Software Systems Architecture

The Regulation Perspective

Unlike other system qualities, compliance with the law is an area where you cannot make compromises. Although you may be able to live with a system that is slow, occasionally unreliable, or potentially insecure, a system that does not comply with legal regulations may be prevented from going into production or may expose the organization to risk of prosecution.

Desired Quality The ability of the system to conform to local and international laws, quasi-legal regulations, company policies, and other rules and standards
Applicability Any system which may be subject to laws or regulation
Concerns
  • statutory industry regulation
  • privacy and data protection
  • cross-border legal restrictions
  • data retention and accountability
  • organizational policy compliance
Activities
  • compliance auditing
Tactics
  • assessment of architecture against regulatory and legislative requirements
Pitfalls
  • not understanding regulations or resulting obligations
  • being unaware of statutory regulations

← The Performance and Scalability Perspective     |     Perspectives    |     The Security Perspective →