Capability | Definitions |
Business Technology Strategy | |
Introduction Business-Technology Strategy | how and why business-technology strategy development is a core competency of the architecture profession. |
Business Fundamentals | basic business structures and functions and the basic nature of running a business. |
Strategy Development | the partnership between the business architect and the technical architect relative to the creation of a business model that defines the principles, standards, structure, and dynamics of the integrated business and technical strategic direction. The components of a sound architecture strategy and how to evaluate a business problem and identify an appropriate technology direction. Identifying, analyzing, and simulating market trends. |
Industry Analysis | the foundations of business markets and how organizations function within them. The understanding to combine a particular business vertical with common trends in the technology sector. How to keep track of trends so technology and business skills are constantly improved. |
Business Valuation | How and when to invest in particular technology directions and how to manage the overall portfolio of technology investments. Common techniques for proving the financial benefit of architecture choices and how to apply common financial evaluation techniques. |
Investment Prioritization and Planning | Management of two different types of portfolio lifecycles – assets and projects – both of which are important to be planned and managed, but which require very different investment approaches. |
Requirements Discovery and Constraints Analysis | Understanding business requirements with multiple strategic impacts and how such requirements and constraints are formed internally and externally. How to apply those constraints and requirements to their technology and business decisions. Understand and plan for technology capabilities of the current resources/environment. Best practices for ensuring the quality of the business requirements. |
Compliance | Regulatory impacts to the organization and the design/solution being deployed, including audits, certifications, licensing, and general industry regulation types. The ability to articulate the regulatory requirements that drive design elements. |
Business Architecture Methods & Tools | Strategic and tactical use of business architecture methods and tools, including but not limited to business process engineering, business process management, business process modeling, workflow, and similar technology in relation to business capabilities and design. Best practices for integrating business processes that span multiple internal organizations. |
Decision Support | A major area of architectural advancement is in decision support and ‘smart’ systems. Concepts and components in decision and business intelligence systems and will demonstrate effective architectures using these components. |
Knowledge Management | Understanding and designing a solution that supports how business information is built, stored, managed, and made easily accessible. Current issues around the organizational challenge of maintaining long-term organizational memory and ways to address this challenge. |
IT Environment | |
IT Environment Introduction | How to ascertain the organization maturity and solution maturity with an organization. A full understanding of the IT Lifecycle including all key departments and activities. Demonstrated excellence in IT solution development and delivery. |
Technical Project Management Capabilities | Role of project management specific to an IT project or program. Understanding the existing deployed solutions (and the limitations of those solutions) in developing the future state capabilities required by new solutions and balancing the cost of the new solution against the overall goals and timelines of the organization. Expected to demonstrate understanding of the factors involved in estimating solutions and their cost and cost tracking methods and tactics. |
Asset Management | An understanding of developing and deploying a solution designed to manage the intellectual property of solutions and architectural components within the IT environment. |
Change Management | A deep understanding of the vital nature of designing and utilizing effective change management processes and the critical role that change control plays in a quality operational design. |
Application Development | Define and describe the varying approaches to application development and will include COTS package implementation and infrastructure upgrades. The functions of opportunity definition, preliminary analysis, software development, testing, deployment, and overall managing of the development environment and process will be covered. Different ways to approach structuring projects including, waterfall, iterative and incremental, different levels of formality from methods with a high degree of ceremony to agile approaches. |
Governance | Detail the decision-making environment within an organization and the importance of having clearly defined roles and responsibilities relative to oversight of projects, processes, and products. Show competence in designing solutions that achieve regulatory goals and objectives and allow for guidance and oversight that continuously track to the needs of the business. |
Testing Methods, Tools, and Techniques | Detail best practices in testing theory, techniques and tools. Expected to demonstrate competence in the scientific method and important testing techniques. |
Platforms and Frameworks | A working knowledge of primary platforms and frameworks used throughout the public and private sectors. Emphasis will be put on the architectural qualities and not on specific platforms. Expected to understand how they relate to each other and will be given opportunities and tools to evaluate frameworks against each other in specific and different contexts. |
Design Skills | |
Introduction to Design | Design theory and the scope of design-related strategies and techniques that an architect requires to be successful. |
Requirements Modeling | Multiple ways to model business and technical requirements, architectures, and designs and how to transform models of one type into another. Domain-specific modeling languages and other modeling approaches will be addressed. |
Architecture Description | Formal architecture documentation techniques. Demonstrate competence in detailed architecture communication. Design diagramming notation, architecture views and viewpoints, and various architecture description languages will be discussed. |
Decomposition and Reuse | Detail the major building blocks of modern software and infrastructure design and demonstrate competence in their synthesis. |
Design Methodologies and Processes | Demonstration of being flexible, competent designers, fluent in a number of methods and tools by defining and describing the basic process of design, as distinct from the process as embodied in one of the prominent “methodologies.” Recognize major components of the process in various methods be able to determine when a given method is appropriate to the problem at hand. Understand common development cycles and their role in design. |
Design Patterns and Styles | Demonstrated understanding of metaphor and pattern concepts, styles versus pattern, and demonstrated competence in deriving and communicating pattern and style. |
Design Analysis and Testing | Demonstrated understanding of architecture analysis techniques and related tools. Able to detail how to describe a design and its components, evaluate a design relative to alternatives, describe the structure and state of a design, and analyze the design's dynamic behavior in response to external events. Demonstrated understanding of how to test a design as an artifact for completeness, correctness, efficiency, and a number of other criteria. Demonstrated competence in the application of highest priority techniques such as selected ATAM techniques, failure analysis, optimization, prototyping, simulation, scaled modeling, and various forms of walk-throughs and design reviews. |
Traceability Throughout the Lifecycle | Demonstration of traceability from initial requirements through to the sustained system and the vital role of traceability throughout the lifecycle of developed products. Demonstrated use of associated techniques and tools, and will be required to demonstrate competence in highest priority techniques. |
Views & Viewpoints | Ability to compare/contrast concept of views, viewpoints, and perspectives, differences between them and how they work together to describe an architecture. Able to discern various stakeholder groups typical of IT development projects, describing the typical viewpoint of each group, determine the set of views needed to satisfy project requirements. |
Whole Systems Design | Demonstrated understanding of the "whole system" of interconnected elements that participate in, impact, and influence the design process. Demonstrated understanding of the nature and rich tradition of design theory and practice, relevancy of understanding design as a discipline; the systems sciences, systems theory, and systems thinking; developing “whole systems” perspective, and its importance to architects; recognizing and addressing complex systemic problems and architecture praxis; modeling as essential design action, modeling tools, and business patterns; the importance of context; the architect’s role in the creation of a design culture; design judgment and the construction of meaning; and work redesign, industry perspectives, and the increasing importance of architecture as a profession. |
Human Dynamics | |
Introduction to Human Dynamics | Demonstrated understanding of concepts of human and organizational psychology, associated leadership and management skills, fundamental communications in a technical context, and their relevance to the architect. |
Managing the Culture | Demonstrated understanding of the impact of human culture upon organizations and basic culture recognition and management techniques. Organizational politics unique to the architect's context, the role of culture change agent, and reviews primary culture change techniques and strategies. |
Customer Relations | Demonstrated understanding of the psychological dynamics of customer management, and discusses business imperatives, modern techniques and tools for customer relationship management, industry engagement, contractual agreements, transparency and accountability, and related issues. Demonstrate competence in managing high-risk scenarios. |
Leadership and Management | Differentiate between leadership, management, and administration. Demonstrated understanding of how to assess one's personal leadership skills and evaluate the leadership attributes of others, and ability to form a personal leadership growth plan. Ability to discuss the unique challenges of leading and managing in a technical environment, understand basic management theory, techniques, and tools ,and be able to apply them within the context of the lifecycle of IT products and services. |
Peer Interaction | Demonstrated understanding of the psychology of interpersonal human interactions and their importance in the context of IT products and services design and delivery. |
Collaboration and Negotiation | Demonstrated application of communications theory and the specific collaboration and negotiation skills essential to effective functioning as an architect. Understanding of the psychology of human collaboration, networking, as well as strategies and methods for working together and reaching agreement. |
Presentation Skills | Describe steps taken and fundamental techniques used to improve presentation skills. The focus is on presentations made to key stakeholders clearly identifying technology strategy decisions and opportunities. |
Writing Skills | Understand and demonstrate competence in writing skills necessary to function as an architect and to enhance the growth potential of one’s career. Techniques, methods, and examples for book writing, informal composition, memos and e-mail, note taking and technical documentation. |
Quality Attributes | |
Introduction to Quality Attributes | Demonstrated approaches used to provide optimal performance and user experience from IT products and services. Demonstrated use eand management of quality management imperatives, techniques, and tools/recommended methods for balancing and optimizing quality attributes. Demonstrated competency with associated analysis, planning and implementation techniques. |
Balancing and Optimizing Quality Attributes | Demonstrated management/mitigation of specific issues relative to balancing and optimizing in systems development projects. Application of basic strategies and tactics necessary to provide optimal performance, user experience and return on investment from IT projects. |
Manageability, Maintainability, Supportability, Extensibility, and Flexibility | Demonstrated management/mitigation of issues relative to manageability, maintainability, supportability, extensibility, and flexibility and enable the student to understand each of these quality attributes. Demonstrated competence in implementation techniques. |
Monitoring and Management | Demonstrated understanding of specific quality management imperatives, techniques and tools. Demonstrated competency in problem analysis, capacity planning, Service Level Agreement (SLA) creation and management and issue response techniques. |
Performance, Reliability, Availability, Scalability | Demonstrated management/mitigation of issues relating to performance, reliability, availability, and scalability. Demonstrated understanding of these quality attributes such as portability and efficiency and competence in implementation techniques. |
Security | Demonstrated understanding of security, privacy, authenticity, access privileges, information protection and disaster recovery, asset management techniques, threat modeling and recovery, and related issues. Demonstrated competence in basic implementation techniques. |
Usability, Localization, Accessibility, Personalization/Customizability | Demonstrated understanding of usability and human factors fundamentals. Ability to describe related internationalization strategies and current issues. Demonstrated competence in implementation techniques. |
Packaging, Delivery, Post Deployment | Demonstrated understanding of the expectations, process and management of IT products following the completion of development and prior to “normal” day-to-day operating conditions. Techniques used and preferred for data conversion management, deployment strategies, documentation and training, user acceptance testing, and installation and maintenance planning. Demonstrated competence in highest priority management techniques. |
Software Architecture | |
Software Architecture Specialties | Demonstrated understanding of the major categories of knowledge/specialization within software architecture, and the ability to compare and contrast the commonalities between specializations. |
Software Architecture Development Methodologies and Processes | Participation in many phases of the software development life cycle (SDLC). Demonstrated understanding of common development cycles and their role in these processes, including set up and management of development environments and give the learner tools to participate fully in the delivery of a solution. Ability to provide comparison of key development methodologies and recommendations on when to use what method. |
Software Architecture Tools | Demonstrate use a variety of tools to create working solutions and participate in the development process, including significant concepts of architecture tools and how they integrate with the SDLC. Site examples and reusable patterns for successful tool usage. |
Software Engineering for Architects | Demonstrate understanding and use of advanced concepts in software engineering with a focus on the architect’s role in working with developers and software engineers. |
Services, Workflow and Messaging | Demonstrate an understanding of current and future shifts in IT architecture. Examples include Service Oriented Architecture, messaging, workflow and other systems have become a major component of the architect’s toolset. Highlight common concepts and components of these solutions with a focus on providing the student with the ability to effectively use these systems for their organization, including reusable assets and patterns (where appropriate). |
Advanced Quality Attributes | Demonstrate employment of constraints and quality attributes across all IT systems, including an advanced view of the software architect's responsibilities and opportunities for ensuring the appropriate quality attributes are represented in their solutions. |
Advanced Stakeholder Management | Demonstrated interaction with large numbers of stakeholders including developers, management and project leadership, including techniques used to make interactions and relationships fruitful. Demonstrated understanding of the primary stakeholders software architects deal with and their needs, siting any reusable assets such as stakeholder views used. |
Software Architecture Patterns | Demonstrated creation of architectural patterns, expressing fundamental structural organization schema for a software system and subsystems, their responsibilities and interrelations. Site examples, including the following:
Layers
Presentation-abstraction-control
Three-tier
Pipeline
Implicit invocation
Blackboard system
Peer-to-peer
Service-oriented architecture
Naked objects
Model-View-Controller
Dependency Injection (above from Wikipedia definition) |
Technologies, Platforms & Frameworks | Demonstrated understanding of, and ability to contrast and compare key technologies important to the work of the software architect. Examples include mobile technologies, client technologies, integration technologies, remoting technologies, workflow technologies, with a specific focus on the architectural qualities rather than specific platforms. Demonstrated understanding of how platforms and frameworks relate to one another (user interface, client, server, persistence, data storage and integration, etc) and ability to provide direction for selecting specific approaches and solutions. |
Data/Information/Knowledge Management | Demonstrated understanding of, and ability to describe the essentials of data modeling, managing, mining, transforming, converting, and reporting. Demonstrated understanding of data structures, the importance and creation of taxonomies, ontologies, vocabularies, glossaries, dictionaries, and use of semantics; data analytics and other BI-related subjects. |
Infrastructure Architecture | |
Infrastructure Architecture Introduction | Demonstrated understanding of the role of the infrastructure architect, including skills and requirements of the IA role in an organization. |
Access and Identity Management | Demonstrated understanding of the implementation and design of an identity and access solution within an enterprise. |
Capacity Planning | Demonstrated understanding of the parameters, constraints, and design requirements for capacity within the environment including storage, network and operations capacity. |
Common Application Services | Demonstrated understanding of the common application services offered within the infrastructure and how to convey this understanding to another architect. |
Device Management | Demonstrated understanding of the common requirements and solutions for patch management, application and OS deployment and structured management of both. |
Infrastructure RAS | Demonstrated understanding of, and ability to design the remote access facilities for an organization. |
Network Design | Demonstrated understanding of and the ability to design networks and network components, configuration and management requirements for both solutions and existing infrastructure. |
Operations | Demonstrated understanding of and ability to design the operations and management requirements for an IT organization. |
System Management and Services | Demonstrated understanding of and ability to design the management and services tools requirement for system, network and solution optimization. |
Data Center Design | Demonstrated understanding of and the ability to design physical data center facilities, including access controls and other security concerns. |
Provisioning | Demonstrated understanding of the processes and procedures required to efficiently and effectively build out a physical or virtual server or other device. |
Disaster Recovery and Backup | Demonstrated understanding of the infrastructure required to support effective disaster recovery and backup/restore processes. |
High Availability Computing Environment | Demonstrated understanding of the infrastructure and operational requirements to provide a highly available computing environment, including two or three critical components required for a successful environment. |
Training Program Introduction
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