Identifying Architecture Attributes in the Context of Software Ecosystems Based on a Mapping Study

Currently, software acquirers and suppliers as well as their relations have been investigated as a software ecosystem (SECO). In a SECO, an organization wants to achieve its business objectives supported by technologies based on a common ecosystem platform. Modifications on technologies can make essential systems unsupported or low performance. Thus, IT managers should consider information about technologies and their relationships. Such information may be spread in different documents and/or difficult to analyze due to the lack of support. As such, related attributes assist IT managers and architects in making decisions on the IT architecture modification, i.e., the set of technologies supporting products and services adopted by an organization. This research aims to identify architecture attributes that affect a SECO and its platform and technologies from the literature. With the intention of comparing this research to a well-accepted standard, ISO/IEC 25000 characteristics were analyzed against architecture attributes. Then, we have evaluated such attributes with experts from industry and academia based on a survey research. As a result, 64 attributes were identified and grouped by 11 critical factors. Critical factors are macro attributes that encompass other attributes. Then, a better understanding on how IT managers and architects’ choices can affect SECO could help them to take actions to mitigate negative effects.