TL;DR
The Architecture Vision is a core Phase A deliverable. It gives stakeholders an early, agreed, high-level view of the enterprise changes, capabilities, and business value expected from the target architecture.
What It Is
Architecture Vision can mean two closely related things:
- ADM phase: Phase A of the Architecture Development Method
- deliverable: the early description of the full architecture direction
As a deliverable, the Architecture Vision is intentionally high level. It is not the detailed architecture definition yet.
Main Purpose
The main purpose is stakeholder communication.
The Architecture Vision gives stakeholders a formal communication basis early in the ADM cycle by summarizing:
- the enterprise change expected from the target architecture
- the capabilities to be delivered
- the business value to be created
- the agreed outcome the architecture project is aiming for
It then becomes a basis for developing the Business, Data, Application, and Technology Architectures.
Typical Content
| Content area | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Problem description | the problem, opportunity, stakeholders, concerns, issues, and scenarios to address |
| Objectives | the objectives from the Statement of Architecture Work |
| Summary views | high-level views such as value chain diagrams and solution concept diagrams |
| Requirements | mapped requirements and key constraints |
| Architecture reference | reference to a draft Architecture Definition Document |
Typical template sections may include purpose, problem description, objectives, environment and process models, actors, resulting architecture model, and an end vision statement.
ADM Use
flowchart LR A["Phase A<br/>Create Architecture Vision"] BCD["Phases B-D<br/>Develop target domain architectures"] E["Phase E<br/>Add target solution detail"] RM["Requirements Management<br/>Manage vision requirements"] A --> BCD --> E RM -.-> A RM -.-> BCD RM -.-> E
- Phase A creates the Architecture Vision.
- Phases B, C, and D use it as the basis for target Business, Data, Application, and Technology Architectures.
- Phase E may update the vision with additional target architecture and solution detail.
- Requirements Management manages requirements that affect the vision throughout the ADM cycle.
The Architecture Vision can also be updated later when implementation experience or architecture change management reveals that the agreed direction needs adjustment.
Exam note
- Architecture Vision is both the name of Phase A and a Phase A deliverable.
- It is a high-level, aspirational summary of capabilities and business value.
- Its main purpose is communication and early stakeholder agreement.
- It supports later development of the Business, Data, Application, and Technology Architectures.
- It commonly includes problem description, stakeholders and concerns, objectives, summary views, mapped requirements, and a reference to a draft Architecture Definition Document.