What provides the ground for your software development project? Yes, we are talking about Software Architecture. It is a process that has many sub processes where Solution Architecture is among the most important processes before the development begins. A solution when delivered can fall on its face in case it is not implemented correctly.
What is Solution Architecture?
An architectural description of a software solution and application. A Solution Architecture describes the systems and its features which are based on technical aspects, business goals and integration information. It is intended to address the business needs and define the scope of solution requirements.
The Benefits of Solution Architecture
Focuses on Qualitative Delivery
Software solution or system has many aspects and components. A solution architecture acts like a support system for reference. Architecting for a software solution helps in achieving the qualitative output as you have a blueprint of the functionalities and its requirements. Software development solutions built by following best practices always utilizes a Solution Architecture.
It keeps the development team aware and also keeps track of the progress. It identifies and defines areas like performance, security and quality of solution which in turn helps in foreseeing the solution. And thus, aids in scope of improving the solution quality.
When there is solution architecture, one can easily know of the individual components and the nature of communication. It allows in assessing the qualities in the very early stage of the project or product lifecycle.
Helps in Planning the Project Lifecycle
In the initial stage, when you are planning the implementation of the software solution. There goes much planning into it. As mentioned earlier, the support offered by Solution Architecting comes handy during implementation as it identifies areas for the planning stage.
It considers many disciplines where it provides insights on design and process of implementation of each module of the project lifecycle. Also, it helps the software development experts to stick to the plan of implementation. As a whole, it supports project planning, project management, scheduling, estimation, contingency management and also scales performance.
Simplifies Handling Complexity
Well, the bigger the system, the bigger can be the challenges. When there are more number of developer teams or a mix of technologies, then we have to be really careful. This is where the Solution Architecture comes to rescue.
At this moment, we all can say that a Solution Architecture is a blessing for a development environment. With such intricate innovations, the scope of complexity is also increasing. Too many tools and methodologies can lead to a chaos and thus having a Solution Architecture becomes necessary.
It focuses on the vital elements and sets priority for each of the element where comes handy during analysis. For this, a Solution Architect can resort to different techniques for management of complexity such as UML which is most commonly used among software companies.
Helps in Estimation and Costing
There is a need to understand that software development always has a great risk. A system developer would not know how much time a bug can take to resolve. The Solution Architecture ensures that the cost is controlled while meeting the requirements of the main stakeholder.
It also takes care of the process of maintaining the system and the mechanisms being used for the same. In the scope, it also considers the extensibility, scalability and other external factors that matter to the development environment. This indirectly impacts the cost of building a software system.
Solution Architecture is the Support System
So if you have read the above mentioned points with all the concentration then you must realize that Solution Architecture is like the bloodline for a Software Solution or System. We don’t need to have to have a very intricate Solution Architecture but a very basic one to even get started can be a good way to approach software development. You can improvise with the size of the application or requirements.
It is a considered as a part of good practices in Software Development by IT Consulting Companies. And software development experts always ensure that they don’t begin development without having a Solution Architecture and a software development company ensures that they have a specific Solution Architect doing this job for them.
We hope this read that given you insights on why you must always have a Solution Architecture before proceeding with a Software Development Project. Stay tuned, next up is a blog on Solution Architecture. Cheerio!