SUNTONE ARCHITECTURE METHODOLOGY A 3-DIMENSIONAL ...

Several views, distinguished largely by the perspective of several stakeholders, are
often required to specify all facets of an architecture depending on its complexity.
Each view serves a different set of stakeholders with different concerns, interests, and
technical capabilities. Collectively the views represent the primary content of the
System Architecture Document.
The definitions of layers in the 3–Dimensional Framework, and the interfaces
between them, have co-evolved in modern computing culture with a set of disciplines
that manage the complexity within each layer. Thus an IT organization may have
different groups which focus on providing and managing platforms at the hardware,
network, OS, upper-platform, and application layers—indeed, some of these layers may
be outsourced entirely.
For this reason, the layers frequently provide a useful framework for views that
address the needs of different groups of stakeholders among those responsible for
creating, deploying, managing, and evolving the system. The SunTone AM categorizes
its views by layers. Layers reflect the primary distinguishing factor among skill sets
within and across the development team. Additionally, layers reflect different opportunities
to incorporate components and COTS from multiple sources. Within each
layer, views can describe different aspects of the architecture such as:
• Software and hardware configurations of architecturally significant components at
different levels of detail
• Descriptions of representative dynamic interactions fulfilling targeted functionality
or systemic qualities
• Incorporated and custom mechanisms such as persistence, inter-process communication,
and transaction management
• Evolutionary considerations
Within views, various types of models are used to effectively communicate structure
and purpose. This includes the use of the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and
extensions, as well as summarizations that help to ensure that systemic qualities are
being focused on at all levels. For example, a matrix format can highlight the approach
to systemic qualities across different layers. In this format, the rows represent the system
layers, and the columns represent the systemic qualities relevant to this system.
Each cell describes a feature, strategy, product, practice, or some combination thereof
employed at that layer to support the specified systemic quality:
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
31