As we work through the patterns & practices App Arch Guide 2.0 project, I find myself repeating an important mantra …
“You can’t evaluate an architecture in a vacuum …”
You need scenarios to evaluate it against scenarios.
Scenario-Based Evaluation Methods
Here’s a list of some scenario-based evaluation methods:
- Software Architecture Analysis Method (SAAM) – evaluate quality attributes against actual usage.
- Architecture Trade_off Analysis Method (ATAM ) – evaluate how well the architecture satisfies particular goals, especially around trade-offs between qualities.
These are mostly variations of SAAM and ATAM.
- Cost-Benefit Analysis Method (CBAM) – evaluates the architecture cost and benefit against the economics of the organization.
- Architecture Level Modifiability Analysis (ALMA) – evaluates the modifiability of an architecture for Business Information Systems (BIS).
- Family-Architecture Assesment Method (FAAM) – evaluates information-system family architectures for interoperability and extensibility.
Additional Resources