Architectural Blueprints: The 4+1 View Model of Software Architecture

TL;DR

This paper introduces the 4+1 view model for software architecture, enabling multiple stakeholder concerns and requirements to be addressed through distinct, concurrent views during an iterative development process.

Contribution

It proposes a comprehensive multi-view framework for software architecture that separates concerns of different stakeholders and requirements, with specific notations for each view.

Findings

Defines five distinct views for software architecture

Provides a notation system for each view

Supports scenario-driven, iterative development process

Abstract

This article presents a model for describing the architecture of software-intensive systems, based on the use of multiple, concurrent views. This use of multiple views allows to address separately the concerns of the various stakeholders of the architecture: end-user, developers, systems engineers, project managers, etc., and to handle separately the functional and non functional requirements. Each of the five views is described, together with a notation to capture it. The views are designed using an architecture-centered, scenario-driven, iterative development process.