When implementing an application system in a distributed computing environment, several architectural questions arise, such as how and where computing resources are arranged, and how the communication among computing resources are implemented. To simplify the process of making these choices, we have developed an architectural style for distributed processing system. The style classifies product lines for distributed processing systems into nine categories based on the location of data storage and the style of processing between client and server. This paper describes our architectural style and proposes a simple but practical method to select an appropriate architectural style for developing an application system. We apply this selection method in concrete real application systems.

Requirements tracing supports software development work by tracing the changes made to the models. There are two functions in requirements tracing: change tracking and influence analysis. Change tracking is the function of searching the models and model elements in the production sequence. Furthermore, one correction of an element in a model often leads to new corrections to other elements. Influence analysis is the function of finding those elements that need to be additionally corrected. The requirements tracing models are drawn with UML diagrams. UML (Unified Modeling Language) is an industrial-standard visual modeling language established by the OMG (Object Management Group).

When implementing an application system in distributed computing environment, several architectural questions arise such as, how and where computing resources are distributed and how the communication among computing resources should be implemented. To simplify the process of making these choices, we have developed a distributed computing model. This model classifies distributed processing systems into seven categories based on the location of data storage and the style of processing between client and server. This paper describes our model and its use in planning the infrastructure of a new system for one of our customers.