Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
involves such activities as understanding the business domain, abstracting models for
this domain, and crafting application components to realize the models. Often, we
attempt to excavate reusable components from previously developed systems. In
contrast, the architectural way of IS design involves the following: understand the
business domain, match the business domain to standardized architectural models, and
adapt the components associated with these models to meet domain requirements.
•
The
Design Sense
: This sense is based on a number of requirements for architecture
to ensure that the IT environment is aligned with business imperatives. First is the
mission of designing a solution to meet a client's needs. Second is the conscious
imposition of principles and guidelines into the design activity, governing the structure
of design. Third is the formulation of standards to be observed in implementing the
design. Fourth is the activity dealing with the higher levels of abstraction in design.
In this sense, what is important is the discipline we bring to the design process, the
principles and guidelines that impose order so as to shape and constrain the design
in ways that will ensure its ultimate success. To achieve elegant designs, as opposed
to those that are merely adequate, the software architect's challenge is to create
systems that are in perfect harmony with their intended purpose. The word “elegance”
captures this quality most aptly, because it represents a clear, intuitive mapping
between a function and its implementation. Elegance is desirable, because it brings
intellectual manageability in the design activity.
•
The
Blueprinting Sense
: The blueprinting sense of the word architecture is to produce
blueprints that are comprehensible at appropriate levels of abstraction, to fulfill the
needs of different stakeholders viewing the system from different angles. In current
practice, the blueprinting function is effectively integrated into the modeling activity.
We model the business, and we model the information systems that support its
business processes. The methods that we use in these modeling activities incorporate
the blueprinting function.
•
The
Framework Sense
: The framework sense denotes a finished design of some kind.
Where architecture in the finished-design sense is helpful, is where we can abstract
some more generalized, or completely domain-independent, behavior that can serve as
a framework for other solutions. The word architecture used in this sense is supportive
of the common-component sense. Namely, by applying architectural principles in our
solution building, we tend to produce designs that reuse proven frameworks.
The HOW of Architecture in IS
Following our discussion of a set of requirements that the word “architecture” has to
fulfill, and a set of directions commonly attached to this word, we could conceptualize the
architectural way to IS solution building as follows:
•
Targeting for client needs
: This is the most important characteristic of the architectural
approach; we must design a solution to fit our client's needs.
•
Using validated principles
: The architectural approach conducts design according to
vital principles that have been found to be common to successful systems. Examples
include a clear separation of concerns between interface and implementation, and
construction based on a hierarchy of well-defined layers of abstraction.
