Software Architect's Handbook

Enabling and inhibiting quality attributes

Software architecture either enables quality attributes or inhibits them. Quality attributes are measurable and testable properties of a system. Some examples of quality attributes include maintainability, interoperability, security, and performance.

They are non-functional requirements of a software system as opposed to its features, which are functional requirements. Quality attributes and how they satisfy the stakeholders of the system are critical, and software architecture plays a large role in ensuring that quality attributes are satisfied. The design of a software architecture can be made to focus on certain quality attributes at the cost of others. Quality attributes may be in conflict with ...