# Has anyone used any tools (not excel) be useful for creating & maintaining Requirements Traceability Matrix? **URL:** \ **Category:** Discussions\ **Tags:** tools, test-cases\ **Created:** [28 February 2024 16:55 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/has-anyone-used-any-tools-not-excel-be-useful-for-creating-maintaining-requirements-traceability-matrix/74457 "2024-02-28T16:55:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![captainjonesy2](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/captainjonesy2/32/12298_2.png) [@captainjonesy2](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/captainjonesy2)\ **Post date:** [28 February 2024 16:55 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/has-anyone-used-any-tools-not-excel-be-useful-for-creating-maintaining-requirements-traceability-matrix/74457/1 "2024-02-28T16:55:21Z")
Hi, As a QA Manager, working for a client where the project uses waterfall methodology; company is very traditional that is highly regulated with many requirements & standards and I require a tool & process to measure & sign off the quality. The client would me to create Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) tool to achieve the following: 1. Mapping requirements to test cases 2. Mapping to any document or user stories for requirement 3. To validate stage of TC writing/ if TC is ready for testing by QA - Draft \> in Progress \> Testable in software \> needs update 4. Map the type of testing required per requirement, compliance, accessibility, security, etc 5. What phase of STLC does the TC need to be executed? 6. Test status/execution per TC or requirement - Passed, Failed, CNT, etc 7. Tracking bugs per TC or requirement Typically I create such a tool to cover my needs via a spreadsheet. Just wondering if there is other alternative tools that I can use to save time on sheet creation & maintenance? For 2, 3, 5, 6 - Typical Test management tool like Xray or Testrail For 7 - You have Jira But I haven’t seen a tool that covers 1 or 4, is any such tool out there? ideally it would be great if there was single tool that cover all of these. Any thoughts is much appreciated. Thanks, Chris ---
**Author:** ![simon\_tomes](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/simon_tomes/32/14009_2.png) [@simon\_tomes](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/simon_tomes)\ **Post date:** [28 February 2024 17:55 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/has-anyone-used-any-tools-not-excel-be-useful-for-creating-maintaining-requirements-traceability-matrix/74457/2 "2024-02-28T17:55:49Z")
Hi @captainjonesy2. I’ve not used these yet perhaps [Test Compass](https://www.compass-testservices.com/screenshots/) or [Helix ALM](https://www.perforce.com/products/helix-alm) could help. 🤔 (found on the [Software Testing Tools](https://www.ministryoftesting.com/software-testing-tools) directory) ---
**Author:** ![meg90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@meg90](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/meg90)\ **Post date:** [28 February 2024 20:39 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/has-anyone-used-any-tools-not-excel-be-useful-for-creating-maintaining-requirements-traceability-matrix/74457/3 "2024-02-28T20:39:32Z")
I have used JIRA-XRAY product manager adds all the requirements into JIRA as stories for the sprints QA adds test cases in XRAY plugin for all those JIRA stories and links test plans, test cases, test execution status. This way requirements, test cases, test execution remains in a single place ---
**Author:** ![pmichielsen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/pmichielsen/32/8959_2.png) [@pmichielsen](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/pmichielsen)\ **Post date:** [29 February 2024 06:56 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/has-anyone-used-any-tools-not-excel-be-useful-for-creating-maintaining-requirements-traceability-matrix/74457/4 "2024-02-29T06:56:56Z")
In my current employment I’m setting up a similar structure as @meg90 describes (Jira with the XRay plug in). In my previous job we used [JAMA](https://www.jamasoftware.com/), and I’m also aware of a tool called [Polarion](https://polarion.plm.automation.siemens.com/). For me it is important that such a tool provides an API so that you can make it easier (automate and integrate) to enter, modify and extract data. Something you can do with JAMA and Jira; not sure about Polarion ---
**Author:** ![c32hedge](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/c32hedge/32/9126_2.png) [@c32hedge](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/c32hedge)\ **Post date:** [29 February 2024 15:08 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/has-anyone-used-any-tools-not-excel-be-useful-for-creating-maintaining-requirements-traceability-matrix/74457/5 "2024-02-29T15:08:36Z")
We use Jira Xray for test protocols, but there’s also another plugin specifically for requirements that I’ve found really helpful. It’s R4J–Requirements for Jira. ---
**Author:** ![paulac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/97f17d/32.png) [@paulac](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/paulac)\ **Post date:** [1 March 2024 11:47 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/has-anyone-used-any-tools-not-excel-be-useful-for-creating-maintaining-requirements-traceability-matrix/74457/6 "2024-03-01T11:47:27Z")
Hi! I have just seen your question and adding to what others have said, Jira is a pretty good tool to use. In my last project we used it with [qTest](https://www.tricentis.com/products/unified-test-management-qtest), it basically allows you to import requirements from Jira as well as Jama. I hope this helps! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![c32hedge](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/c32hedge/32/9126_2.png) [@c32hedge](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/c32hedge)\ **Post date:** [1 March 2024 15:12 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/has-anyone-used-any-tools-not-excel-be-useful-for-creating-maintaining-requirements-traceability-matrix/74457/7 "2024-03-01T15:12:58Z")
We have a few qtest licenses just to be able to use qtest explorer, but it’s quite expensive and personally I didn’t like how much it forces you to use their own process-heavy workflow for test cases instead of being able to adapt the tool to your own workflow. A lot of these tools are like that, unfortunately. ---
**Author:** ![caryharwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@caryharwin](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/caryharwin)\ **Post date:** [3 March 2024 21:34 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/has-anyone-used-any-tools-not-excel-be-useful-for-creating-maintaining-requirements-traceability-matrix/74457/8 "2024-03-03T21:34:59Z")
Have you ever used Decision Tables. There is an AI enabled Decision Table processor that once you built your table in the spreadsheet UI and have all your rules listed, you can use the options in the ‘Logic Menu’ to have LogicGem find any missing, redundant, contradictory or ambiguous rules and it will then fix them for you so that you have a validated and complete table. For communicating with your client you can generate documentation of the table and rules in several naturall languages. Using the ‘Compiler Menu’ you can translate the table into source code in 24 programming languages. You can view a demo video of a Business Analysts working with perfecting business rules here: [Videos - LogicGem](https://logicgem.com/videos) Cary Harwin ---
**Author:** ![captainjonesy2](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/captainjonesy2/32/12298_2.png) [@captainjonesy2](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/captainjonesy2)\ **Post date:** [4 March 2024 17:02 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/has-anyone-used-any-tools-not-excel-be-useful-for-creating-maintaining-requirements-traceability-matrix/74457/9 "2024-03-04T17:02:00Z")
@simon_tomes @meg90 @pmichielsen @c32hedge @paulac @caryharwin Thank you for your recommendations. All good tools providing different solutions and usecases. @c32hedge I’m not a fan of Qtest. Like you say it is very labour heavy and forces to work in their way rather giving you the data to work in your own way. I find it hard to clear overview of traceability. @meg90@c32hedge I’m consisting Xray with Jira. Does Xray have any overview of a requirements traceability? A screen with list of total requirements of the product in test with number of tests per requirement, test status per requirement, etc? @c32hedge Or is that why you use R4J–Requirements for Jira as well to map the requirements with tests? ---
**Author:** ![c32hedge](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/c32hedge/32/9126_2.png) [@c32hedge](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/c32hedge)\ **Post date:** [4 March 2024 20:09 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/has-anyone-used-any-tools-not-excel-be-useful-for-creating-maintaining-requirements-traceability-matrix/74457/10 "2024-03-04T20:09:46Z")
> Or is that why you use R4J–Requirements for Jira as well to map the requirements with tests? Yes, exactly–the two seem to integrate pretty well. We use a “tests/is tested by” link type to link protocols with the associated requirements. Then on the requirement, it will show things like “Covered” or “Not Covered” based on whether such a link to a protocol exists, and once you execute a protocol as part of a formal Test Execution it will update the status of the linked requirements based on whether the linked protocol(s) passed or failed. > A screen with list of total requirements of the product in test with number of tests per requirement, test status per requirement, etc? This would be provided by R4J. It adds some of its own querying features where you can build those kinds of traces using JQL queries and filters. ---
**Author:** ![captainjonesy2](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/captainjonesy2/32/12298_2.png) [@captainjonesy2](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/captainjonesy2)\ **Post date:** [6 March 2024 11:54 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/has-anyone-used-any-tools-not-excel-be-useful-for-creating-maintaining-requirements-traceability-matrix/74457/11 "2024-03-06T11:54:32Z")
@c32hedge - Thanks for that. Last Question: Using R4 within your company, does other disciplines like PMs use this tool to write & track the requirements or do they write them in user stories? Then QA would have to map the story to the tests for the matrix. If the latter, is this time communing overhead for QA? The challenge I’m facing is convincing everyone involved SDLC use this tool as collective to increase efficiency. If I can’t then I’m weighting up if R4 is still worth using as QA only tool. ---
**Author:** ![joaofarias](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/joaofarias/32/11709_2.png) [@joaofarias](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/joaofarias)\ **Post date:** [6 March 2024 12:22 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/has-anyone-used-any-tools-not-excel-be-useful-for-creating-maintaining-requirements-traceability-matrix/74457/12 "2024-03-06T12:22:38Z")
What about describing the requirements as scenarios? If the scenarios are the requirements, there is no need to map anything. You then exercise these scenarios to try to find if your product do not adhere to the requirements. ---
**Author:** ![captainjonesy2](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/captainjonesy2/32/12298_2.png) [@captainjonesy2](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/captainjonesy2)\ **Post date:** [8 March 2024 11:11 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/has-anyone-used-any-tools-not-excel-be-useful-for-creating-maintaining-requirements-traceability-matrix/74457/13 "2024-03-08T11:11:51Z")
@joaofarias Good idea. I love to do this. In my situation I will require some training and mind set shift with PMs. First thing, we need to decide what tool to manage our requirements, then agree on the standards of writing/providing them.