Service-oriented integration of architecture evaluations in engineering processes

Architecture evaluations are necessary activities in long running distributed system development processes. They must be integrated with the design acitivities both at the organisational and the technical level; in particular, the tools that are used for design and evaluation activities have to be integrated. In this paper a service-oriented approach to tool integration is discussed, in which design and analysis tools play the roles of service providers. In order to build up an appropriate service integration infrastructure first the requirements have to be analysed in detail. The service-oriented engineering schema (SOE schema) that is introduced in this paper defines a guideline for the systematic and sustainable integration of tools, that starts with a thorough requirements analysis. The SOE schema has been worked out and prototypically applied in a project on service-oriented engineering with Airbus Industries.