Skip to content
Software Architecture Guide

Architectural Approach Identification

Explanation

Section titled “Explanation”

ATAM is the Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method. It is a structured way to evaluate an architecture (see the article on ATAM).

Step 4 is where the architectural approaches are named. An approach is a way of building the system, such as an architectural style, a pattern or a tactic. See the articles on Architecture Style, Architectural Pattern and Architectural Tactic.

Where it sits. Step 3 is the architect’s presentation of the architecture. Step 4 follows it. Step 5, the utility tree, comes after.

What happens. The architect names the approaches. The evaluation team presents and discusses them.

What does not happen. The team does not analyze the approaches in this step. It only identifies them. Risks, sensitivity points and trade-off points come out of the later analysis in Step 6. That step works on the approaches found here. See the articles on Sensitivity Point and Trade-off Point.

Why it matters. Step 6 needs something to examine. The list from Step 4 gives it that starting material.

Example

Section titled “Example”

A team evaluates an online shop. In Step 4 the architect says the system uses a layered structure and a message queue between order and shipping. The team writes both down and does not probe them yet. Step 6 examines each one later.

Trade-offs

Section titled “Trade-offs”

Keeping this step to identification keeps it short and focused. The cost is that problems with an approach stay hidden until Step 6. Participants may want to debate them right away, so the team has to hold those points for later.

Step 4 sits between the architecture presentation and the utility tree; analysis comes later in Step 6.

Diagram source 
flowchart LR
  S3[Step 3: Architecture presentation] --> S4[Step 4: Identify approaches]
  S4 --> S5[Step 5: Utility tree]
  S5 --> S6[Step 6: Analyze approaches]

Checks

Section titled “Checks”
  • The evaluation record lists the architectural approaches the architect named.
  • The approaches are listed without risk or trade-off findings attached; those appear in the later analysis step.
Section titled “Related”

Sources

Section titled “Sources”