| <?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/1.0.5/uma.ecore" |
| xmlns:rmc="http://www.ibm.com/rmc" rmc:version="7.5.0" xmlns:epf="http://www.eclipse.org/epf" |
| epf:version="1.5.0" xmi:id="_H4gOYKYTEdmvhNXG0Oc2uA" |
| name="architecture_notebook,_0XAf0MlgEdmt3adZL5Dmdw" guid="_H4gOYKYTEdmvhNXG0Oc2uA" |
| changeDate="2008-08-15T12:25:02.765-0700" version="1.0.0"> |
| <mainDescription><p>
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| This artifact&nbsp;describes the <a class="elementLink" href="./../../core.tech.common.extend_supp/guidances/concepts/software_architecture_59A08DE0.html" guid="__O7tAMVvEduLYZUGfgZrkQ">Software Architecture</a>.
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| </p>
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| <p> It provides a place for maintaining the list of architectural issues, along 
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| with the associated architectural decisions, designs, patterns, code documented 
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| (or pointed to), and so forth -- all at appropriate levels to make it easy to 
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| understand what architectural decisions have been made and remain to be made. 
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| </p>
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| <p> It is helpful for architects to use this artifact to collaborate with other 
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| team members in developing the architecture and to help team members understand 
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| 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 
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| data is packaged and communicated between different parts of the system. This 
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| may appear to be a burden, but the justification in the Architecture Notebook 
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| can explain that there is a significant performance bottleneck when communicating 
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| with a legacy system. The rest of the system must adapt to this bottleneck by 
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| following a specific data packaging scheme. </p>
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| <p> This artifact should also inform the team members how the system is partitioned 
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| or organized so that the team can adapt to the needs of the system. It also 
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| gives a first glimpse of the system and its technical motivations to whoever 
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| must 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 
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| developers.&nbsp;</purpose> |
| <impactOfNotHaving>Without this artifact, there will be no coordination of the individual design 
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| efforts, and it will be difficult to establish and communicate an overall architectural 
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| vision of the project.</impactOfNotHaving> |
| <reasonsForNotNeeding><p> This artifact is not required if an existing reference architecture is being 
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| used or another approach or set of artifacts are being used to document the 
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| architecture. This artifact may not be needed if the design is relatively straight-forward 
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| and does not have any architecturally significant risks. </p></reasonsForNotNeeding> |
| <briefOutline><p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> At a minimum, this artifact should do 
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| these three things:</p>
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| <ul dir="ltr">
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| <li>
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| 
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| <div style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> List guidelines, decisions, and constraints 
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| to be followed </div>
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| 
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| <div style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> 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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| 
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| <div style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> Describe the Architectural Mechanisms and 
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| where they should be applied</div>
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| </li>
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| </ul>
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| <p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> Team members who were not involved in 
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| 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 
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| adding more information when appropriate. A small project shouldn't spend a 
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| lot of time documenting the architecture, but all critical elements of the system 
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| must be communicated to current and future team members. This is all useful 
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| content: </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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| 
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| <div style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> Key scenarios that describe critical behavior 
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| of the system </div>
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| </li>
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| </ul></briefOutline> |
| </org.eclipse.epf.uma:ArtifactDescription> |
