Catalog of Quality Attributes and Metrics for Microservice Architectures

Catalog of Quality Attributes and Metrics for Microservice Architectures

This dataset is a structured catalog of quality attributes and their associated metrics for microservice architectures, extracted from the scientific literature through a systematic study. It consolidates the evidence gathered from secondary, tertiary, and primary studies into a single browsable artifact.

Content. The catalog contains quality attributes identified in microservices literature, along with metrics linked to these attributes. For each attribute, the catalog reports: (i) whether it is covered by the ISO/IEC 25010:2023 product quality standard (as a characteristic, sub-characteristic, related concept, or not covered); (ii) the list of source studies that cite it; and (iii), when applicable, a dedicated page listing every metric proposed in the literature for that attribute, with its definition, formula (when available), and source study.

Methodology. The catalog was assembled to answer two complementary research questions:

RQ1 — Which quality attributes are cited for microservice architectures? Addressed by 28 secondary/tertiary studies and surveys (T1–T28), which populate the Quality Attributes vs. Studies mapping.

RQ2 — Which metrics are associated with each attribute? Addressed by 15 primary studies (T29–T43) that propose or evaluate metrics, which populate the per-attribute metric tables.

Metric extraction methods. Each metric is classified by how it is computed: Code Analysis (CoA), Change Analysis (ChA), Dynamic Analysis (DyA), API Documentation analysis (ApiDoc), or Not Defined (ND) when the source paper does not specify an extraction procedure.

Intended use. The catalog is meant as a reference for researchers and practitioners who need to (a) reason about quality requirements specific to microservice architectures, (b) select measurable indicators for those requirements, and (c) trace each attribute and metric back to its primary source in the literature. The full bibliography of the 43 source studies (T1–T43) is included.