Using architecture evaluation to prepare a large Web based system for evolution

This paper describes an ongoing effort to develop architecture documentation and to evaluate the architecture using the Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method/sup SM/ (ATAM/sup SM/). The system is a large Web based application using J2EE, portal and Web services technology that is replacing a large number of legacy applications. It has very detailed documentation at the design level, but is lacking overall architecture documentation. We describe how the architecture is being documented in an iterative manner, and how sample scenarios are being developed as input for an ATAM. The package of the documentation, scenarios and ATAM will fill in important gaps in existing knowledge, and it will provide an important baseline for the system's evolution.