Architectural Knowledge in Product Line Engineering: An Industrial Case Study

Capturing and sharing architectural knowledge is already a complex endeavor when dealing with conventional software systems for single customers. In product line engineering, however, the situation is even more difficult due to architectural variability and complex relationships to features and technical solution components. In this paper, we present our experiences and approaches taken in eliciting and sharing architectural knowledge for the product line infrastructure of a company in the plant building domain. An important lesson learned is the necessity of capturing architectural knowledge and making this knowledge available appropriately to various stakeholders of the product line environment.