Architecture Artifacts
A reference guide to the documents, diagrams, and deliverables that Solution Architects produce across the delivery lifecycle.
Architecture Decision Record (ADR)
A concise document that captures a single architecture decision, its context, the options considered, and the rationale for the chosen approach.
Solution Architecture Document (SAD)
A comprehensive document describing the overall architecture of a solution, including its components, interactions, technology choices, and how it meets both functional and non-functional requirements.
High-Level Design (HLD)
A design document that describes the system architecture at a conceptual level, showing major components, their interactions, and the technology platforms used without diving into implementation specifics.
Low-Level Design (LLD)
A detailed technical design document that specifies the internal structure of components, including class designs, database schemas, API contracts, algorithms, and configuration details needed for implementation.
Context Diagram
A high-level diagram showing the system as a single box surrounded by its users and the other systems it interacts with.
System Landscape Diagram
A diagram showing all the systems within an enterprise or domain and how they relate to each other, providing a bird's-eye view of the IT estate and its interconnections.
Logical Architecture Diagram
A diagram showing the logical components of a system, their responsibilities, and how they interact, independent of physical deployment or specific technology implementations.
Integration Architecture Document
A document describing how multiple systems connect and exchange data, including integration patterns, protocols, data formats, error handling, and the overall integration strategy.
Data Flow Diagram
A diagram showing how data moves through a system, from input sources through processing steps to output destinations, including data stores and transformations along the way.
Sequence Diagram
A diagram showing the order of interactions between components or actors over time, illustrating how messages flow between participants to accomplish a specific scenario or use case.
Deployment View / Diagram
A diagram showing how software components are mapped to infrastructure — servers, containers, cloud services, networks, and availability zones — illustrating the physical topology of the running system.
Non-Functional Requirements (NFR) Specification
A document that defines the quality attributes and constraints of a system — performance, scalability, availability, security, usability, and other characteristics that describe how the system should behave rather than what it should do.
Architecture Principles Document
A set of guiding statements that inform and constrain architectural decisions across a programme or organisation, ensuring consistency and alignment with strategic objectives.
Technology Roadmap
A time-based plan showing the evolution of technology platforms, tools, and capabilities over a defined period, typically 1-3 years, aligned with business strategy and programme delivery milestones.
Target State Architecture
A description of the desired future architecture that the organisation is working towards, showing the end-state technology landscape, capabilities, and integration patterns after transformation is complete.
Transition Architecture / Migration Plan
A plan describing the intermediate architectural states between the current state and target state, showing how the organisation will migrate from one to the other in manageable, low-risk increments.
Architecture Options Paper
A document presenting multiple architectural approaches to solving a problem, with analysis of each option against defined criteria, enabling stakeholders to make an informed decision on the preferred approach.
Architecture Risk Register
A structured log of risks specifically related to architectural decisions, technology choices, and technical design, tracking their likelihood, impact, and mitigation strategies.
Component Model
A detailed view of the internal components within a system or service, showing their responsibilities, interfaces, dependencies, and how they collaborate to deliver functionality.
API Specification (OpenAPI)
A machine-readable definition of a REST API's endpoints, request/response schemas, authentication requirements, and error codes, typically written in OpenAPI (Swagger) format.
Architecture Vision Document
A TOGAF Phase A deliverable that provides a high-level aspirational view of the end-state architecture, articulating the business value, key stakeholder concerns, and the scope of the architecture engagement.
Architecture Roadmap (TOGAF)
A TOGAF deliverable showing the timeline for transitioning from the baseline architecture to the target architecture, including work packages, milestones, and the sequence of transition architectures.
Architecture Requirements Specification
A TOGAF deliverable that provides a quantitative set of architecture requirements, including functional, non-functional, and constraint requirements that the architecture must satisfy.
Architecture Definition Document
A TOGAF deliverable that provides a comprehensive view of the architecture across all domains (business, data, application, technology), showing the baseline, target, and gap analysis for each domain.
Stakeholder Map (TOGAF)
A TOGAF-specific stakeholder analysis that maps stakeholders to their architecture concerns and the architecture views that address those concerns, ensuring the architecture communication is tailored to each audience.