Architectural Evolution of Legacy Systems

The purpose of this paper is to gain experience in solving real problems faced by a company. We first specify the system architecture of the AFS Master System ® using our Component Specification Language (CSL). We then identified various problems evident in the current architecture of the AFS Master System ®. Based on an analysis of the architecture and these problems, we proposed a modification to the software architecture that addressed five out of the seven main problems identified. The engineers made the appropriate changes to the software system (about one week of effort) and have noted a 25% improvement in efficiency as well as an improved system organization that can be more easily changed to meet future demands. We believe the type of architectural change described in this paper will prove useful to developers using similar technologies as described in this paper.