CMA Quality Attribute Analysis 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which technique is used to elicit and refine quality attribute scenarios from stakeholders during architecture evaluation?
- Domain modeling
- Quality Attribute Workshop (QAW) (Correct answer)
- Functional decomposition
- Object-role modeling
Correct answer: Quality Attribute Workshop (QAW)
A Quality Attribute Workshop is a structured facilitation technique that helps stakeholders articulate and prioritize quality attribute scenarios.
Question 2: When analyzing the security quality attribute, which tactic involves verifying the identity of a user or system before granting access?
- Audit trail
- Intrusion detection
- Authentication (Correct answer)
- Confidentiality
Correct answer: Authentication
Authentication is the security tactic that confirms the identity of actors before allowing them to interact with system resources.
Question 3: An architecture decision to separate business logic from database access code primarily supports which quality attribute?
- Performance
- Availability
- Modifiability (Correct answer)
- Security
Correct answer: Modifiability
Separating concerns like business logic and data access reduces coupling, making it easier to change one without affecting the other.
Question 4: Which of the following BEST describes a 'concrete quality attribute scenario'?
- A general statement of a system's desired behavior
- A specific, measurable scenario tied to a particular system (Correct answer)
- A high-level category of system properties
- A pattern for organizing system components
Correct answer: A specific, measurable scenario tied to a particular system
A concrete scenario specifies actual values and conditions for a particular system, making it directly usable in architecture evaluation.
Question 5: In ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method), what are 'sensitivity points'?
- System components that never change
- Architectural decisions that significantly affect one or more quality attributes (Correct answer)
- Security vulnerabilities in the system
- Performance bottlenecks in the database
Correct answer: Architectural decisions that significantly affect one or more quality attributes
Sensitivity points are architectural decisions where a change has a noticeable impact on one or more quality attribute responses.
Question 6: A system must process 1,000 transactions per second under peak load with less than 200ms latency. This scenario primarily tests which quality attribute?
- Scalability
- Performance (Correct answer)
- Reliability
- Availability
Correct answer: Performance
Performance quality attribute scenarios specify throughput and latency requirements under defined load conditions.
Question 7: Which architectural tactic improves performance by storing frequently accessed data closer to the consumer?
- Load balancing
- Caching (Correct answer)
- Replication
- Sharding
Correct answer: Caching
Caching stores results of expensive operations or frequently accessed data in fast storage to reduce latency and resource consumption.
CMA Quality Attribute Analysis 3
Which technique is used to elicit and refine quality attribute scenarios from stakeholders during architecture evaluation?