Which statement best captures the purpose of requirements traceability?

Which statement best captures the purpose of requirements traceability?

• A. It tracks the allocation of resources to requirements.
• B. It documents the history of changes to requirements.
• C. It ensures that all requirements are covered by at least one function and all functions are justified by a valid requirement.
• D. It ensures vendor compliance with requirements.

Answer: (C)

Requirements traceability focuses on linking each requirement to the design elements and tests that implement and verify it. This ensures two things: every function or feature is traced back to a valid requirement (coverage), and every function is justified by at least one valid requirement (no extraneous functionality). That alignment—requirements driving what gets built and what gets tested—is what the best statement captures. The other options describe different activities: tracking resource allocation is about project management, documenting change history is change control, and vendor compliance is procurement or supplier management.

Requirements traceability focuses on linking each requirement to the design elements and tests that implement and verify it. This ensures two things: every function or feature is traced back to a valid requirement (coverage), and every function is justified by at least one valid requirement (no extraneous functionality). That alignment—requirements driving what gets built and what gets tested—is what the best statement captures. The other options describe different activities: tracking resource allocation is about project management, documenting change history is change control, and vendor compliance is procurement or supplier management.