Architectural Knowledge: Getting to the Core

Abstract

Abstract. Different organizations or organizational units are likely to store and maintain different types of information about their software architectures. This inhibits effective management of architectural knowledge. We experimented with a model of architectural knowledge to characterize the use of architectural knowledge in four different organizations. Based on this experimentation we identified four perspectives on architectural knowledge management, and additionally adjusted the model to better align theory with practice. The refined model defines a minimal set of concepts with supposedly complete coverage of the architectural knowledge domain. Because of the minimalistic aspect of the model, we refer to it as a 'core model' of architectural knowledge. Supporting evidence for the validity of our model, i.e. the supposed complete coverage, has been obtained by an attempt to falsify this claim through a comparison with selected literature. Application of the core model to characterize the use of architectural knowledge indicates possible areas of improvement for architectural knowledge management in the four organizations.

An analysis of decision-centric architectural design approaches

“…A more recent definition is provided by an architectural knowledge model, i.e. the Core model [15]. It describes the key elements of architectural knowledge and design reasoning with minimalistic but complete concepts [15].…”

“…the Core model [15]. It describes the key elements of architectural knowledge and design reasoning with minimalistic but complete concepts [15]. Since these standards and reference models complement each other, we refer to them as the baselines for the analysis of decision-centric approaches.…”

Software Architecture Knowledge Management

“…The project emphasizes sharing architectural knowledge in a distributed, global context. Some of the results so far can be found in [4,5,6,8,9,12,14].…”

“…We have constructed a core model of architectural knowledge: a reference model in which different specifications of what architectural knowledge entails can be expressed [8]. This model describes among others a 'decision loop' that relates individual architectural design decisions.…”

“…Or, in the words of Van Lamsweerde, "quality goals are used to compare alternative options and select preferred ones" [18]. This is remarkably similar to how concerns are used to rank alternative solutions and choose the eventual design decision in the decision loop from our architectural knowledge theory [8].…”