Skip to content
Software Architecture Guide

ATAM Results

Explanation

Section titled “Explanation”

An ATAM evaluation (see Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method (ATAM)) looks for architectural risks that could stand in the way of business goals. Its results are the documented outcome of that search.

Where the results come from

The evaluation starts by collecting the business drivers and the architecture from project decision-makers. The architect then presents the architecture and explains how it meets those drivers. The architect also names the architectural approaches. At this point they are only named, not analyzed.

What the analysis produces

When the approaches are analyzed, the team identifies three kinds of findings:

  • risks,
  • sensitivity points,
  • tradeoff points.

ATAM Findings: Risks, Non-Risks, Sensitivity Points and Trade-off Points explains these.

Risk themes

The team then groups the risks into risk themes. Each theme shows which business driver the risks behind it threaten. This ties technical findings back to business goals.

Presenting the results

The last step, step 9, presents the results. All documentation goes to the stakeholders. The steps fall into two phases. Phase 2 covers steps 7 to 9 and ends the evaluation.

One source adds that the analysis can be turned into risk themes and their impacts. The process can then be repeated.

Example

Section titled “Example”

A team evaluates an online shop. The business drivers are fast checkout and low downtime. The architect presents the design and names a few approaches. During analysis the team records a risk: one shared payment component could slow checkout under load. It groups this with similar findings into a theme, “checkout speed is at risk.” In the last step, the team gives stakeholders all the documentation, including that theme and the driver it threatens.

How ATAM findings lead to the presented results.

Diagram source 
flowchart LR
  A[Business drivers and architecture] --> B[Approaches named]
  B --> C[Approaches analyzed]
  C --> D[Risks, sensitivity points, tradeoff points]
  D --> E[Risk themes]
  E --> F[Results presented to stakeholders]

Checks

Section titled “Checks”
  • Identified risks are grouped into risk themes, and each theme names the business driver it threatens.
  • The results record risks, sensitivity points and tradeoff points found during approach analysis.
  • The business drivers are documented alongside the architecture presentation.
Section titled “Related”

Sources

Section titled “Sources”