Traceability Surrogates for Software Artifact Linking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current software development projects face inefficiencies in managing traceability links between diverse development artifacts, as existing methods often require direct modification of artifacts and lack flexibility, especially when dealing with artifacts from different tools and storage formats.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method using surrogates and traceability links stored in a separate management storage, allowing for efficient handling of traceability information without modifying the original artifacts, by creating and updating surrogates with read-only access and using derivation rules to automatically generate links between artifacts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If development artifacts are modified to include information listing interrelated development artifacts, then traceability is achieved, but the development process becomes complicated and flexibility is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent separates traceability information from the original development artifacts by creating surrogate objects that represent the artifacts and store traceability links independently. This segmentation allows traceability to be maintained without modifying the original artifacts, thus avoiding the complication of embedding traceability data within each artifact while still achieving reliable traceability tracking.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a traceability management system as an intermediary between development artifacts. This system creates and manages surrogate objects that mediate the traceability relationships, allowing artifacts to be linked without direct modification. The intermediary handles the complexity of traceability management centrally, preserving artifact integrity while enabling comprehensive tracking.
2Reliability
If traceability links are managed by storing information directly in development artifacts, then inter-relations can be traced, but memory usage increases and accessibility issues arise
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts traceability information from the original development artifacts and stores it separately in a dedicated traceability management system. Surrogate objects are created to represent the artifacts and store their metadata and traceability links independently. This extraction reduces the memory burden on original artifacts while maintaining complete traceability information in the centralized management system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates lightweight surrogate copies of development artifacts that contain only the necessary identification and traceability information. These surrogates are stored in the traceability management system instead of duplicating full artifact data, significantly reducing memory usage while preserving the ability to trace relationships between artifacts through their surrogate representations.
3Reliability
If traceability management requires direct access and modification of original artifacts, then accurate traceability can be maintained, but the integrity of original artifacts may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a traceability management system with surrogate objects as intermediaries between the traceability tracking mechanism and the original development artifacts. The surrogates capture and store artifact information without requiring modification of the originals, thus maintaining artifact integrity while enabling accurate traceability. The intermediary layer ensures that traceability operations do not directly touch or alter the source artifacts.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates read-only surrogate copies of development artifacts that preserve the original artifact data without modification. These surrogates are used for traceability tracking, ensuring that the original artifacts remain unchanged and their integrity is maintained. The copies provide sufficient information for traceability purposes while leaving the originals untouched and stable.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method for managing traceability links (60) in a software development project and a computer readable medium are described. A plurality of surrogates (54, 56) is stored in a traceability management storage (52). The surrogates are associates with development artifacts (40, 46) including artifact content of at least one of the types chosen from requirement, design, code, test, test result, or issue. The development artifacts are of a plurality of different storage format types editable and/ or visualizable by associated development tools. The development artifacts are stored in artifact storage (44, 45) different from the traceability management storage (52). The surrogates comprise at least a first surrogate (54) for a first development artifact (40) and a second surrogate (56) for a second development artifact (46). Each of the surrogates (54, 56) comprises at least an identification, a type of the artifact content, and a storage format type of the associated development artifact (40, 46). The surrogate does not comprise the entire artifact content of the associated development artifact. At least one traceability link is (60) stored in the traceability management storage (52) comprising at least a pointer to the first and second surrogates (54, 56).The surrogates (54, 56) and/or the traceability link (60) are created by read-only access to an associated development artifact (40, 46).