A Process Framework for Designing Software Reference Architectures for Providing Tools as a Service

Product-Focused Software Process ImprovementSoftware Reference Architecture (SRA), which is a generic architecture solution for a specific type of software systems, provides foundation for the design of concrete architectures in terms of architecture design guidelines and architecture elements. The complexity and size of certain types of software systems need customized and systematic SRA design and evaluation methods. In this paper, we present a software Reference Architecture Design process Framework (RADeF) that can be used for analysis, design and evaluation of the SRA for provisioning of Tools as a Service as part of a cloud-enabled workSPACE (TSPACE). The framework is based on the state of the art results from literature and our experiences with designing software architectures for cloud-based systems. We have applied RADeF SRA design two types of TSPACE: software architecting TSPACE and software implementation TSPACE. The presented framework emphasizes on keeping the conceptual meta-model of the domain under investigation at the core of SRA design strategy and use it as a guiding tool for design, evaluation, implementation and evolution of the SRA. The framework also emphasizes to consider the nature of the tools to be provisioned and underlying cloud platforms to be used while designing SRA. The framework recommends adoption of the multi-faceted approach for evaluation of SRA and quantifiable measurement scheme to evaluate quality of the SRA. We foresee that RADeF can facilitate software architects and researchers during design, application and evaluation of a SRA and its instantiations into concrete software systems.Muhammad Aufeef Chauhan, Muhammad Ali Babar, and Christian W. Probs

A Reference Architecture for a Cloud-Based Tools as a Service Workspace

Software Architecture (SA) plays a critical role in developing and evolving cloud-based applications. We present a Reference Architecture (RA) for designing Cloudbased Tools as a service workSPACE (TSPACE) - a platform for provisioning chain of tools following the Software as a Service (SaaS) model. The TSPACE RA has been designed by leveraging well-known design principles and patterns and has been documented using a view-based approach. The RA has been presented in terms of its context, goals and design elements by describing the requirements, design tactics, and components of the RA. We evaluate the RA in terms of completeness and feasibility. Our proposed RA can provide valuable guidance and insights for designing and implementing concrete software architectures of TSPACE.Muhammad Aufeef Chauhan, Muhammad Ali Babar, Quan Z. Shen