Planning- Project Management Plan
- Change Management Plan
- Project Roadmap
- Scope Management Plan
- Requirements Management Plan
- Requirements Documentation
- Requirements raceability Matrix
- Project Scope Statement
- Work Breakdown Structure
- WBS Dictionary
- Schedule Management Plan
- Activity list
- Activity attributes
- Milestone list
- Network diagram
- Duration estimates
- Duration estimates worksheet
- Project schedule
- Cost management plan
- Cost estimates
- Cost estimating worksheet
- Cost baseline
- Quality management plan
- Quality metrics
- Responsibility assignment matrix (RAM)
- Resource management plan
- Team charter
- Resource requirements
- Resource breakdown structure
- Communications management plan
- Risk management plan
- Risk register
- Risk report
- Probability and impact assessment
- Probability and impact matrix
- Risk data sheet
- Procurement management plan
- Procurement strategy
- Source selection criteria
- Stakeholder engagement plan
Requirements traceability Matrix
A requirements traceability matrix is used to track the various attributes of requirements throughout the project life cycle. It uses information from the requirements documentation and traces how those require- ments are addressed through other aspects of the project. The following form shows how requirements would be traced to project objectives, WBS deliverables, the metrics they will be measured to, and how they will be validated.
Another way to use the matrix is to trace the relationship between categories of requirements. For example:
- Business objectives and technical requirements
- Functional requirements and technical requirements
- Requirements and verification method
- Technical requirements and WBS deliverables
An inter-requirements traceability matrix can be used to record this information. A sample form is included after the requirements traceability matrix.
The requirements traceability matrix can receive information from:
- Project charter
- Assumption log
- Stakeholder register
- Scope management plan
- Requirements management plan
- Stakeholder engagement plan
- Lessons learned register
It provides information to:
- Quality management plan
- Procurement statement of work
- Product acceptance
- Change requests
The requirements traceability matrix is an output from the process 5.2 Collect Requirements in the PMBOK® Guide – Sixth Edition.
Tailoring tips
Consider the following tips to help tailor the requirements traceability matrix to meet your needs:
- For complex projects you may need to invest in requirements management software to help manage and track Using a paper form is usually only helpful for small projects or when tracking requirements at a high level.
- For projects with one or more vendors you may want to add a field indicating which organization is accountable for meeting each requirement.
- Consider an outline format with the business requirement at a parent level and technical requirement and specifications subordinate to the business requirement.
Alignment
The requirements traceability matrix should be aligned and consistent with the following documents:
- Development approach
- Requirements management plan
- Requirements documentation
- Release and iteration plan
You can use the element descriptions in tables to assist you in developing a requirements traceability matrix and an inter-requirements traceability matrix. The matrix shown uses an example of business and technical requirements.
Requirements traceability Matrix
| Document element | Description |
| ID | Enter a unique requirement identifier. |
| Requirement | Document the condition or capability that must be met by the project or be present in the product, service, or result to satisfy a need or expectation of a stakeholder. |
| Source | The stakeholder that identified the requirement. |
| Category | Categorize the requirement. Categories can include functional, nonfunctional, maintainabil- ity, security, etc. |
| Priority | Prioritize the requirement category, for example Level 1, Level 2, etc., or must have, should have, or nice to have. |
| Business objective | List the business objective as identified in the charter or business case that is met by fulfill- ing the requirement. |
| Deliverable | Describe the metric that is used to measure the satisfaction of the requirement. |
| Verification | Describe the metric that is used to measure the satisfaction of the requirement. |
| Validation | Describe the technique that will be used to validate that the requirement meets the stake- holder needs. |
Inter-requirements traceability Matrix
| Document element | Description |
| ID | Enter a unique business requirement identifier. |
| Business requirement | Document the condition or capability that must be met by the project or be present in the product, service, or result to satisfy the business needs. |
| Priority | Prioritize the business requirement category, for example Level 1, Level 2, etc., or must have, should have, or nice to have. |
| Source | Document the stakeholder who identified the business requirement. |
| ID | Enter a unique technical requirement identifier. |
| Technical requirement | Document the technical performance that must be met by the deliverable to satisfy a need or expectation of a stakeholder. |
| Priority | Prioritize the technical requirement category, for example Level 1, Level 2, etc., or must have, should have, or nice to have. |
| Source | Document the stakeholder who identified the technical requirement. |
