What is it?
Modus21 defines Solutions Architecture as the act of applying known patterns, principles and practices to solve problems and business challenges. In contemporary business there are many complex problems but relatively few which are truly unique. This often means that an organization’s most complex business challenges have likely been addressed somewhere else.
Business performance issues are often rooted in business process problems. The true challenge is actually figuring out how to properly decompose and model the problem in order to understand its root cause. After the cause is found, the business process is reassembled with a solution focused, pattern-oriented approach to alleviate the issue. Solutions Architecture is often an exercise in seeing the proverbial forest as a collection of trees. Solving a single, monolithic business issue may see impossible. But appropriate decomposition can facilitate the resolution of discrete constituent problems that ultimately resolve the larger problem.
Value Statement
Architectures result in models and as George Box said, “All models are wrong, some are useful.” The value of Solutions Architecture is that it enables an organization to decompose its immediate issue into a set of scenarios that likely have ready solutions. The net result is a model of a comprehensive solution comprised of tried and tested patterns and practices. This is true in business systems and computer software just as it is in mathematics and engineering. Good architecture results in sound models which accurately represent a desired future state.
Modus21 Solutions Architecture services result in several types of models which clients utilize to design and build business systems. Those systems often include computer software, but not always. There have been occasions when Modus21 has helped clients resolve complex business issues simply by adjusting organizational processes, human resource behaviors or activities, or organizational expectations. These particular instances have resulted from architectural analyses that produced models which enabled us to demonstrate how success could be achieved without implementing new software. That being said, computer software is very often the shortest path to a desired organizational outcome. In which case, a valid solution architecture ensures that the right software is deployed in the right way to meet the right requirements.
Modus21 Specialties include:
- Enterprise Architecture
- Software Systems Architecture
- Integration Architecture
- Cloud Architecture
- XaaS Architecture