Scenario-based software architecture reengineering

Abstract

A method for reengineering software architectures is presented in this paper. The method explicitly addresses the quality attributes of the software architecture. Assessment of quality attributes is performed primarily through the use of scenarios. Design transformations are used to improve quality attributes that do not satisfy the requirements. Assessment and design transformation can be performed for several iterations until all requirements are met. To illustrate the method, the reengineering of a prototypical measurement system into a domainspecific software architecture is used as an example.

SAAT: reverse engineering for performance analysis

“…Bengtsson and Bosch [13] pointed out that there was no research on architectural reengineering methodology, and if any, quality attributes were not considered. They defined a reengineering methodology based on scenarios.…”

“…These efforts to produce architecture-level execution models from software execution flow have indeed begun [8,9,10,11,12,13]. The researches have presented many fundamental and useful results, but further efforts are required to make them practical such as expanding to the languages mainly used in real development.…”

Scenario-based design and evaluation for capability

“…However, they differ significantly in their focus and the number of attributes employed. For example, while the Software Architecture Assessment Method (SAAM) [19] and its variants focus on singular quality attributes such as modifiability, flexibility, evolution and reusability other methods such as the Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method (ATAM) [20], Scenario-Based Architecture Reengineering (SBAR) [21] and the Software Architecture Evaluation Model (SAEM) [22] include multiple attributes which contribute to a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the overall architecture and its constituent parts. The selection of the most appropriate methods is dependent on the context in which the architecture is being evaluated and the quality attributes being addressed [16].…”

Towards Independent Software Architecture Review

“…These methods include the use of metrics, simulations and prototyping to collect information for evaluation. For instances, SBAR [9] supports simulation and mathematical models to analyze software qualities such as performance or fault-tolerance; CBAM [10] and ArchDesigner [11] use utility measures for trade-off analyses; a metrics-based approach [12] evaluates an architecture by using module coupling and cohesion to predict the software quality.…”

“…Architecture reviewers perform these qualitative evaluations via design reviews and inspections. Scenarios-based and attribute-based analysis methods such as SAAM [6], ATAM [7], SBAR [8]; and architectural review methodologies such as AT&T's software architecture review and assessment methods [9,10] belong to this category.…”