To a large extent, a system's software architecture determines the quality attributes of both the software and the entire system. It is also one of the earliest artifacts available for evaluation. For a Department of Defense (DoD) or government acquisition organization, the ability to evaluate software architectures early in the acquisition cycle can positively affect the delivered system. To assist a government organization in evaluating architectures, a series of Quality Attribute Workshops (QAWs) were planned and an initial set conducted as part of a competitive acquisition of a complex, integrated command and control system. The QAW is a lightweight (i.e., non-intrusive) version of the Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method (ATAM) developed by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI).

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