Skip to main content

Architectural Knowledge: Getting to the Core

  • Conference paper
Software Architectures, Components, and Applications (QoSA 2007)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 4880))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

Different organizations or organizational units are likely to store and maintain different types of information about their software architectures. This inhibits effective management of architectural knowledge. We experimented with a model of architectural knowledge to characterize the use of architectural knowledge in four different organizations. Based on this experimentation we identified four perspectives on architectural knowledge management, and additionally adjusted the model to better align theory with practice. The refined model defines a minimal set of concepts with supposedly complete coverage of the architectural knowledge domain. Because of the minimalistic aspect of the model, we refer to it as a ‘core model’ of architectural knowledge. Supporting evidence for the validity of our model, i.e. the supposed complete coverage, has been obtained by an attempt to falsify this claim through a comparison with selected literature. Application of the core model to characterize the use of architectural knowledge indicates possible areas of improvement for architectural knowledge management in the four organizations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Bass, L., Clements, P., Kazman, R.: Software Architecture in Practice, 2nd edn. SEI Series in Software Engineering. Addison-Wesley Pearson Education, Boston (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Ali Babar, M., Gorton, I., Jeffery, R.: Capturing and Using Software Architecture Knowledge for Architecture-Based Software Development. In: 5th International Conference on Quality Software (QSIC), Melbourne, Australia, pp. 169–176 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Bosch, J.: Software Architecture: The Next Step. In: Oquendo, F., Warboys, B., Morrison, R. (eds.) EWSA 2004. LNCS, vol. 3047, pp. 194–199. Springer, Heidelberg (2004)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  4. Kruchten, P., Lago, P., van Vliet, H.: Building up and Reasoning about Architectural Knowledge. In: Hofmeister, C., Crnkovic, I., Reussner, R. (eds.) QoSA 2006. LNCS, vol. 4214, pp. 39–47. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  5. Shaw, M., Clements, P.: The Golden Age of Software Architecture. IEEE Software 23(2), 31–39 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Tyree, J., Akerman, A.: Architecture Decisions: Demystifying Architecture. IEEE Software 22(2), 19–27 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. van der Ven, J.S., Jansen, A., Nijhuis, J., Bosch, J.: Design decisions: The Bridge between Rationale and Architecture. In: Dutoit, A. (ed.) Rationale Management in Software Engineering, pp. 329–346. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Tang, A., Ali Babar, M., Gorton, I., Han, J.: A Survey of the Use and Documentation of Architecture Design Rationale. In: 5th Working IEEE/IFIP Conference on Software Architecture (WICSA), Pittsburgh, USA, pp. 89–98 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Jansen, A., Bosch, J.: Software Architecture as a Set of Architectural Design Decisions. In: 5th Working IEEE/IFIP Conference on Software Architecture (WICSA), Pittsburgh, USA, pp. 109–120 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Wang, Z., Sherdil, K., Madhavji, N.H.: ACCA: An Architecture-centric Concern Analysis Method. In: 5th Working IEEE/IFIP Conference on Software Architecture (WICSA), Pittsburgh, USA, pp. 99–108 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Hofmeister, C., Kruchten, P., Nord, R.L., Obbink, H., Ran, A., America, P.: Generalizing a Model of Software Architecture Design from Five Industrial Approaches. In: 5th Working IEEE/IFIP Conference on Software Architecture (WICSA), Pittsburgh, USA, pp. 77–86 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Akerman, A., Tyree, J.: Position on Ontology-Based Architecture. In: 5th Working IEEE/IFIP Conference on Software Architecture (WICSA), Pittsburgh, USA, pp. 289–290 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Avison, D., Lau, F., Myers, M., Nielsen, P.A.: Action Research. Communications of the ACM 42(1), 94–97 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. de Boer, R.C., Farenhorst, R., van der Ven, J.S., Clerc, V., Deckers, R., Lago, P., van Vliet, H.: Structuring Software Architecture Project Memories. In: 8th International Workshop on Learning Software Organizations (LSO), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, pp. 39–47 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  15. IEEE: IEEE Recommended Practice for Architectural Description of Software-Intensive Systems. Standard 1471-2000, IEEE (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Object Management Group: Software Process Engineering Metamodel Specification. Technical Report formal/05-01-06, Object Management Group (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  17. ISO/IEC: Software engineering - Product quality - Part 1: Quality model. Technical Report ISO/IEC 9126-1, ISO/IEC (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Kruchten, P.: An Ontology of Architectural Design Decisions in Software-Intensive Systems. In: 2nd Groningen Workshop on Software Variability Management, Groningen, The Netherlands (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Farenhorst, R., de Boer, R.C.: Core Concepts of an Ontology of Architectural Design Decisions. Technical Report IR-IMSE-002, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Gorton, I.: Essential Software Architecture. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  21. Zhuge, H.: The Knowledge Grid. World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore (2004)

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

de Boer, R.C., Farenhorst, R., Lago, P., van Vliet, H., Clerc, V., Jansen, A. (2007). Architectural Knowledge: Getting to the Core. In: Overhage, S., Szyperski, C.A., Reussner, R., Stafford, J.A. (eds) Software Architectures, Components, and Applications. QoSA 2007. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 4880. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-77619-2_12

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-77619-2_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-77617-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-77619-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics