Poirot: A Distributed Tool Supporting Enterprise-Wide Automated Traceability

Abstract

Poirot is a Web-based tool supporting traceability of distributed heterogeneous software artifacts. A probabilistic network model is used to generate traces between requirements, design elements, code and other artifacts stored in distributed 3 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">rd</sup> party case tools such as DOORS, rational rose, and source code repositories. The tool is designed with extensibility in mind, so that additional artifact types and 3 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">rd</sup> party case tools can be easily added. Trace results are displayed in both a textual and visual format. This paper briefly describes the underlying probabilistic model, and the user interface of the tool, and then discusses Poirot's deployment and use in an industrial setting