Call for Papers
Special Issue of IEEE Software
Software Architecture: Framing Stakeholders' Concerns

Submission deadline: 1 April 2010
Publication: November/December 2010

Software architects must identify and manage several architectural concerns to devise a successful architecture. There are three complementary approaches commonly used in practice to frame stakeholders' concerns:
* Architecture viewpoints (e.g. logical, process, use case) comprising notations, models and conventions for creating views of the architecture.
* Architecture frameworks as coordinated collections of viewpoints (e.g. Zachman, TOGAF, and, RM-ODP).
* Architecture models constructed using Architecture Description Languages (ADLs) and/or Model-driven Architecture (MDA) approaches.

When putting these approaches into practice, architects face recurring issues: Which views and models/languages do I need? How do I handle concern X? How do I illustrate the concerns addressed by my architecture to stakeholder Y? Are there any reusable viewpoints or models to frame the concerns of e.g. clients, auditors, maintainers?

Some architectural concerns, such as interface access, deployment, functionality and its allocation, are well-served today, embodied in available architecture frameworks, viewpoints or languages. Other dominant concerns, instead, are not addressed by available, off-the-shelf approaches. Examples range from quality aspects like safety, privacy, reliability, and scalability, to business aspects like budget, cost, schedule, quality of service. If missed or ignored, critical concerns have the potential to disrupt a project.

This special issue will explore the state of the art and current industrial practice in framing architectural concerns. We especially welcome case studies, lessons learned, success and failure stories in introducing viewpoints, frameworks and models to organizations, mature and innovative approaches, and future trends.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:
* Research approaches and industrial practice on identifying, documenting and applying viewpoints, frameworks and models in framing architectural concerns
* Tools to support viewpoints, frameworks and models in framing architectural concerns
* Reuse, customization, generalization, and standardization of architectural viewpoints, frameworks and models
* Viewpoints and models for specialized concerns (e.g. reliability, safety, security) or for specific domains (enterprise, healthcare, embedded systems)
* Relations between viewpoints, frameworks and models with other knowledge management mechanisms such as perspectives, principles, styles and patterns.

Manuscripts must not exceed 4,700 words (!!!! changed) including figures and tables,
which count for 200 words each. Submissions in excess of these limits
may be rejected without refereeing. The articles we deem within the
theme's scope will be peer-reviewed and are subject to editing for
magazine style, clarity, organization, and space. We reserve the right
to edit the title of all submissions. Be sure to include the name of
the theme or special issue you are submitting for.

Articles should have a practical orientation, and be written in a
style accessible to practitioners. Overly complex, purely research-
oriented or theoretical treatments are not appropriate. Articles
should be novel. IEEE Software does not re-publish material published
previously in other venues, including other periodicals and formal
conference/workshop proceedings, whether previous publication was in
print or in electronic form.

Questions?

For more information about the focus, contact the Guest Editors:
Patricia Lago, VU University Amsterdam, patricia@cs.vu.nl
Paris Avgeriou, University of Groningen, paris@cs.rug.nl
Rich Hilliard, Software systems architect, USA, r.hilliard@computer.org

For general author guidelines: www.computer.org/software/author.htm
For submission details: software@computer.org