The following document lists a set of question which are meant to guide the discussions between the Architecture WG and the responsibles for a certain component of the TDAQ system. The goal of the discussions is to gain an understanding of the current architecture and to identify any areas lacking proper definitions or coverage by the existing efforts - especially as far as the overall TDAQ architecture and interfaces between components and external systems are concerned. The questions are not meant to be answered by detailed presentations of requirements or designs of the various components (the July review did this), so pointers to any existing documentation are appropriate for those items (preferably in advance). It will probably depend on the individual component where the focus of the discussions will lie - not all questions have to be given equal time. Subsystem/component responsibles should feel free to bring up additional items if they feel they are missing from the list. Sections and/or items are labeled by priority (HIGH, MEDIUM or LOW) depending on how important they are for the work leading to the TDR. Items labeled MEDIUM may still have to be answered in the immediate post-TDR phase. Context & Interfaces [HIGH] ---------------------------- * What is the context of the component ? How is it related to other components ? * To which other TDAQ components does it interface ? For each interface: Where does the interface fit in the design of the component ? How it is realised ? (E.g. hardware and/or software (e.g. a library)) Where is the interface documented ? Who is responsible for the interface (this component or the other or both?) ? What is current status of the interface work ? * Are there interfaces who have not yet been addressed (i.e. are not covered by any on-going work) ? * Are there requirements from this to other components which have not yet been addressed ? * Are there dependencies to systems outside of TDAQ and if yes, how are they handled ? * Are there systems outside of TDAQ which depend on the component ? * How is the component integrated in the overall TDAQ system (i.e. probably the same as: how does it interact with the online sw ?) Requirements [HIGH] ------------------- * What are the use cases for the component and where are they documented ? * What are the functional requirements for the component and where are they documented ? * Are there specific performance requirements for the component ? * Are there requirements which are not yet finalized (e.g. because they require further input) ? What is done to finalize the requirements ? Design [HIGH] ------------- * Does a design for the component exist and if yes, where is it documented ? * Have some major design decisions already been taken ? * What are the remaining open design issues ? On what inputs does the decision depend on ? What is done to address the open issue and come to a conclusion ? When will a decision be taken ? * Do you have a mechanism to compromise on design and/or implementation with other subsystems/components ? Status [HIGH] ------------- * What is the current status of the component ? * What are the remaining things to be done for this component ? * Is there a detailed workplan for the remaining tasks ? * What are the critical path issues for the development of the component? * Are there any short-term issues which need to be addressed now ? * Are there long-term issues which are not yet covered properly ? Validation [HIGH] ----------------- * Are performance measurements available for the component ? Are they documented ? How do they compare to the final goals ? * Is there a test plan for making all required measurements needed for the TDR ? * How many compoments/subsystems does the component/subsystem need to integrate with ? Is there a plan and time-scale for the integration ? Deployment ---------- * Is there a cost estimate for the component ? [HIGH] * What happens in the final system if the component breaks ? [MEDIUM] What is the impact on the running system ? (e.g. it is critical and will bring everything down or it will it just degrade throughput ?) Will it affect physics performance ? How long will it take to replace/repair the component ? * Where does the component sit geographically ? [MEDIUM] How much space will it take up ? What are the needs of powering and cooling ? * Who will be responsible for long term maintenance? [LOW]