Phase D - Technology Architecture

The Network and Communications diagram describes the means of communication — the method of sending and receiving information — between these assets in the Technology Architecture; insofar as the selection of package solutions in the preceding architectures put specific requirements on the communications between the applications. The Network and Communications diagram will take logical connections between client and server components and identify network boundaries and network infrastructure required to physically implement those connections.

The Processing diagram focuses on deployable units of code/configuration and how these are deployed onto the technology platform. A deployment unit represents the grouping of business capability, service, or application components.

The Platform Decomposition diagram depicts the technology platform that supports the operations of the Information Systems Architecture. The diagram covers all aspects of the infrastructure platform and provides an overview of the enterprise's technology platform. The diagram can be expanded to map the technology platform to appropriate application components within a specific functional or process area. This diagram may show specification details, such as product versions, number of CPUs, etc.

Environments and Locations Diagram The Environments and Locations diagram depicts which locations host which applications, identifies what technologies and/or applications are used at which locations, and finally identifies the locations from which business users typically interact with the applications. This diagram should also show the existence and location of different deployment environments, including non-production environments, such as development and pre-production.

The Application/Technology matrix documents the mapping of applications to technology platform. This matrix should be aligned with and complement one or more platform decomposition diagrams. The Application/Technology matrix shows: Logical/Physical Application Components Services, Logical Technology Components, and Physical Technology Components Physical Technology Component realizes Physical Application Component relationships.

Starting with the transformation to client-server systems from mainframes and later with the advent of e-Business and J2EE, large enterprises moved predominantly into a highly network-based distributed network computing environment with firewalls and demilitarized zones. Currently, most of the applications have a web front-end and, looking at the deployment architecture of these applications, it is very common to find three distinct layers in the network landscape; namely a web presentation layer, a business logic or application layer, and a back-end data store layer.

The purpose of this catalog is to identify and maintain a list of all the technology in use across the enterprise, including hardware, infrastructure software, and application software. An agreed technology portfolio supports the lifecycle management of technology products and versions and also forms the basis for the definition of technology standards. The Technology Portfolio catalog provides a foundation on which to base the remaining matrices and diagrams.