What is Solution Architecture?
In terms of TOGAF and the Enterprise Continuum, and under certain circumstances, any combination of enterprise, enterprise solution and solution architect may be utilized as part of your team. Looking at the last of these, let’s go back to basics and ask ‘what is a solution architect?’.
In the current age of digital transformation, your business requirements are increasingly defined by your customer. New requirements are a challenge, and a challenge requires a solution.
The Solution Architect builds a solution to a given problem, with a given set of resources, in a given amount of time. But your organization already has a portfolio of systems, integration protocols and data contexts in place.
The Solution Architect must also ensure that the given solution fits within these.
And a lot of challenges are not purely resolved with software, or by writing code. Solutions require agreement from a number of people. They require a budget to be carefully managed, and a deadline to be met. The Solution Architect must achieve an understanding of what the risks are, what the constraints are, and a thorough understanding of how each element of the enterprise works together.
Like all architects, the Solution Architect relies on certain fundamental principles, such as the separation of concerns, abstraction, and the creation of conceptual models and formal specifications.
