Software Architecture Comparison Analysis Methods provide organizations with a
rationale for an architecture selection process by comparing the fitness of software
architecture candidates for required systems. Comparing software architectures for
any nontrivial system is a difficult task. Software architectures are designed with
particular requirements and constraints, and are often poorly documented.
With the lack of data about software architecture, developing comparison methods
based on a black box approach is considered very helpful, and architectures can be
compared based on a set of criteria derived from the business goals of an
organization.
A popular method for comparing software architectures as black box is the
Software Architecture Comparison Analysis Method (SACAM) developed by the
Software Engineering Institute (SEI). SACAM compares the architectures of
software systems and not the implementation code. SACAM does not address
enterprise architecture issues such as the implemented software evolution and
maintenance.
This paper discusses and presents a proposed adaptation of SACAM to be applied
in the context of critical socio-technical systems where issues of architecture
evolution and maintenance are considered important factors in selecting a strategy
for software modernization. The proposed method is called software Architecture
Comparison Analysis Method for Critical Systems (SACAM-CS). SACAM-CS is
an architecture selection method based on multi-criteria decision analysis. The
proposed method has been validated using a suitable case study to compare among
two check-in systems used in international airports. The purpose of the case study
is to investigate, examine, analyze, and develop model architecture to compare
between two check-in systems with regard to evaluation of process improvement.  Moreover, the case study aims to analyzing the impacts of conventional check-in
system and self-Service Technology at Cairo International Airport through
identification of measures and methods for success evaluation. The main
methodology is to use empirical data from Cairo International Airport accompanied
by research, as an input for suggesting proposals for improvement and discussing
new model architecture for future research in Aeronautical software not addressed
by e.g. traditional comparative analysis of software theory or comparative study of
software architecture analysis research.