Re: Tools to support Traceability; was: [AM] Why Traceability?

On Thu, Mar 18, 2004 at 06:30:03AM +0300, Alex J. Business Abstraction wrote:
> I am convinced that for most of the projects I am consulting for,
> traceability it important.
> 
> However, I do not know of the tool that was support traceability easy and
> reliably. Any recommendation?

Which kinds of things are you wanting traceability for? Certain
aspects of traceability are better handled by different kinds
of tools. If it is specifically /requirements/ traceability
to other requirements and elements of other kinds of technical
docs (analysis, interface, design) the main tools I know of
are Telelogic DOORs, Rational Requisite-Pro, and another called
(I think) Rqt or RtM.

My experience is primarily with DOORs, so my terminology below
reflects that. But I beleive there is comparable functionality
in the other two tools.  Basically, they let you create
individual "objects" of text and then associate attributes with
them, as well as abritry numbers and kinds of linkages between
them. You can "checkin" and "checkout" at the object-level, plus
objects can be grouped into Modules. Each "module" essentially
corresponds to a "document". You can specify formatting options
for exporting a module as a published document, as well as
create "baselines" of a module. Its a pretty spiffy tool and
you could spend oodles of time exploring all the wonderful
ways it lets you devote your time to creating and updating
and organizing links.

For a version control tool - if you want to play with
traceability of the status-accounting variety, then at a
bare minimum find a tool that supports "change-sets" and
"atomic commits". Ideally get one that supports task-based
(or "activity-based") CM. ClearCase UCM does this, as does
Perforce (with its "jobs"), and Accu-Rev, and SpectrumSCM,
and CM Synergy, and also Quartet (which was specifically
implemented with Agile methods in mind)

For a Change/request tracking tool, first make sure it doesn't
already come with the SCM tool of your choosing (Rational
and Telelogic have bundlings that include ClearQuest and
ChangeSynergy respectively, Accurev has a built-in Tracker,
as does Spectrum SCM). I think JIRA is pretty cool (see
www.atlassian.org) and its 100% customizable and 100% pure
java, and they are very supportive of OpenSource (tho the
product itself is commercial).

For something a bit "lighter-weight" and more palatable for
agile methods, you might try Trac, which is OpenSource and
integrates with Subversion (the opensource replacement for
CVS at subversion.tigris.org). Here is the info about Trac:

   Trac is a minimalistic web-based software project management
   and bug/issue tracking system. It provides an interface
   to Subversion, an integrated Wiki and convenient report
   facilities.

   Trac allows wiki markup in issue descriptions and commit
   messages, to create links and seamless references between
   bugs, tasks, changesets, files and wiki pages.  A timeline
   shows all project events in order, making getting an overview
   of the project and tracking progress very easy.

   The software is published under the GNU General Public
   License, and is available for download at:
      <http://projects.edgewall.com/trac/download/>

Hope that helps!
-- 
Brad Appleton <[email protected]> www.bradapp.net
  Software CM Patterns (www.scmpatterns.com)
   Effective Teamwork, Practical Integration
"And miles to go before I sleep." -- Robert Frost

For more information about AM, visit the Agile Modeling Home Page at www.agilemodeling.com
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