Lesson 5 of 6
Traceability
10 min
Traceability means you can follow a line from each business requirement to the scenarios that prove it, to the results of running them, and to any defects they found. It sounds like paperwork. In practice it is how a process owner answers the only question that matters at sign-off: "Has everything we asked for been shown to work?"
The links that matter
- RequirementO2C-R-004: fleet customers receive their contract price
- Process stepBD9, create sales order
- ScenarioO2C-010 Sell alternators from stock to a fleet customer at contract price
- ExecutionRun in QAS client 100 by Maria on the UAT cycle 1 date; result: passed
- Defect (if any)Linked to the failed step, retested and closed before sign-off
- OwnerProcess owner for order to cash approves the evidence
Every scenario should carry at least one requirement ID and its scope item and process step. Every requirement should be covered by at least one scenario, or carry an explicit note that it is tested elsewhere (for example by an interface test) or accepted without testing by the process owner.
A simple coverage matrix
| Requirement | Scope item / step | Scenarios | Status | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| O2C-R-004 Fleet contract price | BD9 / create sales order | O2C-010 | Passed | Order-to-cash process owner |
| O2C-R-007 Approval above 100,000 USD | BD9 / delta step 2a | O2C-010, O2C-011 | O2C-011 failed; defect open | Order-to-cash process owner |
| O2C-R-011 Revenue by profit center | BD9 / billing | O2C-010 | Passed | Dan (finance) |
| O2C-R-015 Partial deliveries billed per delivery | BD9 / delivery and billing | None | Gap | Order-to-cash process owner |
Coverage matrix extract for order to cash. Requirement IDs are fictional.
Reading the matrix takes seconds. O2C-R-015 has no scenario, so it is a gap. O2C-R-007 has an open defect, so it is not yet proven. The matrix also works in the other direction: a scenario that links to no requirement is either testing something nobody asked for or exposing a requirement nobody wrote down. Both are worth a conversation.
Where traceability lives
On projects using SAP Cloud ALM, requirements, solution processes and test cases can be linked in the tool, and test execution results and defects are recorded against them, so coverage views come largely for free. Projects on SAP Solution Manager use its test suite in the same way. A well-kept spreadsheet works for a small project. What matters is that the links are recorded when scenarios are written, not reconstructed the night before sign-off.
What would you do?
Dan asks Priya on the eve of UAT exit: "Is the requirement that revenue posts by profit center tested?" The scenarios exist, but nobody recorded requirement IDs on them. What should Priya do?
- Traceability links requirement, process step, scenario, execution, defect and owner.
- Every requirement needs a scenario or a documented decision; every scenario needs a requirement.
- A coverage matrix shows gaps and open defects at a glance.
- Record links when scenarios are written, in SAP Cloud ALM, Solution Manager or a controlled spreadsheet.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. A requirement has no linked scenario. What does that indicate?
2. A scenario links to no requirement. What should you do?
3. Which SAP tool can link requirements, solution processes and test cases on a project?
4. Why is a 100 percent pass rate on 80 percent of requirements not a clean result?