Modeling Traceability between Requirements and Coding Using the Property Listing Task

In recent years, the search for an effective software traceability approach has become a significant challenge. Software developers must validate whether each requirement statement has been implemented in the source code. However, less attention has been paid to incorporating semantic, syntactic/structural, and physical information for more accurate traceability. This paper presents an adaptation of the Property Listing Task, which was previously used in cognitive research, to model the traceability between requirements and coding artifacts. The proposed SeFea-Trace Conceptual Model (STCM) is presented using mathematical notations and a metamodel to bridge concepts and practical implementations. We demonstrate the use of the STCM in two case studies and discuss the challenges faced by researchers using our proposed approach. We expect that our proposed model will be applicable to trace software projects with limited artifacts, i.e., requirements statements and implementation files, and will maintain accurate trace links.