What is the purpose of a requirements traceability matrix?

Tracks Requirement Fulfillment:

• The RTM maps each requirement with its associated designing, developing and testing activity ensuring all the requirements to be catered and validated.
  

Maintains Traceability:

• It helps in establishing clear connection between requirements, project milestones and final deliverables to trace back the changes/issues.
  

Facilitates Change Management:

• The RTM helps in evaluating the impact of a proposed change, i.e., change in requirements on the project scope, its deliverables and thus on timelines/ efforts/costs.
  

Ensures Accountability:

• RTM will assign an owner to each requirement and this reduce the effort in holding a team member accountable for their work or for a specific delivery.
  

Supports Quality Assurance:

• By mapping requirements with the test criteria, RTM ensures that all the requirements have been duly tested before we finish a project.
  

In summary, the RTM is an important mechanism to track requirements right from the inception till realization and validation of the same in all phases of project.