A method for defining IEEE Std 1471 viewpoints

With the growing impact of information technology the proper understanding of IT-architecture designs is becoming ever more important. Much debate has been going on about how to describe them. In 2000, the IEEE Std 1471 proposed a model of an architecture description and its context. In this paper we propose a lightweight method for modeling architectural information after (part of) the conceptual model of IEEE Std 1471 and defining IEEE Std 1471 viewpoints. The method gives support by outlining in textual form and in diagram form the relation of the concerns of the stakeholders to the architectural information. The definition of viewpoints can then be done with insight from these relations. The method has four steps: (1) creating stakeholder profiles, (2) summarizing internal design documentation, (3) relating the summary to the concerns of the stakeholders, and (4) defining viewpoints. We have conducted a round of discussion and testing in practice in various settings. In this paper we present the feedback we received and propose improvements.