Traceability Matrix

Traceability Matrix

What is Traceability Matrix?

Traceability Matrix is a document used for tracking the requirement, test cases and the defect. This document is prepared to make the client satisfy that the coverage done is complete as end to end. This document consists of requirement/base line document reference number, test case/condition, defects/bugs Ids. Using this document the person can trace the requirement based on the defect ID.

Why is it used?

A requirements traceability matrix may be used to check to see if the current project requirements are being met, and to help in the creation of a Request for Proposal, various deliverable documents, and project plan tasks.

Common usage is to take the identifier for each of the items of one document and place them in the left column. The identifiers for the other document are placed across the top row. When an item in the left column is related to an item across the top, a mark is placed in the intersecting cell. The numbers of relationships are added up for each row and each column. This value indicates the mapping of the two items. Zero values indicate that no relationship exists. It must be determined if one must be made. Large values imply that the relationship is too complex and should be simplified.

To ease the creation of traceability matrices, it is advisable to add the relationships to the source documents for both backward traceability and forward traceability. In other words, when an item is changed in one baseline document, it's easy to see what needs to be changed in the other.