What is the purpose of Requirement Traceability Matrix?

Requirement Traceability Matrix is a tabular form of a document which lists all the requirements alongwith their status of work. It shows the entire list of all the requirements with it’s all possible test scenarios. It indicates the status of the design and testing. It also shows whether UAT (User Acceptance Testing) has been obtained from the stakeholder or not. It generally contains columns like Req_ID, Req name, Design (Yes/No), D1 T1, D2 T2, D3 T3 etc and UAT (Yes/No).

It is a document which help us to track the progress of the project. RTM has to be updated at each phase of completion of designing, testing and obtaining UAT. This is done simultaneously for all the requirements under process. RTM does not miss out any requirements given by the stakeholder. It is plays an important role and act as an tool to check the status of requirement lying at which stage in the project. It is a document that which indicates the end of the project in SDLC. It helps us to find out what all things are completed, what all things are in process and what all things are yet left to be done and at what stage. Subsequently, it helps the Project Manager to allocate the duties, prioritize them and take forward the task for completion. The RTM has to be updated regularly to keep the status of all the requirements up to date. This is necessary if the stakeholder has to check the progress of their project. Stakeholder can easily find out and track the progress of the project by referring to the RTM document. Stakeholders can easily make out if any requirements are to set some prioritization or want them to complete first. With this the team will be able to handle the changes effectively. They will be able to realign the requirements according to changes indicated by the stakeholders. They can set prioritization for these requirements and see to it that they are delivered first. Also, they will be able to meet the expectations of the stakeholders. RTM helps to monitor the project and express the delivery of the requirements. This will help to timely deliver the requirements and avoid any delay in the project completion. RTM is an indicative tool. It helps the team to know the different levels of testing done for a particular type of requirement. This will help to understand that all possible scenarios were considered while testing the requirement. RTM acts as a decision-making tool also. It not only helps to track the requirements but also help to find out the time required to complete the specific requirements. It helps the project manager to find out how many more resources are required to complete the project. It helps to track the time required for completion of each requirement. It also indicates if the resources are utilised concisely and efficiently. It helps to make estimate of delivery of the tasks against total duration of the project. It will also help to estimate the cost incurred for the delivery of the requirements by then. Thus, RTM acts as an important tool from stakeholders and project team members perspective. Everyone is able to figure out the status and progress of the project at the same time there is no need of separate meetings to be conducted to get feedback of the progress from each individual. This will save lot of time and engagement of resources.