Developing Value Assessment for SW Architecture

During the last decades software architecture has become increasingly important for companies creating competitive product structures. Recently more and more attention has also been focused on the costs, cost-effectiveness, productivity and value of software development and products. This study outlines concepts, principles and process of implementing a value assessment for SW architecture. The main purpose of this study is to collect experiences whether the value assessment for product architecture is useful for companies, works in practice, and what are the strengths and weaknesses of using it. This is done by implementing value assessment in a case company step by step to see which phases possibly work and which phases possibly do not work. The practical industrial case shows that proposed value assessment for product architecture is useful and supports companies trying to find value in product architecture.