Extended Knowledge-Centric Traceability Management

Method improvement for the management of relationships between system artefacts

Method Purpose Short description of the method's purpose and main benefits

Method description A detailed description of the method

Knowledge-centric traceability management is a method that exploits knowledge bases (ontologies) for traceability purposes, e.g., to represent the system artefacts to trace and relationships between them, or to discover or verify relationships. This method has been improved to support further activities of the traceability management process and the integration with other engineering activities from which system artefact information can be collected for traceability purposes.

Enhanced traceability management process. The process for using Knowledge-centric traceability management has been refined and extended to better support traceability management activities. The main improvements can be summarised as follows:

Definition of maps for the traceability projects, to show an overview of the configuration, modules, and data sources of a project. Maps have also been associated to the individual modules of a traceability project.
Semantic configuration, to specify aspects such as trace types and trace information retrieval configuration.
Advanced trace information retrieval configuration, currently used to suggest traces and identify suspect ones. The possible configurations affect similarity threshold, NLP configuration for retrieval, and the method (inclusion or similarity).
As follow-up improvements, traces can be discovered (suggested ones) and evaluated (suspect ones). A semantic distance score is provided. As a result, traces can be classified as Suspect, Suggested, and Consistent.
Configuration of trace discovery and evaluation according to semantic information (specification patterns and semantic clusters).
Trace history management, to keep track of trace lifecycle.
Graph generation for impact analysis, with different options for graph configuration.
Further mapping of the underlying data model to the models of other tools, e.g., DOORS for traceability information exchange.
Determination of new report generation possibilities, according to the information managed about a traceability project.

Some improvements have already been referred to in a publication [EKCT1].

Method Strengths A listof the strengths of the method

Advanced automated traceability management
Method that can be applied for any system artefact type

Method Limitations The limitations of the method

The method could be improved by integrating it with other approaches, e.g., model-based traceability management
No empirical evidence of cost-effectiveness

Method References Bibliography references to papers about the method.

[EKCT1] de la Vara, J.L., García, A., Valero, J., Ayora, C.: Model-Based Assurance Evidence Management for Safety-Critical Systems. Software and Systems Modeling (accepted paper), 2022

Method Dimensions

Evaluation Environment Type Type of environment where the method is applied. It can be more than one type of environment. (Dimension 1)

Evaluation Type Type of evaluation performed with that method. If a method is hybrid, more than one type can be selected. (Dimension 2)

Type of Component Under Evaluation Type of components that can be evaluated with that method. It can be more than one type. (Dimension 3)

Evaluation Stage The evaluation stage where the method is used. (Dimension 5)

Purpose of the Component Under Evaluation The type of purpose that can be evaluated by a method. It can be more than one type. (Dimension 6)

Type of Requirement Under Evaluation The type of requirements that a method is able to evaluate. It can be more than one type. (Dimension 7)

Evaluation Performance Indicator The type of evaluation criteria or KPI that a method is able to improve. It can be more than one type. (Dimension 8)

Relations

Related Methods A method could be related to other methods.

Tools A method can use zero or more tools.

Part Method A method (when it is a combination: Combination of method artefact that is a specialization of a V&V Method) could be composed of a set of V&V Methods.

Test Case or Verification and Validation activity Test Case or V&V activity performed in a Use Case. We will link to the method to the test cases where the method is used.

Standards A method can be linked with standards.

Context

Workflow

Contents

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