System Architecture
System architecture is the conceptual model that defines the structure, behavior, and more views of a specific system.
Similar to Application Architecture and may include both Solution Architecture and/or Software Architecture
Roles:
- System architect (singular), which is often used as a synonym for Software Architecture.
- However, if one subscribes to Systems theory and the idea that an enterprise can be a system, then System Architect could also mean Enterprise Architect.
- Systems architect (plural), which is often used as a synonym for Enterprise Architect or Solution Architect.
What is System Architecture?
System Architecture is the conceptual model that defines the structure, behavior, and more views of a system. It encompasses the system’s components, their relationships, and how they interact to achieve the system’s objectives. This architecture serves as a blueprint for both the system’s design and its evolution, ensuring that all parts work together cohesively. It includes considerations for hardware, software, data flow, and user interactions, providing a comprehensive framework that guides the development and maintenance of complex systems. By clearly outlining these elements, system architecture helps in managing complexity, improving communication among stakeholders, and ensuring that the system meets its intended requirements.
- Snippet from Wikipedia: Systems architecture
A system architecture is the conceptual model that defines the structure, behavior, and more views of a system. An architecture description is a formal description and representation of a system, organized in a way that supports reasoning about the structures and behaviors of the system.
A system architecture can consist of system components and the sub-systems developed, that will work together to implement the overall system. There have been efforts to formalize languages to describe system architecture, collectively these are called architecture description languages (ADLs).
Systems Design
- Architectural design
- Logical design
- Physical design
- Snippet from Wikipedia: Systems design
The basic study of system design is the understanding of component parts and their subsequent interaction with one another.
Systems design has appeared in a variety of fields, including sustainability, computer/software architecture, and sociology.
Systems theory
- Snippet from Wikipedia: Systems theory
Systems theory is the transdisciplinary study of systems, i.e. cohesive groups of interrelated, interdependent components that can be natural or artificial. Every system has causal boundaries, is influenced by its context, defined by its structure, function and role, and expressed through its relations with other systems. A system is "more than the sum of its parts" when it expresses synergy or emergent behavior.
Changing one component of a system may affect other components or the whole system. It may be possible to predict these changes in patterns of behavior. For systems that learn and adapt, the growth and the degree of adaptation depend upon how well the system is engaged with its environment and other contexts influencing its organization. Some systems support other systems, maintaining the other system to prevent failure. The goals of systems theory are to model a system's dynamics, constraints, conditions, and relations; and to elucidate principles (such as purpose, measure, methods, tools) that can be discerned and applied to other systems at every level of nesting, and in a wide range of fields for achieving optimized equifinality.
General systems theory is about developing broadly applicable concepts and principles, as opposed to concepts and principles specific to one domain of knowledge. It distinguishes dynamic or active systems from static or passive systems. Active systems are activity structures or components that interact in behaviours and processes or interrelate through formal contextual boundary conditions (attractors). Passive systems are structures and components that are being processed. For example, a computer program is passive when it is a file stored on the hardrive and active when it runs in memory. The field is related to systems thinking, machine logic, and systems engineering.
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