TRACER: a tool for tracing and control of engineering requirements

The Tracing and Control of Engineering Requirements (TRACER) system was developed to document, trace, and control requirements for any project no matter what its size. It is a computerized database system designed to support a flexible project requirement document tree that may be partitioned according to level. Individual requirements can be entered at any level and traced from the highest source to the ultimate implementer. A number of attributes characterize each requirement. A variety of paper and electronic reports is available. The system runs on IBM AT personal computers. TRACER is currently in use for an interplanetary spacecraft project. The author describes the motivation for TRACER, its purpose, benefits, and applicability, provides a summary description of the database system, outlines its hardware and software implementation, and explains its operation. Examples of documents and reports are provided. It is concluded that TRACER can support the requirements documentation and tracing of a full-up project containing more than 25000 requirements such as an interplanetary spacecraft project