Improving reviews by extended traceability

When defining a new system, the history and functionality of the system to be replaced should be considered. This avoids repeating errors and neglecting important system functionality. The properties and the rationale behind the existing system are typically elicited by analysing concrete system usage-scenarios. The results of the analysis of the existing system are typically represented using conceptual models. To establish conceptual models of high quality, reviewing the models is common practice. The problem faced with when reviewing conceptual models, is that the reviewer cannot assess and therefore understand the basis (concrete system usage) on which the conceptual models where build. In this paper, we present an approach to overcome this problem. We argue to establish extended traceability, by recording concrete system usage scenarios using rich media (e.g. video, speech, graphic) and interrelating the recorded observations with the conceptual models. We discuss the main improvements for review processes resulting from the extended traceability and illustrate the advantages with excerpts from a case study performed in a mechanical engineering company.