| <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> |
| <org.eclipse.epf.uma:ArtifactDescription xmi:version="2.0" xmlns:xmi="http://www.omg.org/XMI" xmlns:org.eclipse.epf.uma="http://www.eclipse.org/epf/uma/1.0.6/uma.ecore" xmlns:epf="http://www.eclipse.org/epf" epf:version="1.5.1" xmlns:rmc="http://www.ibm.com/rmc" rmc:version="7.5.1" xmi:id="_H4gOYKYTEdmvhNXG0Oc2uA" name="architecture_notebook,_0XAf0MlgEdmt3adZL5Dmdw" guid="_H4gOYKYTEdmvhNXG0Oc2uA" changeDate="2008-08-15T00:25:02.000-0700" version="1.0.0"> |
| <mainDescription><p>
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| This artifact&nbsp;describes the <a class="elementLink"
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| href="./../../core.tech.common.extend_supp/guidances/concepts/software_architecture_59A08DE0.html"
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| guid="__O7tAMVvEduLYZUGfgZrkQ">Software Architecture</a>.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| It provides a place for maintaining the list of architectural issues, along with the associated architectural
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| decisions, designs, patterns, code documented (or pointed to), and so forth -- all at appropriate levels to make it
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| easy to understand what architectural decisions have been made and remain to be made.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| It is helpful for architects to use this artifact to collaborate with other team members in developing the architecture
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| and to help team members understand the motivation behind architectural decisions so that those decisions can be
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| robustly implemented. For example, the architect may put constraints on how data is packaged and communicated between
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| different parts of the system. This may appear to be a burden, but the justification in the Architecture Notebook can
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| explain that there is a significant performance bottleneck when communicating with a legacy system. The rest of the
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| system must adapt to this bottleneck by following a specific data packaging scheme.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| This artifact should also inform the team members how the system is partitioned or organized so that the team can adapt
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| to the needs of the system. It also gives a first glimpse of the system and its technical motivations to whoever must
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| maintain and change the architecture later.<br />
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| </p></mainDescription> |
| <purpose>To capture and make architectural decisions and to explain those decisions to developers.&nbsp;</purpose> |
| <impactOfNotHaving>Without this artifact, there will be no coordination of the individual design efforts, and it will be difficult to
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| establish and communicate an overall architectural vision of the project.</impactOfNotHaving> |
| <reasonsForNotNeeding><p>
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| This artifact is not required if an existing reference architecture is being used or another approach or set of
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| artifacts are being used to document the architecture. This artifact may not be needed if the design is relatively
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| straight-forward and does not have any architecturally significant risks.
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| </p></reasonsForNotNeeding> |
| <briefOutline><p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
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| At a minimum, this artifact should do these three things:
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| </p>
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| <ul dir="ltr">
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| <li>
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| <div style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
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| List guidelines, decisions, and constraints to be followed
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| </div>
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <div style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
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| Justify those guidelines, decisions, and constraints
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| </div>
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <div style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
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| Describe the Architectural Mechanisms and where they should be applied
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| </div>
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| </li>
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| </ul>
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| <p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
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| Team members who were not involved in those architectural decisions need to understand the reasoning behind the context
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| of the architecture so that they can address the needs of the system. Consider adding more information when
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| appropriate. A small project shouldn't spend a lot of time documenting the architecture, but all critical elements of
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| the system must be communicated to current and future team members. This is all useful content:
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| </p>
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| <ul dir="ltr">
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| <li>
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| <div style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
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| Goals and philosophy of the architecture
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| </div>
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <div style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
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| Architectural assumptions and dependencies
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| </div>
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <div style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
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| References to architecturally significant requirements
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| </div>
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <div style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
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| References to architecturally significant design elements
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| </div>
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <div style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
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| Critical system interfaces
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| </div>
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <div style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
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| Packaging instructions for subsystems and components
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| </div>
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <div style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
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| Layers and critical subsystems
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| </div>
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <div style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
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| Key abstractions
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| </div>
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <div style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
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| Key scenarios that describe critical behavior of the system
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| </div>
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| </li>
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| </ul></briefOutline> |
| </org.eclipse.epf.uma:ArtifactDescription> |
