Quality control is not one of the reasons why trace requirements is useful, but a process that monitors and measures the quality of the project deliverables and outputs against the quality standards and criteria established in the quality management plan. Quality control is used to make certain that the project team members are completing the project work according to the project plan and meeting the stakeholder expectations. Quality control involves performing quality audits, inspections, tests, reviews, and validations to identify and correct any defects, errors, or deviations from the specifications1.
The other three options are valid reasons why trace requirements is useful. Trace requirements is a technique that involves establishing and documenting the relationships between requirements and other aspects of the product management process, such as design elements, test cases, releases, and incidents. Trace requirements is useful for the following purposes234:
Impact analysis: Trace requirements helps to evaluate the impact of a potential change or a problem on the requirements and the solution. By tracing the dependencies and links between requirements and other items, the business analyst can quickly and easily assess the scope, cost, time, and risk implications of the change or the problem, and plan the appropriate response actions.
Requirements coverage: Trace requirements helps to ensure that all the requirements are fulfilled by the solution and that all the solution components contribute to the requirements. By tracing the alignment and mapping between requirements and solution components, the business analyst can verify that the solution meets the stakeholder needs and expectations, and that there are no gaps or redundancies in the solution.
Requirements allocation: Trace requirements helps to assign requirements to solution components and to releases. By tracing the distribution and allocation of requirements to different parts of the solution and to different phases of the project, the business analyst can prioritize and schedule the requirements based on their value, risk, dependency, and complexity, and ensure that the solution is delivered incrementally and iteratively. References: 1: Project Quality Management: Processes & Tools | Villanova University5 2: Requirements Traceability - The What, Why and How | Netmind6 3: Requirements traceability – why and how to do it?7 4: Requirements traceability : What, why and how - Modern Analyst8
