System Architecture Chapter 1

Integrated software platforms that help organizations manage and coordinate their core business processes.

Enterprise Systems

An organization using information systems to support operations (e.g., schools, hospitals, banks, government, retail).

Enterprise

The practice of designing and aligning an organization's business processes, information systems, and technology infrastructure to achieve its strategic objectives.

Enterprise Architecture (EA)

The EA domain that models the organization's business strategy, structure, processes, capabilities, and value streams.

Business Architecture

The EA domain that manages and structures data/information assets — data models, information flows, databases, data governance.

Information Architecture

The EA domain that addresses the design and integration of software applications within the organization.

Application Architecture

The EA domain covering technology infrastructure — hardware, networks, servers, operating systems, cloud platforms.

Technology Architecture

The EA domain that ensures integration and interoperability of systems, applications, and technologies via standards and protocols.

Integration and Interoperability

The EA domain that establishes governance mechanisms to ensure compliance with policies, standards, and regulations.

Governance and Compliance

The EA domain that provides a structured approach for managing and implementing organizational changes.

Change Management

The EA principle ensuring business strategy, goals, and processes align with information systems and technology.

Alignment

The EA principle promoting seamless information flow, data consistency, and interoperability between components.

Integration

The EA principle advocating standardized processes, technologies, and data models across the organization.

Standardization

The EA principle encouraging modular, reusable components for flexibility, scalability, and easier maintenance.

Modularity

The EA principle emphasizing documenting relationships between architectural elements to trace impact and risk.

Traceability

The EA principle that simplifies complex systems by breaking them into manageable, understandable components.

Abstraction

The EA principle incorporating mechanisms to ensure compliance with standards, policies, and regulations.

Governance

The EA principle promoting communication and shared understanding among stakeholders across business and IT.

Collaboration

The EA principle emphasizing aligning technology investments with business outcomes and measuring value generated.

Business Value Focus

The EA principle describing EA as an iterative, evolving discipline that keeps refining architectures over time.

Continuous Improvement

A large-scale software system designed to support and manage the operations, processes, and data of an entire organization.

Enterprise Application

The Enterprise Application characteristic describing use by multiple departments such as finance, HR, sales, and operations.

Organization-wide use

The Enterprise Application characteristic that connects various functions into a unified system.

Integration of business processes

The Enterprise Application characteristic supporting large numbers of users, transactions, and data.

Scalability

The Enterprise Application characteristic that protects sensitive business information and ensures continuous operation.

Security and reliability

The Enterprise Application characteristic where data is stored and managed in a common database accessible by authorized users.

Centralized data management

The structural design of an enterprise application that defines how its components, services, databases, and users interact to support business processes.

Enterprise Application Architecture (EAA)

The benefit of EAA that accommodates future expansion without major redesign.

Improves Scalability

The benefit of EAA giving faster response times and efficient resource utilization.

Enhances Performance

The benefit of EAA that reduces security risks and vulnerabilities by protecting data and controlling access.

Strengthens Security

The benefit of EAA giving faster bug fixes, easier upgrades, and lower maintenance costs.

Simplifies Maintenance

The benefit of EAA enabling better business process coordination through seamless data sharing.

Supports Integration

The benefit of EAA that reduces downtime and improves fault tolerance.

Increases Reliability and Availability

The benefit of EAA that improves user experience and consistent system behavior.

Improves Quality and Consistency

The EAA component that provides the User Interface through which users interact with the application (web portals, mobile apps, desktop apps).

Presentation Layer

The EAA component that contains the rules, processes, and workflows defining how the organization operates (e.g., payroll computation).

Business Logic Component

The EAA component that stores, retrieves, and manages organizational data (e.g., Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL).

Data Component

The EAA component that enables communication between applications and external systems via REST APIs, SOAP, ESB.

Integration Component

The EAA component that protects the application and data from unauthorized access, using SSO, MFA, and access control.

Security Component

The EAA component that provides the hardware/software environment needed to run the application (cloud platforms, servers).

Infrastructure Component

The discipline that focuses specifically on the design and structure of enterprise applications — components, UI, business logic, databases, APIs.

Enterprise Application Architecture (EAA)

The broader discipline that aligns an organization's business strategy, processes, information, applications, and technology as a whole.

Enterprise Architecture (EA)

In the University Enrollment System example, the system EAA-level APIs connect to.

LMS (Learning Management System)

The University perspective that examines academic processes, student services, HR, finance, IT infrastructure, and strategic goals org-wide.

Enterprise Architecture Perspective

The University perspective that focuses on the Student Portal, Enrollment Module, Database Design, and Security/Authentication.

Enterprise Application Architecture Perspective