The Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method

This paper presents the Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method (ATAM), a structured technique for understanding the tradeoffs inherent in the architectures of software-intensive systems. This method was developed to provide a principled way to evaluate a software architecture's fitness with respect to multiple competing quality attributes: modifiability, security, performance, availability, and so forth. These attributes interact, and improving one often comes at the price of worsening one or more of the others. The method helps us reason about architectural decisions that affect quality attribute interactions. The ATAM is a spiral model of design, one of postulating candidate architectures followed by analysis and risk mitigation that lead to refined architectures.

PDF [193 KB]

Authors

Rick Kazman

Mark H. Klein

Mario R. Barbacci

Thomas A. Longstaff

Howard F. Lipson

Jeromy Carriere

This report is related to the following area(s) of work:

Software Architecture

Technical Report
CMU/SEI-98-TR-008
July 1998

Cite This Report

SEI:

Kazman, Rick; Klein, Mark; Barbacci, Mario; Longstaff, Thomas; Lipson, Howard; & Carriere, S.. The Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method (CMU/SEI-98-TR-008). Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, 1998. http://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/abstracts/reports/98tr008.cfm

IEEE:

R. Kazman, M. Klein, M. Barbacci, T. Longstaff, H. Lipson, and S. Carriere, "The Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method," Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Technical Report CMU/SEI-98-TR-008, 1998. http://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/abstracts/reports/98tr008.cfm

APA:

Kazman, R., Klein, M., Barbacci, M., Longstaff, T., Lipson, H., & Carriere, S. (1998). The Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method (CMU/SEI-98-TR-008). Retrieved May 24, 2013, from the Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University website: http://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/abstracts/reports/98tr008.cfm

CHI:

Kazman, Rick, Mark Klein, Mario Barbacci, Thomas Longstaff, Howard Lipson, and S. Carriere. The Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method (CMU/SEI-98-TR-008). Pittsburgh, PA: Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, 1998. http://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/abstracts/reports/98tr008.cfm

MLA:

Kazman, R., Klein, M., Barbacci, M., Longstaff, T., Lipson, H., & Carriere, S. 1998. The Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method (Technical Report CMU/SEI-98-TR-008). Pittsburgh: Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University. http://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/abstracts/reports/98tr008.cfm

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