Can software architecture review methods apply to service design?

Abstract

Service design is a relatively new discipline, perhaps considered today to be more art than science. A chosen design may affect multiple stakeholders, and its impact may vary across multiple service attributes. It is often therefore difficult to determine whether one service design is preferable to another. This paper presents a review method derived from those adopted by software architects to evaluate competing software architectures. It suggests that the domain of service design shares some significant characteristics with that of software solution architecture, and proposes the adaptation and application of evaluation and review methods that have proved successful in the software solution architecture domain. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.