A Rationale-based Model for Architecture Design Reasoning

1.4. Structure of the thesis
Chapter 4 describes the research methodologies used in this thesis.
Chapter 5 describes a survey of practising software architects. The results of this survey
has not only provided proofs to motivate the research in this area, it has also provided
directions for formulating the architecture design rationale model and its applications.
Chapter 6 describes the Architecture Rationale and Elements Linkage Model (AREL)
which is used to capture and represent design rationale. The elements and the structure
of AREL are discussed in details.
Chapter 7 uses a case study to demonstrate how AREL is used in capturing and
communicating architecture design rationale. The case study is about a central bank
electronic payment and settlement system called Electronic Fund Transfer System (EFT).
This system has been in production since 1998. AREL is used retrospectively to capture
the design rationale of the system. In an empirical study, experts have evaluated the
AREL representation using the case study as an example.
Chapter 8 describes the Architecture Rationalisation Method (ARM) which is a
design rationale centric method to facilitate architecture development. This chapter describes
how ARM helps architects construct an architecture design using qualitative and
quantitative design rationale.
Chapter 9 describes the traceability application of the AREL model. Three types of
traceability applications are shown. They describe how qualitative design rationale can
be used to help understand the design reasoning. The case study is used to demonstrate
design rationale traceability in AREL.
Chapter 10 describes change impact analysis using AREL and a quantitative method
called Bayesian Belief Networks. A detailed discussion of the causality between architecture
design rationale and architecture elements are made. Using this relationship, architects
can estimate the likelihood of change across a system. An application of this method
is demonstrated by using the case study.
Chapter 11 reports the implementation of the AREL tool-set to support AREL
applications.
Chapter 12 concludes this thesis by outlining the major contributions and benefits
of this work. It also discusses the areas where further research is required.
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