Decomposing an Architecture Description

I am often involved in Architecture Design Sessions (ADS) with the primary outcome of having a clear vision for a problem we are trying to solve. We spend time primarily on whiteboarding and discussions over what is the right approach and technology that can or should be leveraged to meet our objectives. The Architecture Description is our communication vehicle for describing what is going to be delivered, what components and or services comprise the solution as well as what dependencies the architecture has on external assets. Over the next several months, I am going to decompose an Architecture Description and provide details on my approach, related artifacts and describe why it is we even do this. Because my focus is primarily around data services (it's all about the data anyway) I will leverage most of my examples around Information Architectures and Modern Data Platforms that I spend most of my time on these days. As this series of blog posts evolve, we will also explore artifacts such as the briefing master document that provides an easy way for non-technical individuals to stay apprised of what is detailed in the architecture description. The briefing master is the presentation vehicle for the architecture description. Other artifacts that are leveraged during the ADS and then by the architecture description are listed below. Over time I will decompose these artifacts as well. I fully expect this list to change and evolve as I get more into the details.

• Strategic Vision & Plan
• Information/Data Strategy
• Security Threat Model
• Services Strategy
• Information Assurance Policy
• Information Sharing Strategy
• NetOps Strategic Vision
• Capabilities Description
• Capability Taxonomy
• Services Context Description
• Services Functionality Description
• Service Mapping
• Capability to Services Mapping
• Capability to Operational Activities Mapping
• Standards Profile
• Use Cases

In my next post I will describe the purpose of the Architecture Design session and walk through the various sections of the Architecture Description.