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A Rationale-based Model for Architecture Design Reasoning

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6.6. A UML representation of AREL and eAREL<br />

stereotypes and tagged values <strong>for</strong> capturing architecture elements and rationales as well<br />

as their relationships. This profile is downloadable from [153]. The details of the UML<br />

implementation to support AREL and eAREL are described in the following sections.<br />

6.6.1 The architecture element stereotype<br />

We define the AE stereotype as ≪AE≫ to extend the UML constructs such as object and<br />

class to support architecture traceability. An extension of the UML construct means that<br />

additional attributes and characteristics can be added to the existing UML constructs to<br />

help design reasoning. The ≪AE≫ attributes <strong>for</strong> traceability are implemented as tagged<br />

values:<br />

• elementID - an unique identification of an AE.<br />

• elementVersion - an integer number to identify a version of an element, the highest<br />

number is the most recent version. elementID and elementVersion together uniquely<br />

identify a version of an element. This is used in eAREL implementation.<br />

• elementType - classification of the architecture viewpoints (e.g. business viewpoint).<br />

This is used <strong>for</strong> architecture tracing.<br />

• elementSubType - sub-classification within an architecture viewpoint. For instance,<br />

the Functional Requirement within the Business Viewpoint. This is used <strong>for</strong> architecture<br />

tracing.<br />

• currFlag - the latest version has the flag set to ’Y’ and archived versions have the<br />

flag set to ’N’. This is used in eAREL implementation.<br />

• lastUpdateDateTime - date and time of last modification.<br />

• author - name(s) of the author(s).<br />

• documentLocation - the location of any external documents that describe the AE, it<br />

could be an URL or a filename with document section references.<br />

During architecture tracing, elementType and elementSubType can be used to limit<br />

trace results to those defined types that are of interest to architects. The lastUpdateDate-<br />

Time and author tags are used <strong>for</strong> audit trail purposes. The elementVersion and currFlag<br />

tags support traceability of evolving AEs.<br />

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