Architecture Courses

What is Architecture?

Architecture is primarily concerned with three things.

• Providing a classification which distinguishes different architectural layers. Each layer has a different focus, but is aligned with the other layers.
• A process to derive an organisation-specific enterprise architecture that addresses business requirements.
• A definition of architectural artefacts, specifying models and frameworks that can be used to describe the architecture in each of the classification layers.

Most architectural classifications include an enterprise and solution layer.

An enterprise architecture (EA) is concerned with the strategic view of an organisation and provides a comprehensive description of the enterprise as a whole. It includes the definition of the business goals, the organisational structure, the business processes, computer hardware, software applications and job roles. Project management is the discipline of planning a project, mobilising the resources required to execute it, and monitoring and controlling progress so that it achieves its goals in terms of the ‘triple constraint’ of time, cost and quality/specification.

A solution architecture (SA) is concerned with a more tactical approach to architecture and addresses specific problems and requirements. These will involve selected business processes and information systems, and will include the documentation of the solution and the process for delivering it.