Functional software architecture: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:48, 27 April 2005

Revision as of 11:50, 27 April 2005

Line 7:

##Computer programmers code the different modules and actually implement the system.

Off course the described work division is in reality much more complex and also involves more actors but it outlines the involvement of people with different backgrounds in creating a software system that enables the organization to reach business objectives. A wide variety of material produced by different actors within this system development process needs to be exchanged between and understand by multiple actors.

As the boundary of an enterprise is extended, it becomes increasingly important that a common “big picture” of needed [[business]], people and IT system activities is developed and shared by all the parties involved [1]. A Functional Software Architecture does this by breaking down the organisation in business functions and corresponding IT needs. In this way the enterprise engineer provides a rich schematic reference that can be used by the software engineer in the development of these IT-systems.

Especially in the field of software engineering much tools (A4 Tool, CAME, ARIS) languages (ACME, Rapide, UML) and methods (DSDM, RUP, ISPL) are developed and extensively used. Also, the transition between the software engineers (step 3) and computer programmers (step 4) is already highly formalized by for instance object-oriented development and corresponding Java programming.

Setting strategic objectives (step 1) and the corresponding search for business opportunities and weaknesses is a subject extensively discussed and investigated for more than hundred years. Concepts like for instance Business Process Reengineering (Fredrick Taylor), Market Analysis, Requirements Analysis are commonly known and extensively used in this context. These strategic inputs must be used for the development of a good enterprise design (step2), which can then be used for software design and implementation respectively.

Recent studies have shown that these enterprise architectures can be developed by a number of different methods and techniques. Before these methods and techniques are discussed in detail a definition of an Enterprise Architecture is given:

''An Enterprise Architecture is a strategic information asset base, which defines the mission, the information necessary to perform the mission and the technologies necessary to perform the mission, and the transitional processes for implementing new technologies in response to the changing mission needs.''

This definition emphasizes the use of the architecture as a rich strategic information source for the improvement of business processes and development of needed information systems. If defined, maintained, and implemented effectively, these institutional blueprint assist in optimizing the interdependencies and interrelationships among an organizations business operations and the underlying IT that support operations.

Having red the definition of a Functional Software Architecture at the beginning of this entry we can see a Functional Software Architecture as a type of Enterprise Architecture that can be used as a rich reference for the development of an integrated information system. Naming it a Functional Software Architecture enforces practitioners to use it as a strategic input for a Technical Software Architecture. A formal mapping between a Functional Software Architecture and a type of ADL is thereby needed. In this way the formal use and reuse of enterprise architectures as strategic input for software architectures can be realized.

----