Software Engineering

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CHAPTER 12 
Configuring the Physical Architecture
3. 
Evaluate the structural configuration to refine the design to optimize per-
formance, reduce software integration and testing efforts, and simplify the 
configuration.
4. 
Establish the software integration strategy by identifying intermediary 
structural components that form logical collections of structural components 
for the purpose of assembling the final software product configuration. These 
intermediary structural components are subcomponents of abstract structural 
components. There may be rationale to restructure the structural configura-
tion based on this task, and abstract components may be eliminated altogether 
or rescoped to accommodate a broader functional responsibility. The final 
software integration strategy should identify the manner by which struc-
tural units and components will be assembled, integrated, and tested during 
software implementation. The software build process will be patterned after 
this integration strategy but without the need for the intermediary structural 
integration testing.
These software design guidelines emphasize the application of functional analy-
sis and design synthesis in a manner that harmonizes the structural configuration 
with the functional architecture. Functional analysis establishes the functional and 
performance characteristics of the software product. It provides a well-defined, 
organized approach to explore the problem space and gain in-depth understanding 
of the operational features and attributes that may have been ambiguously implied 
by the stakeholder needs and software requirements specifications.
Design synthesis enables the software engineering team to deduce a conceptual 
design framework while the functional architecture is still being elaborated. The 
conceptual design should focus on the skeletal structure of the software product 
configuration upon which additional structural components can be affixed. The con-
ceptual design framework is devised by abstracting dominant functional concepts 
into a set of top-level abstract structural components.
Upon the completion of the functional architecture, the design synthesis 
practice is used to group and organize functional units into a complete set of struc-
tural units that form the building block of the structural configuration. Structural 
unit specifications result from the consolidation of functional unit specifications 
into an integrated set of requirements. The software integration strategy is estab-
lished to identify structural assemblages and intermediary structural components 
that bridge the design space between structural units and the conceptual design 
framework. Structural assemblages represent intermediary structural components 
that involve additional test stubs and drivers to support component integration and 
testing. The complete structural configuration resulting from design synthesis must 
be completely specified and documented to provide the software technical data 
package that is delivered to the software implementation team. The software physi-
cal architecture refers to the complete structural design as documented by the soft-
ware TDP.

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