Quark: a method to assist software architects in architectural decision-making
David Ameller, Xavier Franch · RECERCAT (Consorci de Serveis Universitaris de Catalunya) · 2013
Abstract. Quality attributes (QAs) and constraints are among the prin-cipal drivers of architectural decision-making. QAs are improved or dam-aged by architectural decisions (ADs), while constraints directly include or exclude parts of the architecture (e.g., logical components or tech-nologies). We may determine the impact of a AD, or which parts of the architecture are affected 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-offs 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 archi-tectural decision-making, and the conceptualization of the relationship between QRs and ADs defined 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.