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computed or predicted in a formal way. Therefore, best practices and well-perceived architectural
styles capture a lot of implicit knowledge how people using and living in buildings perceive
their structure, functionality, and general feel. Especially, the indifferent emotions that build-
ings trigger, such as awe, comfort, coziness, power, cleanness, etc. are hard to measure or explain
and are also referred to
as the quality without a name
or
the inner beauty of a building
. How cer-
tain objectives can be realized in architecture is, thus, found only through practical experience,
which is then captured by patterns. For example, there are patterns describing how lighting in
a room should be realized so that people feel comfortable and positive. Architects capture their
knowledge gathered from existing buildings and feedback they received from users in patterns
describing well-perceived building design. In this scope, each pattern describes one architectural
solution for an architectural problem. It does so in an abstract format that allows the implemen-
tation in various ways. Architectural patterns, thus, capture the essential properties required for
the successful design of a certain building area or function while leaving large degrees of freedom
to architects.
Multiple patterns are connected and interrelated resulting in a
pattern language
. This con-
cept of links between patterns is used to point to related patterns. For example, an architect
reviewing patterns describing different roof types can be pointed to patterns describing different
solutions for windows in these roofs and may be advised that some window solutions, thus, the
patterns describing them, cannot be combined with a certain roof pattern. For example, a
lat
rooftop
cannot be combined with windows that have to be mounted vertically. Also, a pattern
language uses these links to guide an architect through the design of buildings, streets, cities,
etc. by describing the order in which patterns have to be considered. For example, the size of the
ground on which a building is created may limit the general architecture patterns that should
be selected first. After this, the number of floors can be considered, followed by the above-
mentioned roofing style, etc.
14.9.1.1.1 Patterns in Information Technology (IT) Solutions
In a similar way, the pattern-based approach has been used in IT to capture best practices on
how applications and systems of applications should be designed. Examples are patterns for fault-
tolerant software, general application architectures, object oriented programming, enterprise
applications, or for message-based application integration. Again, these patterns are abstract and
independent of the programming language or runtime infrastructure used to form
timeless knowl-
edge
that can be applied in various IT environments. In the domain of IT solutions, the desirable
properties are portability, manageability, flexibility to make changes, and, so on. The properties of
IT solutions become apparent over time while an application is productively used, evolves to meet
new requirements, has to cope with failures, or has to be updated to newer versions. During this
lifecycle of an application, designers can reflect on the IT solution to determine whether it was well
designed to meet such challenges.
14.9.1.1.2 Patterns in CRM
Traditional marketing theory and practice has always assumed that enhancing revenues and maxi-
mizing profits can be achieved by expanding the customer base. While this may be a viable strat-
egy, it may not hold true at all times. For instance, in mature industries and mature markets,
customer acquisition may not hold the key to better financial performance: higher acquisition rates
and retention rates do not necessarily result in higher profitability. While key customer metrics
