Automated Hybrid Methodology for Software Architecture Style Selection Using Analytic Hierarchy Process and Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process

Abstract

In software engineering, selecting the appropriate architectural style for software systems is risky and sensitive. The selection process is a multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. Consequently, selecting a suitable architecture is a key challenge in software development. This study presents an automated hybrid methodology based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) to evaluate and suggest multiple architectural styles based on quality attributes (QAs) alone rather than relying on expert opinions. A Tera-PROMISE dataset is presented to illustrate the proposed methodology and then compare the result of the methodology with expert judgments. Moreover, to support the proposed methodology, a case study is carried out to compare the proposed method to previous studies.