Towards systematic selection of architectural patterns with respect to quality requirements

ABSTRACT

The design of software architecture for a system-to-be is a challenge, since required functionality as well as the desired quality requirements have to be considered. Building upon common knowledge and best practices captured in architectural patterns has shown to be valuable in this context. However, existing solutions for deriving architectures from requirements mostly rely on experienced architects. Beside the required experience, it is often a problem that the decision is not properly reasoned and documented. In this paper, we propose a process to select appropriate architectural patterns with regards to given (quality) requirements for the system-to-be. The process uses problem frames for modeling requirements and relates requirements to architectural patterns by means of a question catalog. The answers to the questions indicate suitable architectural pattern candidates. The final decision making about the pattern to be used is supported with several steps and also takes tactics and their applicability for a pattern into account. This way, our proposed process connects requirements and architecture, guides even less experienced software engineers through the pattern selection process, provides support for decision making, and makes the decision rationale transparent. The expected target audience for this paper consists of both experienced and less-experienced software architects.

References

1. Alebrahim, A., Choppy, C., Fassbender, S., and Heisel, M. 2014. Optimizing functional and quality requirements according to stakeholders' goals. In System Quality and Software Architecture (SQSA). Elsevier, 75--120.
2. Alebrahim, A., Hatebur, D., and Heisel, M. 2011. Towards systematic integration of quality requirements into software architecture. In Proc. ECSA'11. Springer, 17--25.
3. Avgeriou, P. and Zdun, U. 2005. Architectural patterns revisited: A pattern language. In In 10th European Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs (EuroPlop 2005), Irsee. 1--39.
4. Bass, L., Clemens, P., and Kazman, R. 2003. Software architecture in practice Second Ed. Addison-Wesley.
5. Bass, L. and John, B. E. 2003. Linking usability to software architecture patterns through general scenarios. Journal of Systems and Software 66, 3, 187--197.
6. Bode, S. and Riebisch, M. 2010. Impact Evaluation for Quality-Oriented Architectural Decisions regarding Evolvability. In Software Architecture. Springer, 182--197.
7. Bosch, J. 2000. Design and use of software architectures. Addison-Weseley.
8. Bosch, J. and Molin, P. 1999. Software architecture design: evaluation and transformation. In Proceedings. ECBS'99. 4--10.
9. Buschmann, F., Meunier, R., Rohnert, H., Sommerlad, P., and Stal, M. 1996. Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture: A System of Patterns. Vol. 1. John Wiley & Sons.
10. Choppy, C., Hatebur, D., and Heisel, M. 2005. Architectural patterns for problem frames. IEE Proceedings -- Software, Special issue on Relating Software Requirements and Architecture 152, 4, 198--208.
11. Côté, I., Hatebur, D., Heisel, M., Schmidt, H., and Wentzlaff, I. 2008. A Systematic Account of Problem Frames. In Proc. of the European Conf. on Pattern Languages of Programs (EuroPLoP). Universitätsverlag Konstanz, 749--767.
12. Davis, F. D., Bagozzi, R. P., and Warshaw, P. R. 1989. User acceptance of computer technology: A comparison of two theoretical models. Manage. Sci. 35, 8, 982--1003.
13. Fassbender, S. and Heisel, M. 2013. From problems to laws in requirements engineering using model-transformation. In Proc. ICSOFT 2013. SciTePress, 447--458.
14. Fassbender, S. and Heisel, M. 2014. A computer aided process from problems to laws in requirements engineering. In Software Technologies. Communications in Computer and Information Science Series, vol. 457. Springer, 215--234.
15. Fowler, M. 1996. Analysis Patterns: Reusable Object Models. Addison Wesley.
16. Gamma, E., Helm, R., Johnson, R., and Vlissides, J. 1995. Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software. Addison Wesley.
17. Gross, D. and Yu, E. 2001. From non-functional requirements to design through patterns. Requirements Engineering 6, 1, 18--36.
18. Harrison, N. B. and Avgeriou, P. 2010. How do architecture patterns and tactics interact? a model and annotation. J. Syst. Softw. 83, 10, 1735--1758.
19. Hatebur, D. and Heisel, M. 2010. Making pattern- and model-based software development more rigorous. In Proceddings ICFEM'11. Springer, 253--269.
20. Hofmeister, C., Nord, R., and Soni, D. 1999. Applied Software Architecture: A Practical Guide for Software Designers. Addison-Wesley.
21. In, H. and Boehm, B. 2001. Using WinWin Quality Requirements Management Tools: A Case Study. Annals of Software Engineering (Kluwer 11, 141--174.
22. ISO/IEC. 2010. Iso/iec 25010 system and software quality models. Tech. rep.
23. Jackson, M. 2001. Problem Frames. Analyzing and structuring software development problems. Addison-Wesley.
24. Kazman, R., Klein, M., Barbacci, M., Longstaff, T., Lipson, H., and Carriere, J. 1998. The Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method. In Proceedings of the Fourth IEEE International Conference on Engineering of Complex Computer Systems (ICECCS.
25. Konersmann, M., Alebrahim, A., Heisel, M., Goedicke, M., and Kersten, B. 2012. Deriving Quality-based Architecture Alternatives with Patterns. In Proceddings SE'12. GI, 71--82.
26. Kruchten, P. 1995. The 4+1 View Model of architecture. IEEE Software 12, 6, 42--50.
27. Müller, M., Kersten, B., and Goedicke, M. 2011. A Question-Based Method for Deriving Software Architectures. In Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Software Architecture (ECSA), I. Crnkovic, V. Gruhn, and M. Book, Eds. LNCS 6903. Springer Verlag, 35--42.
28. Mustajoki, J. and Hämäläinen, R. 2007. Smart-swaps - a decision support system for multicriteria decision analysis with the even swaps method. Decision Support Systems 44, 1, 313--325.
29. Obrien, L., Bass, L., and Merson, P. 2005. Quality Attributes and Service-Oriented Architectures. Tech. Rep. CMU/SEI-2005-TN-014, Software Engineering Institute.
30. Ozkaya, I., Bass, L., Sangwan, R. S., and Nord, R. L. 2008. Making practical use of quality attribute information. IEEE Softw. 25, 2, 25--33.
31. Pomerol, J. and Barba-Romero, S. 2000. Multicriterion Decision in Management: Principles and Practice. Int. series in operations research & management science: ISOR. Kluwer.
32. Rausch, A., Reussner, R., Mirandola, R., and Plasil, F. 2008. The Common Component Modeling Example: Comparing Software Component Models 1st Ed. Springer.
33. Saaty, T. 2005. The analytic hierarchy and analytic network processes for the measurement of intangible criteria and for decision-making. In Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis: State of the Art Surveys. Springer, 345--408.
34. Shaw, M. and Garlan, G. 1996. Software Aechitecture: Perspectives on an emerging discipline. Prentice Hall.
35. van Heesch, U. and Avgeriou, P. 2011. Mature architecting - a survey about the reasoning process of professional architects. In Software Architecture (WICSA), 2011 9th Working IEEE/IFIP Conference on. 260--269.
36. van Heesch, U., Avgeriou, P., and Tang, A. 2013. Does decision documentation help junior designers rationalize their decisions? a comparative multiple-case study. J. Syst. Softw. 86, 6, 1545--1565.
37. Weiss, M. 2008. Patterns and their impact on system concerns. In In European Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs.
38. Wohlin, C., Runeson, P., Höst, M., Ohlsson, M. C., Regnell, B., and Wesslén, A. 2000. Experimentation in Software Engineering: An Introduction. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Norwell, MA, USA.
39. Wojcik, R., Bachmann, F., Bass, L., Clements, P. C., Merson, P., Nord, R., and Wood, W. G. 2006. Attribute-Driven Design (ADD), Version 2.0. Tech. rep., Software Engineering Institute.
40. Zdun, U. 2007. Systematic pattern selection using pattern language grammars and design space analysis. Softw. Pract. Exper. 37, 9, 983--1016.

Index Terms

• Computing methodologies

  • Machine learning

• Social and professional topics

  • Professional topics

    • Management of computing and information systems

      • System management

        • Quality assurance

• Software and its engineering

  • Software notations and tools

    • General programming languages

      • Language features

        • Patterns

  • Software organization and properties

    • Software system structures

      • Distributed systems organizing principles

        • Client-server architectures

      • Software architectures