Context-Sensitive Traceability Controlling

In the course of a research project funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), we integrate cognitive engineering in the field of requirements management. In doing so, we go in the question of how utility and quality of design components could be operationalized in the context of modeling at the design phase in a software development project. We named this project Traceability Controlling (TraCo). Our focus in TraCo is on the quality assurance of the modelers´ design decisions made at the phase of problem-solving and solution specification. For the purpose of implementing TraCo we choose an interdisciplinary approach. We present an appropriate method to ensure the level of quality of the created design solution already during its creation. The TraCo-method can be used for continuously monitoring and controlling content quality issues like adequacy, appropriateness, and impact. By using the introduced method, system architects and modelers are able to validate whether the design model or fine-grained the model´s design components exist in sufficient quality and whether these components meet the predetermined requirements´ prioritization (i.e. their stakeholder values).