An Audit Model for ISO 9001 Traceability Requirements in Agile-XP Environments

Software organizations that develop their software products using the agile software processes such as Extreme Programming (XP) face a number of challenges in their effort to demonstrate that their process activities conform to ISO 9001 requirements, a major one being product traceability: software organizations must provide evidence of ISO 9001 conformity, and they need to develop their own procedures, tools, and methodologies to do so. This paper proposes an auditing model for ISO 9001 traceability requirements that is applicable in agile (XP) environments. The design of our model is based on evaluation theory, and includes the use of several auditing “yardsticks” derived from the principles of engineering design, the SWEBOK Guide, and the CMMI-DEV guidelines for requirement management and traceability for each yardstick. Finally, five approaches for agile-XP traceability approaches are audited based on the proposed audit model.