CMA Quality Attribute Analysis 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which quality attribute scenario component describes the stimulus that triggers a system response?
- Environment
- Artifact
- Source (Correct answer)
- Response measure
Correct answer: Source
The source is the entity (person, system, or event) that generates the stimulus in a quality attribute scenario.
Question 2: A system must recover from a database failure and resume normal operations within 30 seconds. Which quality attribute does this scenario primarily address?
- Performance
- Availability (Correct answer)
- Modifiability
- Security
Correct answer: Availability
Availability is concerned with system uptime and recovery time from failures, measured here by a 30-second recovery window.
Question 3: What is the primary purpose of a quality attribute utility tree in architecture evaluation?
- To document system interfaces
- To prioritize quality attributes by business value and risk (Correct answer)
- To define deployment topology
- To map components to tiers
Correct answer: To prioritize quality attributes by business value and risk
A utility tree organizes and prioritizes quality attribute scenarios based on their business importance and technical risk.
Question 4: Which architectural tactic directly addresses the modifiability quality attribute by reducing dependencies between modules?
- Heartbeat monitoring
- Encapsulation (Correct answer)
- Rate limiting
- Passive redundancy
Correct answer: Encapsulation
Encapsulation hides internal implementation details, reducing coupling and making modules easier to modify independently.
Question 5: In the context of quality attribute analysis, what does 'response measure' define?
- The system component affected by a stimulus
- The quantifiable criterion used to assess whether a response is acceptable (Correct answer)
- The source that triggers an event
- The operating mode during a scenario
Correct answer: The quantifiable criterion used to assess whether a response is acceptable
The response measure provides a testable, quantifiable criterion — such as latency in milliseconds — to determine if the system's response meets requirements.
Question 6: Which quality attribute is MOST directly impacted by the use of a circuit breaker pattern?
- Testability
- Availability (Correct answer)
- Modifiability
- Usability
Correct answer: Availability
Circuit breakers prevent cascading failures by stopping calls to a failing service, thereby improving overall system availability.
Question 7: An architect must ensure that a system can be tested with 80% code coverage using automated unit tests. This requirement is best classified under which quality attribute?
- Reliability
- Testability (Correct answer)
- Maintainability
- Interoperability
Correct answer: Testability
Testability refers to the ease with which a system can be verified through testing, and code coverage targets are a direct testability measure.
CMA Quality Attribute Analysis 2
Which quality attribute scenario component describes the stimulus that triggers a system response?