A Unique Value that Synthesizes the Quality Level of a Product Architecture: Outcome of a Quality Attributes Requirements Evaluation Method

Abstract

The architecture can inhibit or enable the different quality attributes that guide to software product, so it is extremely important to approach the evaluation of the architecture to determine at what level the quality is being achieved. Although there are frameworks and assessment methods for the architecture or quality characteristics in particular, none of them synthesizes in a single value the level of quality of a software product. We address this shortcoming by introducing a new five-step architecture evaluation method which defines, analyze and measure the quality characteristics of a product architecture and its implementation, obtaining as a final output a unique value that represents the quality level. We illustrate the method by analyzing an architecture of a web and mobile application within the healthcare domain, developed in an agile context.