Feature Transition Charts for Visualization of Cross-Project Scope Evolution in Large-Scale Requirements Engineering for Product Lines

In large-scale multi-project software engineering it is a challenge to provide a comprehensive overview of the complexity and dynamics of the requirements engineering process. This paper presents a visualization technique called Feature Transition Charts (FTC) that gives an overview of scoping decisions involving changes across multiple projects based on previous work on within-project visualization of feature survival. FTC is initially validated using industrial data from the embedded systems domain in a multi-project product line engineering context in dialogue with practitioners. The initial validation provided specific improvement proposals for further work and indicated a positive view on the general feasibility and usefulness of FTC.