A Lightweight Sanity Check for Implemented Architectures

Architecture evaluations offer many benefits, including the early detection of problems and a better understanding of a system's possibilities. Although many methods for evaluating architectures are available, studies have shown that industry's adoption of architecture evaluations is low. A reason for this lack of adoption is the limited out-of-the-box process and tool support available to start performing architecture reviews. This article introduces the lightweight sanity check for implemented architectures (LiSCIA) evaluation method. LiSCIA can be used out of the box to perform a first architectural evaluation of a system. The check is based on years of experience in evaluating the maintainability of software systems. By periodically performing this check, developers and project managers can control the implemented architecture's erosion as the system (and its requirements) evolves over time. © 2006 IEEE.