Analyzing differences between Internet information system software architectures

The history of software development is a steady progression of complexity. In response to increasingly complex software, software engineers have provided ever higher levels of abstraction with which to design, code, and analyze systems. The next logical step in this progression is to consider systems at the level of their architecture. We present a scenario-based method for analyzing systems based on their software architecture. We demonstrate this method, the software architecture analysis method (SAAM), by applying it to Internet information systems. The greatest benefits of such an analysis are people and process-oriented: it encourages communication both within a development team and between the team and customers, and it promotes a common understanding of design goals and mechanisms. Because this analysis can be done at low cost and early in the software life cycle, its benefits are enormous.