Development and Review of Architectures

Abstract

Software architecture deals with the requirements, to implement certain things in a system continuously and consistently, in order that the system can provide its tasks with the necessary quality and that the system remains maintainable and expandable.

itemis offers methods-consulting-workshops as wells as architecture reviews and assists in defining the architecture.

What is Software Architecture?

There are many definitions for software architecture. Many talk about »coarse-grained structures in the system«. In our view, software architecture has nothing to do with granularity but with the requirements, to implement certain things continuously and consistently in a system, in order that the system can provide its tasks with the necessary quality and that the system remains maintainable and expandable.

Therefore it is essential to distinguish the conceptional (long-lived) architecture of specific technical solutions, which over the course of a system's life can change completely.

The task of the software architect (or the team that takes care of the software architecture), is to make sure that the aspects relevant for the architecture are actually continuously implemented.

Architecture and Models

Models describe software architectures well. In the case, they are formal, so that they can be evaluated via tools, significant analysis can be accomplished and a consistent implementation of the architecture in the development of the system can be enforced via code generation. Domain-specific languages (DSL's), meaning languages, that fit (in this case) exactly to the architecture of the system to be developed, are an effective means of making software architecture much more tangible and convertible. This is reflected in the offeringss of itemis.

Eventually, the DSL encapsulates the relevant architecture concepts for the system, the models describe the specific system and code generators form the concepts on specific technologies.

Offers of itemis

Methods Consulting Workshop

In cooperation with your team, an itemis consultant develops a first DSL to describe the architecture of your system. The aim is above all else, to demonstrate the value of the above-mentioned approach (using DSL's to describe software architectures), and to make the sufficient knowledge on the use of the tools necessary available to you.

Accompanying support with the architecture definition

An itemis coach accompanies you with the implementation of a system and the related architecture definition. The coach has experience in dealing with the tools as well as architecture experience for the corresponding classes of systems (Enterprise, Mobile, Embedded).

Architecture Reviews

As part of an architecture review, itemis consultants support you with the subsequent evaluation of a software architecture. In hindsight this can happen for existing systems, but also within the scope of a milestone review during the development a system. Among other things, we also try to recognize the potential use of DSL's and code generation.