A Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM), also called Requirements Catalog, is a central tracking mechanism for those tasked with writing and managing requirements to track the evolution and attributes of approved project requirements. The RTM links requirements through the validation process helping the team track progress and requirement metadata. Various stakeholders take value from the RTM both during requirements development process and after. Benefit include
- Audit – ensure a track record of approval and best practice was followed.
- Testing – tracks that testing objectives have been set, approved and tests passed.
- Approval – who signed off on what and when.
- Attributes – requirements attributes like type, ID, source, owner etc are recorded.
- Vertical traceability – trace requirement to business need.