Software Engineering

13.  Software Design Synthesis Tasks
13.1.1  Establish 
Software Architectural 
Design Guidelines
(Design Conceptualization)
13.1.2  Identify
Abstract Structural
Components
(Design Conceptualization)
13.1.3  Identify
Abstract User Interface
Mechanisms
(Design Conceptualization)
13.2.3  Assess
Software Reuse
Opportunities
(Design Resolution)
13.2.2  Identify
Integrating
Components
(Design Resolution)
13.2.1  Identify 
Fundamental Structural 
Elements
(Design Resolution)
13.3.1  Establish
Performance
Benchmarks
(Design Correlation)
13.3.2  Identify
Structural Design
Deficiencies
(Design Correlation)
13.3.3  Assess
Architectural
Alternatives
(Design Assessment)
13.3.4  Assess Software
Implementation
Challenges
(Design Assessment)
13.3.5  Assess Software
Sustainment
Challenges
(Design Assessment)
13.3.6  Assess 
Architectural 
Integrity 
(Design Assessment)
13.4.1  Establish
Structural Design
Configuration
(Design Manifestation)
13.4.2  Specify
Structural
Configuration Elements
(Design Manifestation)
13.4.3  Identify
Engineering
Assemblages
(Design Manifestation)
13.5  Prepare the
Software Technical
Data Package
(Configuration Control)
FIGURE 13.1
Software design synthesis tasks.

---

230
CHAPTER 13 
Software Design Synthesis Practice
These activities are intended to organize the design synthesis tasks into com-
mon themes that deal with the evolution of a design solution from initial concept 
to resolved and manifested. Design conceptualization can be performed during the 
early execution of functional analysis. This permits the structural design solution 
to be roughed out to capture abstract structural components in a natural, instinc-
tive manner. This activity implies an imaginative, artistic treatment of the soft-
ware design practice. Design resolution supports the trade-off analyses that may be 
performed to refine the conceptual design or to identify structural units from the 
completed functional architecture. This results in a design in which the conceptual 
design and structural units must be aligned by the identification of integrating struc-
tural components. Design correlation establishes the structural associations between 
structural units and abstract components that are enforced via integrating structural 
components.
The remainder of this chapter discusses each of the software design synthesis 
tasks and provides some guidance on how the software structural design is formu-
lated. Principally, these tasks establish a three-tiered paradigm for describing the 
software design configuration. The first or topmost tier captures the conceptual 
structural design components derived via the design conceptualization activity. The 
third or bottommost tier identifies the fundamental structural design elements (units 
and components) from which the structural configuration will be fabricated. The 
second or middle tier provides the design chasm that must be bridged to unify the 
fundamental structural elements with the conceptual design structure. 
Figure 13.2
 iden-
tifies the three tiers of the structural configuration that will be employed throughout 
the software design synthesis discussion.