The Process of Architecting for Software / System Engineering

With the advent of potent network technology, software/system engineering has evolved from a traditional platform-centric focus into a network-centric paradigm where the " system of systems " perspective has been the norm. Under this paradigm, architecting has become a critical process in the life cycle of software/system engineering. The need for a structured description of the architecting process is undeniable. This paper fulfills that need and provides a structured description of the process of architecting a software-based network-centric system of systems. The architecting process is described using a set of goals that are specific to architecting, and the associated specific practices that enable the realization of these goals. The architecting process description presented herein is intended to guide the software/system architects.