A scenario-driven approach to trace dependency analysis

Software development artifacts-such as model descriptions, diagrammatic languages, abstract (formal) specifications, and source code-are highly interrelated where changes in some of them affect others. Trace dependencies characterize such relationships abstractly. This paper presents an automated approach to generating and validating trace dependencies. It addresses the severe problem that the absence of trace information or the uncertainty of its correctness limits the usefulness of software models during software development. It also automates what is normally a time consuming and costly activity due to the quadratic explosion of potential trace dependencies between development artifacts.