Architecture Lifecycle Issues

Architecture Based Process

• Establish business case for the system. e.g. Product cost, time to market.
• Understand the requirements
  • Use cases, prototypes
  • Quality attributes
  • Commonality & variability from previous/future systems - domain analysis.
• Develop the architecture - use tactics, styles.
• Document the architecture - using variety of views and ADL.
• Analyse or evaluate the architecture.
• Implement product based on the architecture.
• Ensure that implementation conforms with architecture.

Process Recommendations

• Architecture should be a product of a single architect or a small group of architects with a single leader.
• Arch should have both functional reqs and an articulated, prioritized list of quality attributes.
• Arch should be well documented with atleast one static view and one dynamic view.
• Arch should be circulated to all stakeholders who should actively review.
• Arch should be analysed for quantitative measures and formally evaluated for qualitative properties.
• Should lend itself to incremental implementation via creation of a skeletal system.

Global Analysis

• The purpose of global analysis is to analyse the factors that influence the architecture and develop strategies for accommodating these factors in the architecture design.
• Three types of factors:

1. Organizational factors
2. Technological factors
3. Product factors

Process

1. Analyse factors

• Identify and describe factors
  • Consider those that have significant global influence.
  • Can factor be localized or is it truly global ?
• Characterize the flexibility and changeability of the factors
  • Can factor be changed, modified, influenced.
  • How often will it change ? How likely ?
• Analyse the impact of factors
  • Other factors, component, design decisions.