Resolving requirement conflicts through non-functional decomposition

Abstract

A lack of insight into the relationship between (non) functional requirements and architectural solutions often leads to problems in real life projects. This paper presents a model that concentrates on the mapping of nonfunctional requirements onto functional requirements for architecture design. We build a framework that both provides a model and a repeatable method to transform conflicting requirements into a system decomposition. This paper presents the framework, and discusses two cases onto which the method is applied. In one case, the method is successfully used to reconstruct the high-level structure of a system from its requirements. The second case is one in which the method was actually used to create a system design fitting the stakeholders' needs, and that is reproducible from its requirements.