Architectural level risk assessment tool based on UML specifications

Recent evidences indicate that most faults in software systems are found in only a few of a system´s components [1]. The early identification of these components allows an organization to focus on defect detection activities on high risk components, for example by optimally allocating testing resources [2], or redesigning components that are likely to cause field failures. This paper presents a prototype tool called Architecture-level Risk Assessment Tool (ARAT) based on the risk assessment methodology presented in [3]. The ARAT provides risk assessment based on measures obtained from Unified Modeling Language (UML) artifacts [4]. This tool can be used in the design phase of the software development process. It estimates dynamic metrics [5] and automatically analyzes the quality of the architecture to produce architectural-level software risk assessment [3].