Architecture Diagram Definition

Dragon1 Icon for Architecture Diagram
Dragon1 Icon for Architecture Diagram

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Dragon1 Definition for Architecture Diagram:
An architecture diagram is a graphical representation of a set of concepts, that are part of an architecture, including their principles, elements, and components.

What is a diagram? What is an architecture diagram? The EA method makes it very clear: if a diagram does not show a concept, principle, or part of a principle, it is NOT an architecture diagram because it does not depict (a part of) the architecture.

An Example Architectural Diagram of an Enterprise Architecture to create a Modern Smart and Green Company, using various concepts and principles.

Types of Architecture Diagrams

There are many kinds of architectural diagrams, like software architecture diagrams, system architecture diagrams, application architecture diagrams, security architecture diagrams, etc.

Levels of Abstractions

Architecture is a coherent set of concepts for a structure. These concepts are often visualized at four levels of abstraction. These are:

Conceptual Level - showing an overview of concepts.
Logical Level - showing a logical design of one or more concepts, containing at least the key elements of concepts and showing the principles of the concepts (i.e., how the concepts work).
Physical Level - showing a component design depicting the elements.
Implementational Level - showing the vendors and products with which the components will be implemented.

All the visualizations on this page are logical-level architecture diagrams. An architecture diagram typically depicts a combination of logical and physical aspects, representing both logical elements and physical components in the visualization.

The method proposes separating these levels of abstraction into distinct diagrams, or indicating which shapes represent elements and which represent components.

Visualizing a Principle: Separation of Concerns

Using a Logical Level Architecture Diagram of an Application Landscape.

The above diagram is, in this case, a logical architecture diagram showing the office concept used in the organization:

Front Office
Mid Office
Back Office

The principle of the Office concept is: By separating concerns about software applications in the front, mid, and back office, the applications for these three domains can be integrated and focused much better on their task.

Front office applications deal with client data and must be updated more frequently than back office applications. So, placing all these applications together makes it easier to integrate and deduplicate them.

This is also true with the mid and back office. Back-office applications are often transaction-processing applications that are rarely updated with new functionality on a monthly basis. Also, the application platforms and infrastructure sizing differ significantly from those of the front office.

Grouping applications logically and or physically in front, mid, and back office will cause you as an organization to make better use of the applications.

These specific diagrams help CxOs, managers, and architects make decisions like deduplicating application modules and replacing, merging, integrating, and phasing out applications. The result of this work is that the organization's application landscape will better align with its enterprise strategy, and the return on IT investments (i.e., the effectiveness of utilizing the purchased IT equipment) will be higher.

So every organization benefits from creating these kinds of architectural diagrams and maintaining them.

Chatbot Architecture Diagram Example

The next visualization is an architecture diagram that shows some elements of the Chatbot concept, making the coherence between these elements very clear.

Example Logical Level Architectural Diagram of a Chatbot.

This diagram does not show all elements of the Chatbot concept, but it focuses on the key elements described by the principle of the concept.

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