking questions such as 'what work has been done to realize this Requirement or Use Case?', or a business or system process that is being modeled, where you ask questions such as 'what Requirements, Use Cases, Classes, Components, Test Cases and other elements define the implementation and deployment of this process?'

Traceability also helps to clarify the aspects of a process that the model does not address. A process typically includes a range of manual, automated and external procedures. A correctly-structured model illustrates exactly what requirements and functionality service a particular process; any missing functionality must come from other systems, developments or procedures.

There are various tools in Enterprise Architect that enable you to trace the definition and implementation of a process from initial requirement to generated code or technical deployment, or vice versa. If you have performed any Transformations in developing your model and code, Enterprise Architect automatically creates Transformation Dependency connectors that you can trace - with the Traceability window - to establish what objects and code have been generated from each PSM element, or what the initial PSM element was for a generated object. Whether you use transformations or develop the stages of the model in other ways, you can build up a range of Traceability diagrams (Custom diagrams) to identify the development pathway and the dependencies between entities such as Requirements, Use Cases, Classes, Packages, Test Cases and other model artefacts, or possibly between these entities and the overall business process model.

Maintaining Traceability

The following Project Browser hierarchy represents a model that is structured to enable traceability. Notice firstly that themes are developed in the structure - the Requirements Model, Use Case Model and Abstract Implementation Model each contain units with the same functional names, such as Manage Users and Manage Inventory. These units help you to quickly develop a Traceability Model within your project, to trace development and implementation.

Traceability in this model is examined further in the following topics:

• Packages and Elements
• Create Traceability Diagrams
• Traceability Tools