What is the purpose of a requirements traceability matrix?
What is the role of a requirements traceability matrix in a project, and how does it help ensure that all requirements are met throughout the project lifecycle?
Tracks Requirement Fulfillment:
- The RTM maps each requirement with its associated designing, developing and testing activity ensuring all the requirements to be catered and validated.
Maintains Traceability:
- It helps in establishing clear connection between requirements, project milestones and final deliverables to trace back the changes/issues.
Facilitates Change Management:
- The RTM helps in evaluating the impact of a proposed change, i.e., change in requirements on the project scope, its deliverables and thus on timelines/ efforts/costs.
Ensures Accountability:
- RTM will assign an owner to each requirement and this reduce the effort in holding a team member accountable for their work or for a specific delivery.
Supports Quality Assurance:
- By mapping requirements with the test criteria, RTM ensures that all the requirements have been duly tested before we finish a project.
In summary, the RTM is an important mechanism to track requirements right from the inception till realization and validation of the same in all phases of project.