Exploring Attributes for Systems Architecture Evaluation

Methods to insure that an architecture meets its intended requirements are important, especially when performing architectures analysis, requirement generation, trade-offs with alternate architectures, and reviews and verifications of designs. One such approach is to use methods that focus on system attributes. The key to success in this approach is to understand which system attributes should be addressed and how they relate to the architecture. There exists little research in the systems engineering community on the role of system attributes on defining and determining the quality of systems architecture. This paper discusses relevant attributes, some interactions, and how they can be organized.