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Software Architecture Guide

Battlefield Control System ATAM Case Study

Explanation

Section titled “Explanation”

The Battlefield Control System is the first case study that applies the ATAM. It appears in chapter 4 of Evaluating Software Architectures. A case study shows the method on a concrete system instead of describing it in the abstract.

The method itself is covered in the article Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method (ATAM). Three kinds of findings matter when you read a case study like this one.

Risk. A risk is an architectural decision that may lead to undesirable consequences. Evaluators look for risks because they point to places where the design may cause trouble later.

Sensitivity point. A sensitivity point is an architectural decision with a marked effect on one or more quality attributes. A quality attribute is a property such as speed or reliability. See Sensitivity Point and Quality Attribute.

Trade-off point. A trade-off point is a decision that pulls two quality attributes in different directions. A backup database is one example. It is a trade-off point between reliability and performance. See Trade-off Point.

When you read the case study, check how each finding ties back to one specific architectural decision. That link makes findings useful to the people who own the design.

Example

Section titled “Example”

A team reviews an invented order system. It writes every order to a second database as a backup. Reviewers note that this one decision affects both reliability and performance. They record it as a trade-off point. If nobody has checked what it costs in performance, they may also record it as a risk.

Trade-offs

Section titled “Trade-offs”

A single case study covers one system only. Its findings do not carry over to your system without a fresh evaluation. Use it to learn how findings are named and linked to decisions.

Checks

Section titled “Checks”
  • Each risk in the evaluation is stated as an architectural decision that may lead to undesirable consequences.
  • Each sensitivity point names a decision that has a marked effect on one or more quality attributes.
  • Each trade-off point names the quality attributes in tension, such as reliability and performance.
Section titled “Related”

Sources

Section titled “Sources”