One of the important benefits of model-to-model transformation is that it allows architects to design iteratively by analyzing and studying alternative or optimal solutions without redesign of the software architecture models or quality analytic models. The main contribution of this work is the presentation of five recently approaches based on the definition of a framework which applies separation of concerns in viewpoints and perspectives. The framework definition identifies viewpoints and their sets of concerns regarding the approaches achieving the goal of integration and interoperability of tools in a model-driven and quality-driven software architecture development. Each approach presentation is a multiple views description, where a view conforms to a viewpoint. The quality of each approach depends on the perspective under which the approach is analyzed. By applying various perspectives on the views composing each approach a software architect or a modeler can select the most appropriate one. Also based on this framework of presentation, the study identifies a current state of the research in the domain defined by these representative approaches, existent limitations and future research directions.

The purpose of the architecture evaluation of a software system is to analyze the architecture to identify potential risks and to verify that the quality requirements have been addressed in the design. This survey shows the state of the research at this moment, in this domain, by presenting and discussing eight of the most representative architecture analysis methods. The selection of the studied methods tries to cover as many particular views of objective reflections as possible to be derived from the general goal. The role of the discussion is to offer guidelines related to the use of the most suitable method for an architecture assessment process. We will concentrate on discovering similarities and differences between these eight available methods by making classifications, comparisons and appropriateness studies.