The software architecture section is your “big picture” view and allows you to present the structure of the software. Traditional software architecture documents typically refer to this as a “conceptual view” or “logical view”, and there is often confusion about whether such views should refer to implementation details such as technology choices.
Intent
The purpose of this section is to summarise the software architecture of your software system so that the following questions can be answered:
- What does the “big picture” look like?
- Is there are clear structure?
- Is it clear how the system works from the “30,000 foot view”?
- Does it show the major containers and technology choices?
- Does it show the major components and their interactions?
- Whatarethekeyinternalinterfaces?(e.g.awebservicebetweenyourwebandbusiness tiers)
Structure
I use the container and component diagrams as the main focus for this section, accompanied by a short narrative explaining what the diagram is showing plus a summary of each container/component. Sometimes UML sequence or collaboration diagrams showing component interactions can be a useful way to illustrate how the software satisfies the major use cases/user stories/etc. Only do this if it adds value though and resist the temptation to describe how every use case/user story works!
Motivation
The motivation for writing this section is that it provides the maps that people can use to get an overview of the software and help developers navigate the codebase.
Audience
The audience for this section is predominantly the technical people in the software develop- ment team.
Required
Yes, all software guidebooks should include a software architecture section because it’s essential that the overall software structure is well understood by everybody on the development team.
Ingesting data from HFR sites into the HFRNet System
Two options. Parallel development
Option 1: Use existing portals
See item 0001 in the Decision Log for more details.
Option 2: Ingest from sites directly into the cloud
