Artifact: Architecture Overview |
An informal rich picture or storyboard that illustrates the essential nature of the proposed architecture. It conveys the governing ideas and major building blocks of the architecture.
Domains: Architecture
Purpose
The purpose of this artifact is to: Communicate to the sponsor and external stakeholders a conceptual understanding of the architectural goals and intended architecture Provide a high-level vision of the architecture and its scope to developers Explore and evaluate alternative architectural options Enable early recognition and validation of the implications of the architectural approach Facilitate effective communication between different communities of stakeholders and developers Facilitate orientation for new people who join the project
Relationships
Roles | Responsible: | Modified By: Architect
Tasks | Input To: Detail Component Model Outline Component Model Envision the Architecture | Output From: Envision the Architecture Outline Component Model
Description
Main Description | This artifact provides an overview of the main conceptual elements and relationships of an architecture, which may include candidate subsystems, components, nodes, connections, data stores, users and external systems. As such, it represents the governing ideas and candidate building blocks of the architecture.
Brief Outline | The Architecture Overview contains the following sections: Architectural Goals - defines how the system needs to respond to change over time Architecture Overview Diagram – depicts the major elements of the architecture and their relationships Key Concepts – describes major architectural concepts, including key elements in the diagram
Notation | The notation consists of one or more informal diagrams (not necessarily created using formal modeling tools) together with supporting text describing the major architectural concepts. It includes elements such as: Delivery mechanisms the architecture supports, such as home internet terminals and kiosks The separation of functions Hardware, such as distributed servers and workstations A listing of tiers Access to legacy systems Diagrams are usually static in nature showing the relationships between components. However, where it makes sense to do so, the overview may include dynamic views showing collaborations between the architectural components. The diagrams may show functional views, operational views, or a combination of the two. The Architecture Overview may include diagrams for more than one alternative architectural solution to enable stakeholders to evaluate the tradeoffs between options.
Selected Representation | Rational Software Architect
Illustrations
Templates | Architecture Overview (formal)
Examples | Architecture Overview for E-commerce (LIUS)
Key Considerations
As communication is its main purpose, it is more important for the description of the architecture to be simple, brief, clear, and understandable than comprehensive or accurate in all details.
Tailoring
Impact of not having | Not having this artifact may result in one or more of the following: The overall shape and style of the architecture is not communicated effectively with sponsors and users Project team members do not grasp the big picture, and problems will not be identified early, when they can be remedied inexpensively Communities of users and interested parties fail to find a common language to talk about the system Users and project team members require a longer orientation and learning time
Reasons for not needing | It may be unnecessary to produce this artifact if any of the following are true: The architecture is trivial or relies on already well-established environments, practices or styles It is sufficient to modify or refer to an existing overview document. In this instance, all of the following must be true: The proposed architecture is small The type of architecture is familiar to both users and project team members There are few needs for communication across communities; this means, for example, there is one user group and one development team The architecture is very small and simple; for example, it may take the form of a diagram and a couple paragraphs in a project overview document There are architecture model work products that provide a sufficient overview
Representation Options | The Architecture Overview is an informal representation of the architecture and is usually created using drawing tools such as Microsoft PowerPoint or Visio. You may use more formal modeling tools if they are standard for your organization.
More Information
Checklists | Architecture Overview
Estimation Considerations | Architecture Overview
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