Architecture Views, Architecture Viewpoints, and Stakeholders

Question 1

System

Answer 1

A combination of interacting elements organized to achieve one or more stated purposes.

Question 2

Stakeholders

Answer 2

Individuals, teams, organizations, or classes thereof, having an interest in a system.
A system has one or more stakeholders. Each stakeholder typically has interests in, or concerns relative to, that system.

Question 3

Concerns

Answer 3

Interests in a system relevant to one or more of its stakeholders.
Concerns may pertain to any aspect of the system’s functioning, development, or operation, including considerations such as performance, reliability, security, distribution, and evolvability and may determine the acceptability of the system.
A concern is an area of interest.

Question 4

Architecture View

Answer 4

Representation of a system from the perspective of a related set of concerns.
An architect creates architecture models. An architecture view consists of parts of these, chosen to show stakeholders that their concerns are being met.

Question 5

Architecture Viewpoint

Answer 5

The specification of the conventions for a particular kind of architecture view.
It establishes the conventions for constructing, interpreting, and using an architecture view to address a specific concern (or set of concerns) about a system-of-interest.
It effectively defines the perspective from which an architecture view is taken.

Question 6

Architecture Views and Architecture Viewpoints

Answer 6

• An “architecture view” is what you see. An “architecture viewpoint” is where you are looking from; the vantage point or perspective that determines what you see (an architecture viewpoint can also be thought of as a schema).
• Architecture viewpoints are generic, and can be stored in libraries for re-use, known as a viewpoint library.
• An architecture view is always specific to the architecture for which it is created. Every architecture view has an associated architecture viewpoint that describes it, at least implicitly.
• An architecture viewpoint defines the perspective from which an architecture view is taken.
• An architecture viewpoint defines how to construct and use an architecture view.
• An architecture view is what a stakeholder sees.
• An architecture view might describe business process for an IT system.

Question 7

The Architecture View Creation Process

Answer 7

The architect chooses and develops a set of architecture views in the ADM cycle during Phases A through D that enable the architecture to be communicated to, and understood by, all the stakeholders, and enable them to verify that the system will address their concerns.

Question 8

The architect has a responsibility for ensuring:

Answer 8

• The completeness of the architecture:
  
  • Does it address all the concerns of its stakeholders?
• The integrity of the architecture:
  
  • Can the views be connected to each other?
  • Can the conflicting concerns be reconciled?
  • What trade-offs have been made (e.g., between security and performance)?

Question 9

Recommended steps to create the views for a particular architecture:

Answer 9

• Refer to any existing libraries of architecture viewpoints
• Select key stakeholders
• Analyze their concerns and document them
• Select appropriate architecture viewpoints (based on the stakeholders and their concerns)
• Generate views of the system using the selected architecture viewpoints as templates