ACHIEVING TECHNICAL ARCHITECTURE WITH ARCHITECTURAL FIGURES

摘要

Specifying a technical architecture is a very complex task, especially when non functional requirements such as performance, interoperability, Quality of Service (QoS), or efficiency have to be considered. There is a large gap between the theory and practice of software architecture, particularly due to the scarcity of methods helping to turn a functional architecture into a technical architecture. Moreover, architects need tools not only to describe the architecture but also to analyze and to verify qualities of architecture. This paper presents the first step of an experiment carried out with EDF-R&D (Electricite de France Group). The aim is to define an architectural reusable structure named "architectural figure". These kinds of tools are essential while constructing the specification of a technical architecture (Engineering viewpoint in RM-ODP) by refining the functional architecture (Computational viewpoint in RM-ODP). A description model for these figures and some examples are proposed in this paper.