Duszynski, SlawomirSlawomirDuszynskiKnodel, JensJensKnodelNaab, MatthiasMatthiasNaab2022-03-072022-03-072009https://publica.fraunhofer.de/handle/publica/294271Software systems are often tailored to individual customer needs. Consequently, these adaptations result in creation of multiple variants of the system. Maintenance and evolution of multiple variants impose a challenge on development organizations because the variation points are often neither explicitly known nor managed, and emerge uncontrolled. In this paper, we describe a technique that allows for reconstructing the variation points on the level of software architecture. The technique - called variant comparison - was successfully applied both internally and in industrial context. In a quasi-experiment, we evaluated the technique for its potential to reduce the effort needed for architecture-level variability analysis. On average, the participants using the variant comparison technique completed identical tasks in 35% less time than the reference group.enproduct line engineeringsoftware architecturequasi-experimentvariability managementSAVEvariation point004report