Systems

Architectures

System Integration & Architecture

 Architecture

•The word “architecture” is derived from the Greek

word “architecton”, which means master mason or
master builder
•Webster’s Dictionary defines architecture as:
•The art or science of designing or building structures
•The structure (in terms of components, connections,
and constraints) of a product, process, or element –
The Art of Systems Architecting
•An Architecture is the highest-level concept of a
system in its environment - IEEE

System Integration & SE Tutorial Sys Architectures -

Architecture 2
 Architecture

• Architecture – The fundamental organization of a system embodied in its

components, their relationships to each other and to the environment and
the principles guiding its design and evolution - P141 Standard

• Systems Architecture – The fundamental and unifying system structure

defined in terms of system elements, interfaces, processes, constraints,
and behaviors – INCOSE SAWG
• Architecture – The organizational structure of a system of CSCIs,
identifying its components, their interfaces and a concept of execution
among them

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 Architecture
• The architecture of a system defines its
high-level structure, exposing its gross
organization as a collection of interacting
components.
• Components needed to model a software
architecture include:
– Components, Connectors, Systems,
Properties and Styles.

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 IT Architecture Concepts
• Components
– The computational elements and data stores of the
system
– May have multiple interfaces, called ports
– Ports define a point of interaction between a
component and its environment
• Connectors
– Model interactions among components
– Runtime perspective: connectors mediate the
communication and coordination activities between
components
– Connectors may have interfaces that define the roles
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& by the participants in the interaction
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Architecture
 IT Architecture Concepts
• Systems
– Graphs of components and connectors
– Tend to be hierarchical – components and connectors may
represent subsystems that have their own internal
architectures
– Bindings map the interfaces of one level of a system to
another

• Properties
– Represent the non-structural information about the parts
of an architecture description
– Example: a connector can be a function call, or a network
interaction
– Properties
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Architecture
 IT Architecture Concepts
• Style
– An architectural style represents a family of
related systems
– Defines the design vocabulary (and constraints)
for the components, connectors, ports, roles,
bindings and properties.

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 System Architect

• The architect is a member of the team that is

responsible for designing and building a system
• The architect’s contribution comes in the very
early stages of the systems engineering process
– When the operational concept is defined
– The basic structure of the system is conceptualized
• A system architect, not only knows about the
individual components, but also understands the
interrelationships among the components

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 Systems Architecting

• Systems Architecting has been defined as the

process of creating complex, unprecedented
systems
• Building systems in today’s world is tenuous at best
– Requirements of the marketplace are ill-defined
– Rapidly evolving technology provides new services at a
global level instantly
– Uncertainty is increasing about they way the system will
be used, the components that will be incorporated and
the interconnections that will be made

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 Systems
Architecting - 2

• Generating a system architecture as part of the

systems engineering process can be seen as a
deliberate approach to deal with the
uncertainty that characterizes these complex,
unprecedented systems

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Architecture
 Traditional Approach
to System Architecting

• Many methodologies have been developed to

support a traditional system development
model
– Define the requirements
– Consider several options
– Emerge with a well-defined design through a
process of elimination
– Based on structured analysis and design

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Architecture
 Traditional Approach to
System Architecting - 2

• Effective when the requirements are well

defined and remain essentially constant during
the system development period
– Cannot handle change well
• If the implementation of the system is long – on the
order of years – the requirements change because of
changing needs and new technology offers different
alternatives and opportunities

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 The Traditional
Approach

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 Evolutionary Approach

• New approach that is emerging with roots in

software systems engineering
• Deals with uncertainty in requirements and in
technology, especially for systems with a long
development time and expected long life cycle
– Evolutionary development
– Build-a-little, Test-a-little
• Requirements are allowed to be more abstract and
therefore subject to interpretation
• Alternative solutions are explored and pursued
further as new technology options become available

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Architecture
 Evolutionary Approach - 2

• Intermediate designs are saved

• Some intermediate designs are implemented as
prototypes but not operationally implemented
while others are implemented in traditional ways
• Advantages of Object-Oriented approach:
– Allows flexibility in the design as it evolves over time
• Disadvantages of Object-Oriented approach:
– Requires some early elimination of technology
alternatives in the absence of reliable information

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 Evolutionary Approach

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Architecture
 Select, Build, and Field

• At any time in the development process, when

there is a need to build a system, the available
solution that best meets the current
requirements is selected and implemented
using any systems engineering approach

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 Select, Build, and Field

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 The Challenge of
Coping With Change

• If the implementation is long, then the

situation shown next prevails, with the
unfortunate consequences that very little, if
any, from the work on Option A is used for
Option B

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 The Challenge of
Coping With Change

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 How to Define
an Architecture
• Defining an architecture, especially of an
information system, requires the following items
to be described:
– Processes exist that need to take place in order that the
system accomplish its intended functions
– The individual processes transform either data or
materials that “flow” between them
– The processes or activities or operations follow rules
that establish the conditions under which they occur
– The components that will implement the design
(hardware, software, personnel, and facilities must be
described)
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 How to Define
an Architecture - 2

• Define the Functional Architecture

– A functional architecture is:
• A set of activities or functions that are arranged in a
specific order and when activated, achieves a set of
requirements
• Divide and allocate the functional requirements into
different sub-functions and modes of operation

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 How to Define
an Architecture - 3

• Define the Physical Architecture

– A physical architecture is:
• A representation of the physical resources
• Expressed as nodes that constitute the system and their
connectivity
• Expressed in the form of links

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 How to Define
an Architecture - 4
• Define the technical architecture
– A minimal set of rules governing the arrangement,
interaction, and interdependence of the parts or
elements that must ensure that a conformant system
satisfies a specified set of requirements
– Provides the framework upon which engineering
specifications can be derived, guiding the
implementation of the system
– Analogous to the building code that provides guidance
for new buildings to be able to connect to the existing
infrastructure by characterizing the attributes of that
infrastructure

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Architecture
 Operational Concept

• An important task in the architecture development

process is to define the operational concept
– A concise statement that describes how the goal will be met
– How will the system look and act in the operational
environment
• Operational Concept Definition Parts
– How the system operates
– Where in the operating environment the system will be
distributed
– How long the system must operate
– How effective the system’s performance must be

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 Operational Concept - 2

• An operational concept is a shared vision from the

perspective of the system’s stakeholders of how
the system will be:
– Developed
– Produced
– Deployed
– Trained
– Used and maintained
– Refined
– Retired
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 Operational Concept - 3

ᴥ The operational concept includes a collection of

scenarios – one for each group of stakeholders for
each relevant phase of the system’s lifecycle
– Each scenario addresses one way that a particular
stakeholder will want to use, deploy, fix, etc., the
system and how the system will respond to a produce a
desired end
– Scenario - a sequence of events which might occur that
includes the interaction of the product with its
environment and users, as well as the interaction
among its product components

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Architecture
 Executable Model

ᴥ The functional, physical, and technical

architectures are static representations that
attempt to describe the dynamic behavior of
the architecture
ᴥ In order to analyze the behavior of the
architecture and evaluate the performance
characteristics, an executable model is needed

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Architecture
 Architecture
Development Process
ᴥ The architecture development process consists of
three phases:
 Analysis Phase – The static representatives of the
functional and physical architectures are obtained
using the operational concept to drive the process and
the technical architecture to guide it
 Synthesis Phase – The static constructs are used,
together with descriptions of the dynamic behavior of
the architecture to obtain the executable operational X-
architecture (X = executable property)
 Evaluation Phase – Measures of performance (MOP)
and measures of effectiveness (MOE) are obtained

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 The Three-Phase
Process of Architecture
Development

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 Summary

ᴥ Architecture – The fundamental organization

of a system embodied in its components, their
relationships to each other and to the
environment and the principles guiding its
design and evolution
ᴥ A system architect, not only knows about the
individual components, but also understands
the interrelationships among the components

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Architecture
 Summary - 2

ᴥ A functional architecture is:

A set of activities or functions that are arranged in
a specific order and when activated, achieves a set
of requirements
ᴥ A physical architecture is:
A representation of the physical resources
Expressed as nodes that constitute the system and
their connectivity
Expressed in the form of links
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Architecture
 Summary - 3

ᴥ An important task in the architecture development

process is to define the operational concept
 A concise statement that describes how the goal will
be met
 How will the system look and act in the operational
environment
ᴥ A technical architecture is a minimal set of rules
governing the arrangement, interaction, and
interdependence of the parts or elements that must
ensure that a conformant system satisfies a
specified set of requirements

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Architecture
 Summary - 4

ᴥ The functional, physical, and technical

architecture are static representations that
attempt to describe the dynamic behavior of
the architecture
ᴥ In order to analyze the behavior of the
architecture and evaluate the performance
characteristics, an executable model is needed

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Architecture