What have we learnt from the challenges of (semi‐) automated requirements traceability? A discussion on blockchain applicability

Abstract

Over the last 3 decades, researchers have attempted to shed light into the requirements traceability problem by introducing tracing tools, techniques, and methods with the vision of achieving ubiquitous traceability. Despite the technological advances, requirements traceability remains problematic for researchers and practitioners. This study aims to identify and investigate the main challenges in implementing (semi-)automated requirements traceability, as reported in the recent literature. A systematic literature review was carried out based on the guidelines for systematic literature reviews in software engineering, proposed by Kitchenham. We retrieved 4530 studies by searching five major bibliographic databases and selected 70 primary studies. These studies were analysed and classified according to the challenges they present and/or address. Twenty-one challenges were identified and were classified into five categories. Findings reveal that the most frequent challenges are technological challenges, in particular, low accuracy of traceability recovery methods. Findings also suggest that future research efforts should be devoted to the human facet of tracing, to explore traceability practices in organisational settings, and to develop traceability approaches that support agile and DevOps practices. Finally, it is recommended that researchers leverage blockchain technology as a suitable technical solution to ensure the trustworthiness of traceability information in interorganisational software projects.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

Blockchain in sustainable supply chain management: an application of the analytical hierarchical process (AHP) methodology

“…The blockchain may be used to store traceability information such as artefacts and traceability links generated by dispersed participants. Because of the intrinsic features of blockchain, all authorized stakeholders have access to a comprehensive, dependable, and trustworthy traceable knowledge base that they may examine at any moment (Rempel et al, 2013;Demi et al, 2021). Data on the blockchain is error-proof and has great visibility across the supply chain, guaranteeing that any system is auditable and efficient (Atzori, 2017).…”

“…Because of the intrinsic features of blockchain, all authorized stakeholders have access to a comprehensive, dependable, and trustworthy traceable knowledge base that they may examine at any moment (Rempel et al. , 2013; Demi et al. , 2021).…”

Blockchain for requirements traceability: A qualitative approach

“…21 Within the requirements engineering community, RT has gained importance, as a quality attribute for software for three decades now. 22,23 The foundational work in this field has been carried out by Gotel and Finkelstein 24 with their seminal study An analysis of the requirements traceability problem. The authors of this study defined RT as "the ability to describe and follow the life of a requirement, in both a forwards and backwards direction …."…”

“…BC can be a viable technical solution to ensure reliability and availability of traceability information in interorganizational software projects. 23 This technology needs to be compared with existing solutions for the storage and representation of trace links such as cross-reference tables, traceability matrices, relational databases, and graph traceability repositories. 56 Our results suggest that the assessment of whether BC is required for RT should consider two dimensions:…”

“…As software‐intensive systems are becoming increasingly important in industrial projects, and more innovative and high‐quality systems are required to be brought to market in a quick fashion, there is a need for efficient requirements engineering 21 . Within the requirements engineering community, RT has gained importance, as a quality attribute for software for three decades now 22,23 . The foundational work in this field has been carried out by Gotel and Finkelstein 24 with their seminal study An analysis of the requirements traceability problem .…”