Solution Architecture
Solution architecture provides the ground for software development projects by tailoring IT solutions to specific business needs and defining their functional requirements and stages of implementation. It is comprised of many subprocesses that draw guidance from various enterprise architecture viewpoints.
To better understand the role of solution architecture in the context of software development, you first need to think about what a solution is. Even though this might seem quite basic, it illustrates why solution architecture is one of the most important processes when re-designing your IT landscape. At its core, a solution is a way to describe an answer to a problem. In the corporate world, this means evaluating client needs or problems and addressing them with systems that replace or improve the existing system.
In solution architecture, the client needs are expanded to business needs that in one way or another are related to technology. These needs usually crystallize through re-assessing existing systems and finding out how they benefit or harm the organization in the long run. Sometimes, these evaluations are run by business analysts who also provide a definition of the problem. In the next step, solution architects take this problem and start crafting a description of solutions that appropriately address this need.
Thus, solution architecture translates technical business needs into practical IT solutions while establishing rules and instructions for proper implementation and delivery. It also considers all external factors that could have an impact on the development process. This way, digital projects are less likely to fail and there is a consensus between EA teams and development teams. SA can be seen as a support system that provides structure and reduces the scope of complexity when developing and rolling out new systems and applications.
Solution Architecture and its Main Processes
Well-built solution architecture helps teams develop the product on time and on budget and ensures that it solves the problem it was designed to solve. So, what tasks does solution architecture actually carry out?
Matching solutions with the corporate environment
Usually, companies already have operating systems, an information context, and integration requirements. The solution architecture helps ensure that a new system will fit the existing enterprise environment. To perform this task, a solution architect has to understand how all parts of the business model work together including processes, operating systems, and application architectures. Understanding these aspects, they will be able to design a specific solution that fits the environment best.
Meeting the requirements of all stakeholders
One of the most important challenges of software product development is meeting the stakeholders’ requirements. Usually, a product has a number of stakeholders that are both technical and non-technical specialists. Solution architecture’s aim is to ensure that all their requirements are taken into account. Stakeholders have to be regularly informed about product development processes, costs, and budgeting. These tasks are usually done by a solution architect who translates technical project details into a language that management and non-technical stakeholders can understand.
Accounting for project constraints
Each project has its limitations usually referred to as constraints. These include:
technology
risks
scope
cost
quality
time
resources
For instance, a product is built with technologies that must suit the requirements of its particular modules. Project scope is a part of software documentation that defines specific goals, tasks, features, and functions. All projects also have an allocated budget.
While these aspects are constraints in themselves, each of them has its own limitations. The solution architect must understand all these constraints, compare them, and then make a number of technological and managerial decisions to reconcile these restrictions with project goals.
Selecting the project technology stack
A vital part of creating solution architecture is the selection of technologies for product development. The technical architecture strategy will directly depend on the chosen technology stack. There are a lot of different practices associated with platforms, programming languages, and tools. The solution architecture function here is to find which of them will be the most suitable for a particular project. It’s not an ordinary task requiring technology assessment and comparison.
Compliance with non-functional requirements
All software projects have to meet a number of non-functional requirements that describe the characteristics of the system. These are also known as quality attributes. While the exact list of non-functional requirements depends on the complexity of each individual product, the most common of them are security, performance, maintainability, scalability, usability, and reliability of a product. The solution architect’s role is to analyze all non-functional requirements and ensure that further product engineering will meet them.
