An Approach for Comparison of Architecture Level Change Impact Analysis Methods and Their Relevance in Web Systems Evolution

Change impact analysis (CIA) methods have been developed to identify the consequences of making changes to system artifacts and to support decision making with regards to that change. There is a growing body of research on CIA methods that specifically addresses changes and their impacts at a system architecture level. Most of the methods have been developed and validated on software system domain. However, there is little research consensus on: (i) the features that architectural CIA methods should comprehensively address; and (ii) which existing methods are comparatively suitable in a particular system domain such as Web systems. This paper presents a comparison approache that offer guidance on the selection of the most appropriate method for CIA activity and suitability of these methods in the context of Web systems.