The purpose of this
activity is to update the Technical Perspective architectural views after: the solution to an issue has been defined, a
change to the business has been defined or as a result of the planned introduction of a new technology.
Description
Multiple iterations are done to update the required Technical level models, with enough detail defined to support the
objectives of the exercise. Many activities can be done in parallel, but good communications is needed in order to keep
the models consistent, but good tool support makes this a non-issue. The following items are produced:
Technical Entity Model for the system;
Technical Process Model for the system;
Technical Locations Model for the system;
Technical Roles Model for the system;
Update the Architecture Glossary and define Architectural Decisions as required.
Once the perspective is updated a peer review is done to decide if the IT architecture is complete, or if additional
iterations are required.
These activities are best carried out by a small team staffed by cross-functional team members, lead by an IT
architect. Issues that are typically architecturally significant include data, process, locations, and roles. The team
should also include members with business domain experience and ideally logical level modelers. The team should also have experience with model organization and
layering. From the provided inputs, the team will need to be able to synthesize the architecture views.
Usage
Usage Guidance
The Technical level is defined/updated in an iterative manner. Note that IT architectures are typically focused on
and driven by:
The Business - the organization and its products and services;
Technology - the technology that supports the business typically has a large impact on the IT
architecture.
Technical level architectures are typically centered upon specific technology choices and patterns. Generic choices
made at the Logical level likely affected business process definitions, now the detailed influences of the
technologies chosen are addressed. Also important at the Technical level are the choices around IT security an
also the Actor/Roles model and how the user interface supports end-to-end business processes.
Approval to proceed with this update has been granted, but stakeholders need to be involved to ensure that the
solutions and other aspects are in-line with this direction/approval. Once the architecture is updated, it is used
within the typical enterprise "use architecture" processes and planning activities. See: Phase: Use the Architecture.
Key Considerations
Approval to proceed with this update has been granted, but stakeholders need to be involved to ensure that the solutions
and other aspects are in-line with this direction/approval. Once the architecture is updated, it is used within the typical
enterprise "use architecture" processes and planning activities. See: Phase: Use the Architecture.
