Home // International Journal On Advances in Software, volume 10, numbers 3 and 4, 2017 // View article

A Model-Driven Approach for Configurable Evaluation of Traceability Information

Authors:
Hendrik Bünder

Keywords: Traceability; Domain-Specific Language; Software Metrics; Model-driven Software Development; Xtext

Abstract:
Requirement traceability is the ability to explicate and pursue the relations between all artifacts that specify, implement, test, or document a software solution. Besides being required by laws and regulations in safety-critical industries, the traceability information models can give insight on project progress and quality. Yet, only a few companies are utilizing this competitive advantage due to missing tool support. The paper introduces an integrated solution to define and execute company- or project-specific analysis statements written in a dedicated domain-specific language. First, the capabilities of the Traceability Analysis Language are demonstrated by defining coverage, impact and consistency analysis. Every analysis is defined as a rule expression that compares a customizable metric's value (aggregated from the traceability information model) against an individual threshold. The focus of the Traceability Analysis Language is to make the definition and execution of information aggregation and evaluation from a traceability information model configurable and thereby allow users to define their own analyses based on their regulatory, project-specific, or individual needs. Further, the analyses are applied to a model according to the Automotive Software Process Improvement and Capability Determination (A-SPICE) standard. Second, the underlying grammar, as well as the mechanisms to make data retrieval configurable, are explained. Finally, the paper reports on case study findings at a tier one automotive supplier company. The case study revealed that the possibility to introduce custom data retrieval functions is crucial in real-world scenarios. Further, the case study showed that the traceability analysis language supported the tier one automotive supplier in the process of being A-SPICE re-certified.

Pages: 324 to 334

Copyright: Copyright (c) to authors, 2017. Used with permission.

Publication date: December 31, 2017

Published in: journal

ISSN: 1942-2628