Figure 1 shows the relationship between mechanisms and general scenarios. If mechanisms are across the top, and general scenarios are down the left side, then each cell has one of three possibilities. When describing the analyses to be performed, we group the general scenarios into attribute headings. One or more of these is the attribute that the mechanism is intended to address. These are listed beside the attributes that are side effects of the mechanism.
Architectural mechanisms are quality attribute design primitives.
Therefore, we should be able to discuss ABASs in terms of architecture mechanisms. Consider the following examples. While we intend to explore the relationship between ABASs and mechanisms in the future, we can make several observations right now. Both mechanisms and ABASs are attribute-specific design building blocks containing architectural as well as analysis information. In the above examples, ABASs comprise more than one mechanism.