Software Engineering Institute

How do you know if a software architecture for a system is suitable without building the system first? In the early design stages, how do you know you’re on the right track?

Before software architects and designers conduct a comprehensive evaluation of their software architecture, they need insight into the viability of their design strategies. To provide this insight, SEI researchers developed ARID, a blend of a stakeholder-centric, scenario-based, architecture evaluation method and an active design review of design specifications. ARID is an easy, lightweight evaluation approach that focuses on suitability and does not require complete architectural documentation. Since it leverages active stakeholder participation, ARID helps gain their early buy-in during architecture development.