The Architecture is the comprehensive specification and documentation of the business solution. It is the critical design Phase where our "blueprints" tease out the details and come up with the solution.
The Architecture comprises:
- analysis of your business requirements in detail
- analysis of alternate solutions to best address the business need
- presentation of the solution to precisely and efficiently meet the business need
- definition of the place of the solution in your overall IT infrastructure
- analysis of new work-flow and information-flow
- accurate time, materials, skills, costs estimation for solution development
- optimisation of whole-of-project cost effectiveness
- elimination of 'surprises' from the development cycle
- communication of a precise definition of the Solution Architecture to all stake-holders
The final documentation is a Functional Specification. Its primary purpose is to communicate a precise definition of the Solution to all stake-holders including:
- project management
- end-users
- commercial managers
- development staff
- operational staff
The standard principle components of the Functional Specification together provide the IT solution. They comprise:
- the Business Functions including changed and new business processes
- the User Interface which identifies the various communities of users
- the Logical Data Model which details the information to be managed
- the Reports which detail all the pre-defined reports
- the Operations Plan detailing factors for efficient management and secure operation
- systems interface detailing intersections with other IT systems
