An initial evaluation of requirements dependency types in change propagation analysis

Background: Change propagation analysis helps predict the parts of the software that may be affected if a change is made. Existing research on change propagation focuses on design and code level changes. However, as a software evolves, the requirements that drive these changes also have intricate dependencies. Understanding the effect of these requirement dependencies on change prorogation is useful but not trivial. More than twenty requirements dependency types have been identified in the literature, however there still lacks an evaluation of the applicability of these dependency types in requirements and change propagation analysis. Aim: We aim to investigate whether these dependency types are useful for change propagation analysis. Method: We conducted a case study in a real-world industry project. This case study evaluates two representative dependency models covering twenty five types of dependencies. Results: Our initial evaluation has found that five dependency types are particularly useful in change propagation analysis and practitioners with different backgrounds have various viewpoints on change propagation. Thus change impact analysis should involve a wide range of stakeholders including project managers, requirements engineers, designers and developers. Conclusions: Our case study provides insights into requirements dependencies and their effects on change propagation analysis for both research and practice.