Solution Architecture – Designing Around a Specific Problem

Solution Architecture is the least well-defined component of Enterprise Architecture. In other words, the same term can encompass activities with differing scopes. Yet demand for Solution Architects continues to grow, highlighting the role’s rising importance. Let’s clarify its contours.

What Is Solution Architecture?

According to Gartner, Solution Architecture is the architectural description of a specific solution—a coherent and sufficient set of features that addresses a defined set of requirements.

The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) describes Solution Architecture as defining and communicating a shared architectural and technical vision for work in progress.

The Open Group does not explicitly define Solution Architecture, but the Federation of Enterprise Architecture Professional Organizations positions it tactically—aimed at solving a particular problem—whereas Enterprise Architecture overall operates at the strategic level.

In essence, Solution Architecture applies the guiding principles of Enterprise Architecture to a concrete challenge.

It stands at the intersection of Functional Architecture, Application Architecture, Data Architecture and Technology Architecture. By combining these perspectives, Solution Architecture crafts the design of a particular solution. Conversely, implementation feedback enriches Enterprise Architecture with new patterns, rules or standards.

Solution Architecture can manifest in scenarios such as decomposing an application into autonomous modules, tailoring a commercial offering to customer requirements, or addressing any use case at the boundary of functional and technical domains.

Role and Responsibilities of the Solution Architect

While you’ll rarely find a single authoritative definition of Solution Architecture, the Solution Architect role is well documented. Whether as a dedicated position or one of several hats an architect wears, responsibilities can shift widely by context.

Typically, a Solution Architect:

• Leads a multidisciplinary team of technical and functional experts
• Synthesizes strategic, functional and technical requirements
• Translates business needs into cohesive, implementable designs

Within an enterprise architecture team, Solution Architects often tackle integration topics—designing how multiple applications or stakeholder systems interoperate—akin to an Integration Architect role.

In a vendor context, a Solution Architect customizes and embeds packaged products into a client’s architecture, starting from solution templates and following through to deployment and operational handoff.

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The use of Solution Architects depends on organizational scale and structure:

• Large enterprises with high-level Enterprise Architectures employ Solution Architects for detailed design in specific domains.
• Mid-sized or smaller entities without a formal Enterprise Architecture leverage Solution Architecture to systematize parts of their information system.

In every case, Solution Architecture adds value by delivering a focused, detailed solution for a specific challenge.

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By sitting at the crossroads of Functional, Application, Data and Technology architectures, Solution Architecture delivers precise, context-aware designs that align with business objectives while ensuring technical and security requirements are met.

A key strength of Solution Architecture is enabling the creation and reuse of architectural building blocks to rapidly address similar problems. To do so effectively, it adheres to the principles and standards set by the overarching Enterprise Architecture framework.

• Design
• Solution Architecture
• Roles