A government agency has initialed a project to implement a customer registry that will be...

The cost of tracing is the factor that takes precedence while determining the requirements traceability approach. Requirements traceability is the ability to track a requirement from its origin to its realization in a solution1. Requirements traceability helps to ensure that the requirements are aligned with the business need, the solution scope, and the test cases. However, requirements traceability also involves effort and resources to establish and maintain the links between requirements and other artifacts. Therefore, the cost of tracing should be balanced with the benefits of traceability, and the level of traceability should be appropriate for the project context and complexity2. The otherfactors, such as number of defects, number of stakeholders, and cost of testing, are not directly related to the requirements traceability approach, although they may influence the decision on how much traceability is needed. References:

1: BABOK® Guide v3, Chapter 6: Requirements Life Cycle Management, Section 6.4: Maintain Requirements

2: Business Analysis Expert Certification, CCBA® | IIBA®