Survey: Dealing Non-Functional Requirements at Architecture Level

Non-functional requirements (NFRs) are being addressed by the architecture. NFRs are not focused properly as functional requirements (FRs) are dealt and focused. FRs are being taken under consideration at the early stage of software process development (such as architectural level). Usually, the NFRs are being focused at the end of the project, which does not fulfill the desired qualities. Early design decision is very important to achieve a strong connection between design and requirements, quality of a system and a consistent software product. Architecture and NFRs constraint each other therefore, they should be treated together. Runtime NFRs (such as performance, security and fault tolerance) and some of those which are not runtime (such as maintainability) should be considered at the architectural level. This paper presents a survey that emphasizes the integration of NFRs and architectural. We have analyzed the reported techniques on the basis of our evaluation criteria and have presented a comparison