On the Interconnection of Cross-cutting Concerns Within Hierarchical Modular Architectures

Modularity is often employed to increase the flexibility and adaptability of a system. A well-known issue during the design of modular systems is the emergence of ripple effects propagating throughout the system when one module is changed, which is dependent on other modules within the system. While several techniques or approaches have been proposed to mitigate these effects, they often neglect the integration and interconnection of cross-cutting concerns (i.e., functionalities that are required across different parts of the main functional dimension) within the system. This article argues that the proper integration of cross-cutting concerns is important in order to avoid ripple effects and preserve the adaptability of a modular system. Based on a set of possible integration architectures that offer different alternatives to integrate cross-cutting concerns within a modular structure, we introduce the integration design matrix (IDM) as an instrument to systematically analyze the cross-cutting concern provisioning within specific modular artifacts. A set of design guidelines is proposed to optimize the integration of the cross-cutting concerns, applicable within the context of the IDM. We illustrate our approach by means of examples in several domains.