How Do You Review And Approve Solution Architecture?

The review and approval process of a solution architecture is critical to ensure that a proposed solution aligns with an enterprise’s business goals, adheres to best practices, and meets the required functional and non-functional requirements. This guide outlines a structured and detailed approach to reviewing and approving solution architecture, incorporating the feedback of key stakeholders and ensuring alignment with organizational goals.

Step 1:?Understand the Business Context and Goals

The first step in reviewing solution architecture is gaining a comprehensive understanding of the business problem or opportunity that the solution is intended to address. This involves:

• Reviewing the business purpose: Understanding the rationale behind the proposed solution.
• Identifying key business drivers: These could be cost reduction, innovation, operational efficiency, or customer satisfaction improvements.
• Analyzing existing pain points: Identifying the shortcomings or challenges with current systems or processes.
• Engaging business stakeholders: Collaborating with business owners to understand the strategic goals and ensure that the proposed solution is aligned with them.

This step ensures that you have a clear understanding of the solution’s purpose and how it fits into the broader enterprise architecture.

Step 2:?Evaluate Solution Overview

After gaining an understanding of the business context, the next step is to review the?Solution Overview, which acts as a high-level snapshot of the architecture.

Key elements to evaluate in the solution overview include:

• Business Purpose: Does the solution address the business needs effectively? Is the purpose clearly articulated?
• Solution Summary: A concise summary of the technical solution, including its key components, integration points, and dependencies.
• Key Architecture Decisions: Review critical design decisions and the rationale behind them. For example, the decision to use a microservices architecture or a particular cloud provider.
• Assessment of Fit to Enterprise Architecture: Check if the solution fits into the organization’s existing architecture principles and roadmap.

Diagram: Solution Overview Mapping

Business Purpose
  |
Solution Summary
  |         /--------------------\
  |-------->  Key Architecture    |
  |         \--------------------/
  |         /--------------------\
  |-------->  Enterprise Fit      |
            \--------------------/
        

Step 3:?Analyze Solution Architecture Components

The next step involves a detailed review of the different architectural domains that form part of the solution architecture.

3.1?Data Architecture Review

• Data sources and flows: Review the flow of data between components and systems, and ensure data consistency and accuracy.
• Data storage: Evaluate whether the proposed data storage mechanisms (databases, data lakes, etc.) are scalable, reliable, and secure.
• Data integration: Assess how data will be integrated across different systems, especially in cloud migration scenarios where data needs to be transferred from on-premises systems to cloud environments.
• Data governance: Ensure proper governance and compliance mechanisms are in place for data security, privacy (GDPR, CCPA), and lifecycle management.

3.2?Application Architecture Review

• Application layers: Evaluate the overall application architecture (presentation layer, business logic, and data access layer). Ensure that the architecture is modular and follows separation of concerns principles.
• Microservices or monolithic design: Assess whether the solution uses an appropriate architecture style based on business needs. For example, a microservices architecture might be appropriate for scaling independent services, while a monolithic architecture may be simpler and less costly in specific scenarios.
• Technology stack: Review the proposed technology stack for application development (e.g., Java, .NET, Python) and ensure that it aligns with enterprise standards.
• Deployment strategy: Ensure that the deployment strategy is clear (e.g., CI/CD pipeline) and properly designed to support cloud and on-premises environments.

3.3?Technical Architecture Review

• Infrastructure design: Review the technical architecture, including compute, storage, and network requirements. Ensure the infrastructure is scalable and optimized for the expected load.
• Cloud architecture: If the solution is hosted on the cloud, review the choice of cloud providers (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, etc.) and services. Consider factors like cost, availability, and geographical region.
• Integration points: Ensure that all integration points between different systems are clearly defined, secure, and reliable. Integration methods like REST APIs, message brokers, or event-driven architectures should be evaluated.
• Performance and reliability: Assess the non-functional requirements for performance, scalability, and reliability.

3.4?Security Architecture Review

• Security policies: Ensure that the architecture adheres to organizational security policies, such as role-based access control (RBAC), encryption, and multi-factor authentication (MFA).
• Vulnerability management: Evaluate how the architecture handles security vulnerabilities and compliance with relevant regulations (e.g., ISO 27001, NIST).
• Threat modeling: Identify potential security threats and the measures taken to mitigate them.
• Data privacy: Ensure data privacy and compliance are in line with regulations like GDPR and CCPA.

Diagram: Solution Architecture Components

             /---------\            /------------------\
            |  Data     | <----->|  Application         |
            |Architecture|        |  Architecture       |
             \---------/            \------------------/
                 |                                          |
                v                                         v
         /-------------\                /-----------------\
         |   Technical |  <---->     |  Security             |
         | Architecture|                 |  Architecture     |
         \-------------/                \-----------------/
        

Step 4:?Engage Stakeholders for Continuous Feedback

A key to ensuring the successful approval of solution architecture is engaging stakeholders throughout the review process, rather than waiting until the end for a big-bang review.

4.1?Internal Peer Review

• Collaborate with other architects: Conduct internal peer reviews with fellow solution architects to gather feedback. These reviews should focus on ensuring alignment with enterprise standards and identifying any areas for improvement.
• Feedback loops: Encourage continuous feedback from both technical and non-technical stakeholders. This prevents major redesigns at a later stage.

4.2?Business Stakeholder Engagement

• Business validation: Ensure that business stakeholders continuously review the architecture to confirm that it meets business goals.
• Requirement validation: Validate that both functional and non-functional requirements are adequately addressed.

4.3?Security and Compliance Review

• Security review: Engage the security team early in the process to review architecture from a security and compliance perspective.
• Compliance check: Ensure that legal and regulatory compliance teams review the architecture to meet data privacy and other regulatory requirements.

Diagram: Stakeholder Feedback Loop

                   /-------------------\
                  |  Business Stakeholder|
                   \-------------------/
                            |
      /---------------------|--------------------\
     v                                                                        v
/-------------------\                        /----------------\
|Technical Stakeholder|   <-->       |  Security Team |
\-------------------/                        \----------------/
          ^
          |
/------------------\
|Solution Architect|
\------------------/
        

Step 5:?Validation Against Checklist and Design Standards

Before final approval, the solution must be validated against a checklist that ensures that all required design criteria are met. This checklist should be comprehensive and cover the following aspects:

• Functional requirements: Ensure the architecture fully supports all functional business requirements.
• Non-functional requirements: Review scalability, performance, availability, security, and other non-functional requirements.
• Technology fit: Verify that the chosen technology stack aligns with the enterprise’s approved technologies.
• Cost analysis: Ensure the solution is cost-effective, especially in cloud migration scenarios where cost optimization is critical.
• Governance and compliance: Confirm that the solution adheres to governance standards and regulatory requirements.

Diagram: Design Standards Validation Checklist

 /-----------------------\
| Functional Requirements |
 \-----------------------/
         |
 /-----------------------\
| Non-Functional          |
| Requirements            |
 \-----------------------/
         |
 /-----------------------\
| Technology Stack        |
 \-----------------------/
         |
 /-----------------------\
| Cost Optimization       |
 \-----------------------/
         |
 /-----------------------\
| Governance & Compliance |
 \-----------------------/
        

Step 6:?Presentation and Formal Review

After incorporating all feedback and validating the architecture against the checklist, the solution architect must formally present the solution to the approval committee, which typically includes:

• Enterprise Architects
• CTO or Senior IT Leadership
• Key business stakeholders
• Security team representatives

The presentation should highlight the following:

• Solution summary: A concise overview of the architecture and key decisions.
• Business value: How the architecture addresses business needs.
• Security and compliance: How the solution addresses security and regulatory requirements.
• Cost implications: A cost-benefit analysis, particularly for cloud migrations.
• Roadmap and milestones: Implementation timeline and critical milestones.

Diagram: Formal Presentation Flow

            /-----------------------\
           |  Solution Summary       |
            \-----------------------/
                       |
            /-----------------------\
           | Business Value          |
            \-----------------------/
                       |
            /-----------------------\
           | Security & Compliance   |
            \-----------------------/
                       |
            /-----------------------\
           | Cost Implications       |
            \-----------------------/
                       |
            /-----------------------\
           | Roadmap & Milestones    |
            \-----------------------/
        

Step 7:?Approval and Record-Keeping

Once the solution architecture has been presented, reviewed, and all feedback has been addressed, the final step is obtaining formal approval. This process includes:

• Documenting approvals: Record the decision and approval from all relevant stakeholders.
• Storing documentation: Ensure all architectural documentation, decisions, and diagrams are stored in an easily accessible repository for future reference.
• Versioning: Maintain version control of the architecture documents to allow for future updates or audits.

Diagram: Approval Workflow

  /----------------\                 /-----------------\
 | Solution Review  | <-----> | Stakeholder        |
  \----------------/                 |  Approval            |
                                                 \-----------------/
        

Example of Application Migration from On-Premises to Cloud

Let’s apply this process to an example of migrating an on-premises application to the cloud.

Step 1: Business Context and Goals

The enterprise aims to reduce its on-premises infrastructure costs by migrating its customer relationship management (CRM) application to the cloud. The business goals include increased scalability, reduced operational overhead, and faster deployment cycles.

Step 2: Solution Overview

The architecture proposes migrating the on-premises CRM to a cloud platform (e.g., AWS). The key decisions include using a microservices-based architecture to improve scalability and adopting Amazon RDS for the database layer. The architecture must also ensure compliance with GDPR as customer data will be transferred to the cloud.

Step 3: Solution Architecture

Data Architecture

The architecture includes an assessment of how data will be migrated to Amazon RDS from the on-premises Oracle database, ensuring that data consistency is maintained and that encryption is applied during transit.

Application Architecture

The CRM application will be refactored into microservices deployed in Amazon ECS, allowing individual services to scale independently based on demand.

Technical Architecture

The cloud infrastructure will use auto-scaling groups and load balancers to ensure high availability and handle varying loads, while the network will be secured using VPCs, subnets, and security groups.

Security Architecture

Data will be encrypted both at rest and in transit using AWS KMS and TLS. Role-based access controls will ensure that only authorized users can access sensitive customer data.

Step 4: Stakeholder Engagement

The solution architect continuously engages business stakeholders to ensure the migration addresses business needs while working closely with security teams to ensure compliance with GDPR.

Step 5: Validation Against Checklist

The architecture is validated against functional and non-functional requirements, such as scalability and data security, and reviewed for cost implications related to AWS usage.

Step 6: Presentation

The solution architect presents the final architecture to the CTO, enterprise architects, and business stakeholders, highlighting key decisions like the use of microservices and cloud-native databases.

Step 7: Approval and Record-Keeping

After addressing all feedback, the architecture is formally approved, and the documentation is stored in the enterprise architecture repository for future reference.

This detailed process ensures that the solution architecture is thoroughly reviewed, aligns with the business goals, and adheres to security and compliance standards while delivering on both functional and non-functional requirements.