Software Engineering

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14.5 
Evaluate trade-study results
assignments. These abstract assignments may now be embellished with additional 
details resulting from an improved understanding of the design solution. Previous pre-
pared drawings, diagrams, specifications, and other design artifacts may need to be 
refined to incorporate the design solution. This action improves the design representa-
tions and incrementally progresses the software architecture toward completion.
14.5.3 
Document the trade-study decision
The decision on a preferred course of action must be documented to preserve the 
rationale for the decision, the representative of the technical organizations involved 
in the trade study, and stakeholder representatives informed of the decision- 
making process. The significance of each trade study will vary from minor architectural 
challenges to a strategic convergence among stakeholder needs, software require-
ments, functional architecture, and structural configuration. The level of documen-
tation for a decision must reflect its significance to the software architecture.
A trade-study report should be prepared to summarize the following aspects of 
the trade-study methods, alternatives considered, and outcomes:
1. 
Technical challenge
—the engineering enigma thath was investigated and the 
significance of the problem within the software architecture context.
2. 
Trade-study methodology
—the approach to evaluating the architectural design 
alternatives.
3. 
Alternatives
—a descriptive list of candidate alternatives that were evaluated 
within the scope of the trade study.
4. 
Success criteria
—the definition of the success factors and their relative weight 
in the final determination of a preferred solution.
5. 
Analysis results
—the final measures of effectiveness, developmental and project 
costs, and schedule implications associated with the alternatives and the com-
parative ranking among the alternatives.
6. 
Decision
—the selected design solution and the rational for its selection.
7. 
Execution strategy
—the identification of the course of actions to be taken to 
incorporate the design solution into the software architecture and rework of 
existing work products (e.g., software programmatic design, coded software 
units, integrated software components) and documentation items.