A survey of design model for quality analysis: from a performance and reliability perspective

Abstract

The use of a model for the analysis of the software quality attributes during the design phase has been gaining more attention in recent years. These models, which are peripheral in system design, are the center of quality analysis. The system design is the central focus in representing the structure and behavior of the system. Therefore, the goal of the software architecture performance and reliability analysis is to discover possible quality problems that may violate the quality requirements, which have been stated in the design. The use of an intermediate model to correlate the performance and reliability specification from the UML model and which is then transformed into an analysis model could facilitate the analysis process. This paper provides a survey of the existing intermediate metamodels from a performance and reliability perspective, through the evaluation and discussion on the similarities and differences focusing on the aspects of general concepts, modelling and analysis. The purpose of the discussion is to offer guidelines on which intermediate metamodel is appropriate for the use of quality analysis at design time as well as outline the possible space for improvement by making classifications and comparisons studies.