Quark: a method to assist software architects in architectural decision-making

Abstract

Quality attributes (QAs) and constraints are among the principal drivers of architectural decision-making. QAs are improved or damaged by architectural decisions (ADs), while constraints directly include or exclude parts of the architecture (e.g., logical components or technologies). We may determine the impact of a AD, or which parts of the architecture are a ected by a constraint, but at the end it is hard to know if we are respecting the quality requirements (requirements over the QAs) and the imposed constraints with all the ADs made. In the usual approach, architects use their own experience to produce software architectures that comply with the expected quality requirements and imposed constraints, but at the end, especially for crucial decisions, the architect has to deal with complex trade-o s between QAs and juggle with possible incompatibilities raised by the imposed constraints. In this paper we present Quark, a method to assist software architects in architectural decision-making, and the conceptualization of the relationship between QRs and ADs de ned in Arteon, an ontology to represent and manage architectural knowledge. Finally, we also give an insight into the Quark and Arteon implementation, the ArchiTech tool.