ion that the system under development is looked at. We outline a mapping relating exceptions at a high level action to exceptions and other software artifacts at vels of abstraction, and show that some exceptions introduced at a low level of abstraction also require the definition of corresponding exceptions at a higher level of abstraction in the case where transparent handling at the low level is not possible. Finally, we list the potential benefits of integrating exception handling into the entire software development life cycle. Categories and Subject Descriptors D.2.9 [Software Engineering]: Management--Life cycle; D.2.10 [Software Engineering]: Design--Methodologies Keywords exceptions, exception handling, software development life cycle, requirements, software architecture, design, implementation