AM2D Software Systems Consulting

Is an architecture "fit for purpose"? i.e. is it fit for the purpose for which it is intended and able to fulfill the required business goals?

The architecture is a critically important part of the software system project; therefore it would seem prudent to allocate project resources to evaluate and ensure that the architecture designed will fulfill expectations.

AM2D provides architecture evaluation services using the ATAM (Architectural Tradeoff Analysis Method).

ATAM was developed by the SEI [ref ...] at Carnegie Melon University; it uses prioritized quality attribute scenarios to evaluate that an architecture is "fit for purpose".

Artifacts produced by the ATAM include:

• a concise presentation of the architecture and its documented approaches
• an articukation of selected business goals
• prioritized quality attribute sceanarios
• a set of risks and non-risks
• a set of risk themes, and the business drivers threatened by them
• a mapping of architectural decisions to quality requirements
• a set of identified sensitivity and trade-off points

These artifacts are used to produce an evaluation report that summerizes the proceedings, presents the analysis and scenarios generated, and presents the findings and conclusions.

At AM2D  the ATAM is used to evaluate architectures developed "in-house", and is also applied to clients existing architectures. For example where a client requires evaluation and confirmation of the architectures ability to support its intended business goals.