Characterization Model of Software Architectures Recovery Process

Objectives: There are multiple approaches for processes to recover the architecture of a software product; however, a catalog has not been found, indicating when and how they should be used. The objective of this work is to propose a characterization model of the Software Architectures Recovery Process (SARP), which serves as a reference to establish the structure of the mentioned catalog. Methods: The model was obtained by applying the pattern matching technique to establish the common aspects of all the approaches identified in the literature review. Findings: The results of the evaluation of the model reveal its usefulness as a reference to establish the structure of the catalog, indicating when and how a specific process of architectures recovery should be used. Applications: The defined model is a new way of structuring and documenting SARP, which facilitates the understanding, analysis and selection of approaches to recover the architecture of a software product.