Usage of architectural styles and technologies in IT companies and

organizations

David Ameller and Xavier Franch

GESSI investigation group, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)

04/19/2023EASA'09, Cambridge2

Outline1. Problem statement2. Empirical method used3. Summary findings4. Challenges and lessons learned

04/19/2023EASA'09, Cambridge3

Problem statement We are currently driving a survey to find out which

architectural styles and technologies are being in use and their relation with NFRs

Non-Functional Requirements (NFR) Selection of … for a software system

Architectural style Technologies

We want to apply this knowledge to Model-Driven Software Development (MDSD) We are currently developing a framework that

considers NFR in the MDSD process

04/19/2023EASA'09, Cambridge4

Empirical method used The survey has been developed following an iterative

methodology Each iteration was revised by IT experts and researchers of

the area

We chose LimeSurvey, a good and cheap software for developing electronic surveys Rule-based questions allow a better design of the survey

For the dissemination of the survey Personal contact with software architects Advertisement in IT communities, using the power of social

networks such as LinkedIn and Facebook International Association of Software Architects

04/19/2023EASA'09, Cambridge5

Summary findings (I) We have 60 responses

When we have at least 100 responses we will publish the final results

Almost all (88%) respondents use relational DB

04/19/2023EASA'09, Cambridge6

Summary findings (II) While 96% of respondents consider NFR (73% at the same

level as functional requirements), only 57% use NFR to take architectural and technological decisions

80% of respondents do not use development tools that analyze the NFR compliance, but 70% would like to use such kind of tools

The most accepted answer for all questions about interaction is that developers want to be asked, but only for the most important decisions

A great part of the respondents (79%) do not use MDSD in their software projects, so it is difficult to carry out a good evaluation of this part of the survey at this moment

04/19/2023EASA'09, Cambridge7

Summary findings (III)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

None Marginal Medium Important Critical No answer

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

None Marginal Medium Important Critical No answer

Maintainability

Reusability

Efficiency

Reliability

Usability

Portability

Cost

Standards compliance

Organizational

Non-Functional Requirements importance

04/19/2023EASA'09, Cambridge8

Challenges and lessons learned This survey can be seen as a particular instrument

that addresses some of the questions raised in the EASA’09 cfp

This was an overview of the current answers to the survey, for the final report we will do a deeper statistical data analysis We will analyze which are the most important NFR for each

architectural style

Empirical evidence about the current state of software architectures usage by asking the involved actors We found some difficulties in terminology (academia vs. IT)

Usage of architectural styles and technologies in IT companies and

organizations

Questions and answers