Constraints for the design of variability-intensive service-oriented reference architectures – An industrial case study

ContextService-oriented architecture has become a widely used concept in software industry. However, we currently lack support for designing variability-intensive service-oriented systems. Such systems could be used in different environments, without the need to design them from scratch. To support the design of variability-intensive service-oriented systems, reference architectures that facilitate variability in instantiated service-oriented architectures can help.ObjectiveThe design of variability-intensive service-oriented reference architectures is subject to specific constraints. Architects need to know these constraints when designing such reference architectures. Our objective is to identify these constraints.MethodAn exploratory case study was performed in the context of local e-government in the Netherlands to study constraints from the perspective of (a) the users of a variability-intensive service-oriented system (municipalities that implement national laws), and (b) the implementing organizations (software vendors). We collected data through interviews with representatives from five organizations, document analyses and expert meetings.ResultsWe identified ten constraints (e.g., organizational constraints, integration-related constraints) which affect the process of designing reference architectures for variability-intensive service-oriented systems. Also, we identified how stakeholders are affected by these constraints, and how constraints are specific to the case study domain.ConclusionsOur results help design variability-intensive service-oriented reference architectures. Furthermore, our results can be used to define processes to design such reference architectures.