Experience with ALMA

We discuss our experiences in using ALMA, our method for Architecture-Level Modifiability Analysis. Like many other methods for software architecture analysis, such as SAAM and ATAM, our method is scenario-based. We found that the scenario elicitation process is tricky, and depends on the goal set for the analysis. Also, our experience in applying ALMA to business information systems indicates that it is important to also model the environment of the system. Data from a longitudinal study in which we collected information on the actual evolution of a system whose modifiability we analyzed earlier, provides further valuable insights into the applicability of ALMA, and points at some general limitations of this type of analysis.