Model-Driven Evolution of Software Architectures - Software and ...
Model-Driven Evolution of Software Architectures - Software and ...
Model-Driven Evolution of Software Architectures - Software and ...
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4.5. Discussion 73<br />
arenotcompletelydocumented.Mosttimesonlythestructuraleffect<strong>of</strong>a<br />
designdecisionisdocumented. Documentingotheraspects<strong>of</strong>designdecisions,suchastheirrationale<strong>and</strong>effectwithrespectto(non)-functional<br />
requirementsis<strong>of</strong>tenneglected.<br />
ResearchquestionHowcanwedocumentdesigndecisionsexplicitly<strong>and</strong>howcanwethenusethemtoassessanarchitecture’s<br />
permissivenesswithrespecttoaproposedupdate?<br />
Use<strong>of</strong>Reference<strong>Architectures</strong> Besidesitstechnicaluseasastartingpointfor<br />
productspecifics<strong>of</strong>twarearchitectures,thereferencearchitectureserved<br />
accordingtoitsobjectivesasadiscussionplatformforthes<strong>of</strong>twarearchitects<strong>of</strong>differentproducts.Inthatsensethereferencearchitectureindeed<br />
isanefficientwaytoexchangeexperiencesamongproductteams.<br />
Anotheruse<strong>of</strong>thereferencearchitectureappearedduringdiscussions<br />
inthe DSAAMevaluation. Itactsasastableplatformfornegotiations<br />
amongstdifferentdomains: themechatronics,manufacturing,<strong>and</strong>s<strong>of</strong>twarereusegroupsatOcé.Byintroducingageneric<strong>and</strong>morestablearchitecturefortheengines<strong>of</strong>tware<strong>of</strong>Océcopiersthedevelopmentgrouptries<br />
topreventthats<strong>of</strong>twareisautomaticallyconsideredtobethemeansto<br />
solveproblemsduringengineintegration. Assuchdefininganembedded<br />
s<strong>of</strong>twarereferencearchitecturehelpscreatingabetterbalancebetweenthe<br />
differentdisciplinesinvolvedinenginedevelopment.Thisisatypicalproblemintheembeddeds<strong>of</strong>twaredomainaswasalsoobservedintheinventory<br />
describedinChapter3.<br />
Intheevaluationweconducted,theusage<strong>of</strong>thereferencearchitecture<br />
wasnotaddressedexplicitly. Consideringthespecificuse<strong>of</strong>referencearchitecturesdescribedabove,itseemsusefultodoso,especiallyinthecase<br />
<strong>of</strong>embeddedsystems.<br />
ResearchquestionHowcanweincludetheusage<strong>of</strong>areference<br />
architectureinanevaluation?<br />
4.5.2 DistributedSAAM<br />
Themainconcern<strong>of</strong>scenario-basedevaluationmethodsiswhetherthecoverage<strong>and</strong>scopeisbroadenoughtobeconclusiveaboutthefindings<strong>of</strong>the<br />
evaluation. SAAMovercomesthisbyorganisingageneraltwo-daygathering,whichismoderatedbyexperiencedassessors.InDSAAMwehadtotake<br />
alternativemeasures.<br />
Inview<strong>of</strong>thetwoquestionsabove,thenumber<strong>of</strong>directstakeholders<br />
<strong>of</strong>thereferencearchitectureislimited(seeTable4.2onpage66),although