Architectural Documentation

• Graphical (views) and textual

• Kruchten's 4+1 Views
– Philippe B. Kruchten. "The 4+1 View Model of
Architecture." IEEE Software, 12(6):42-50, November
1995
– Logical, developmental, process, physical,
use case
• Other useful information
– Features, non-functional requirements, bug
reporting, context, utility

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 Logical View
• Structural breakdown of computational,
communicational and behavioral
responsibilities
• Diagrams:
– Box and arrow
– Components and connectors (ADLs)
– UML Class model diagram
– UML Interaction Overview diagram
– UML Collaboration diagram
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 Developmental View
• Units of source code
– Packages, classes, subsystems, libraries, files
• Diagrams
– UML Package diagram
– UML Component diagram
– CVS modules

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 Class Diagram with Packages

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 Package Diagram

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 Component
Diagram

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 Process View
• Processes and threads into which
execution is divided
• Diagrams
– UML Deployment diagram

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 Example
Deployment
Diagram

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 Physical View
• Machines used for system execution and
how processes are allocated to them
• Diagrams
– UML Deployment diagram
– UML Sequence diagram

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 Example
Sequence
Diagram

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 Use Case View
• Important execution sequences from the
external actors' points of view
• Diagrams
– UML Use Case diagram
– UML Communication (Collaboration) diagram
– UML Sequence diagram
– UML Activity diagram
– Structured text

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 Example Use Case Diagram
Update
Set Limits
Accounts

Accounting
System
Analyze Risk
Trading Manager
<<
us
es
>>

Price Deal <<uses>> Valuation

Trader

Capture Deal
<<extends>>

Limits Exceeded Salesperson

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 Equivalent
Collaboration
Diagram

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 Example
Activity
Diagram

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 Feature View
• Conceptual units from the user's point of
view
• Diagrams
– Feature diagram
– Inter-feature constraints

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 Example
Car

Car Body Transmission Engine Pulls Trailer

Automatic Manual Electric Gasoline

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 Notation
• Mandatory features:

• Optional features:

• Alternative features:
– Choose exactly one

• Or features:
– Choose a subset
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 Non-Functional View
• How non-functional requirements affect
the software architecture
– Explicit tradeoffs
• Tabular text

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 Bug Reporting
• Units to which bugs are allocated
– Consequences with respect to Developmental
view
– Consequences with respect to Feature view
• Bugzilla components

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 Context View
• Relationship of a system to its
environment
– External actors, events and percepts
• (Data flow) Context diagram

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 Context Diagrams
• The top level data flow diagram is called the
context diagram
• It contains exactly one process node denoting the
overall function of the system

Human
Moves

Human Play
Opponent Chess
Machine
Moves

Board
Drawings

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 Utility View
• Supporting software
– Installation scripts
– Log file analysis
– Statistical processing
• Tabular text

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