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This handbook documents the QUASAR (QUality Assessment of System
ARchitectures) method for assessing the quality of the architecture of a
software-intensive system. It begins by discussing the challenges that are
faced when assessing a system’s architecture and outlines the
development history of the method. The next section of the handbook documents
the concept of quality cases and the claims, arguments, and evidence that
compose them. This is followed by a description of the teams that collaborate
to perform QUASAR tasks. Next, individual tasks and associated steps performed
as part of the QUASAR method are documented. Next, the work products produced
by these teams when performing these tasks are described. Finally, lessons
learned during the development and use of the method when assessing the
quality of major subsystems during the development of a very large,
software-intensive system of systems are presented. Also provided are
appendices that define common quality factors and subfactors, offer reusable
checklists, and give examples of quality cases. The example quality cases
illustrate valid quality goals and requirements that compose claims, example
architecture decisions and associated rationales that compose arguments, and
the types of evidence that architects might provide.
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