Abstract:
Change impact analysis (CIA) methods have been developed to identify the consequences of making changes to system artifacts and to support decision making with regards to that change. There is a growing body of research on CIA methods that specifically addresses changes and their impacts at a system architecture level. Most of the methods have been developed and validated on software system domain. However, there is little research consensus on: (i) the features that architectural CIA methods should comprehensively address; and (ii) which existing methods are comparatively suitable in a particular system domain such as Web systems. This paper presents a comparison approache that offer guidance on the selection of the most appropriate method for CIA activity and suitability of these methods in the context of Web systems.
