Enterprise & Solution Architecture
Architecture above the level of a single system: aligning an organization's whole IT estate with business strategy, and turning requirements into a concrete, governed solution. It comes up in senior and architect-track interviews rather than engineering ones.
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- Enterprise Architecture72 questions
- Business-IT Alignment6 questions
- Capability Mapping6 questions
- EA Frameworks5 questions
- Reference Architectures5 questions
- EA Governance5 questions
- Roadmapping & Transition5 questions
- TOGAF ADM6 questions
- Zachman Framework6 questions
- ArchiMate6 questions
- Application Portfolio Management5 questions
- Technology Standards & Tech Radar6 questions
- Architecture Operating Model & ARB6 questions
- EA Domains (BDAT)5 questions
- Solution Architecture52 questions
- Requirements Analysis6 questions
- Component Selection6 questions
- Integration Design6 questions
- NFR Design6 questions
- Stakeholder Alignment6 questions
- Build vs Buy5 questions
- Vendor Evaluation6 questions
- Cost & TCO Modeling6 questions
- Solution Options & Trade-offs5 questions
questions
124 · 2 sectionsWhat is application portfolio management (APM), and why does an organization need a maintained inventory of its applications rather than relying on architecture diagrams alone?
basics
~20 sAPM is keeping a living list of every application a company runs — what it does, who owns it, what it costs, and how risky it is — so leaders can decide what to keep, fix, or retire.
ArchiMate models are organized into three core layers: business, application, and technology. In plain terms, what does each layer represent, and how do they typically connect to each other in a single architecture model?
basics
~20 sBusiness layer = what the company does for customers (processes, services). Application layer = the software that supports those processes. Technology layer = the infrastructure (servers, networks) that runs the software. Higher layers use services from the layer below.
A company wants to figure out which of its IT systems actually help it win against competitors, versus which ones just keep the lights on. What technique from business strategy does an enterprise architect typically borrow to make that distinction, and how does it work?
basics
~20 sEnterprise architects use Porter's value chain to map out every business activity, from making the product to selling it, and check which IT systems support the activities that make money versus the ones that just keep things running.
In enterprise architecture, what is a business capability, and how does it differ from a business process?
basics
~10 sA capability is 'what' a business can do (e.g., 'Manage Customer Orders') - stable and abstract. A process is 'how' it's done, step by step, and changes more often.
In enterprise architecture, what does the acronym BDAT stand for, and what does each of the four layers describe?
basics
~20 sBDAT = Business, Data, Application, Technology. Business is how the company works (processes, org). Data is what information exists and what it means. Application is the software that manages it. Technology is the hardware/infrastructure it all runs on.
When deciding whether to build a piece of software in-house or buy an off-the-shelf/SaaS product, what is the single most useful question to ask about the capability itself, and why does it matter more than a raw cost comparison?
basics
~20 sAsk whether this makes your company special, or is something every company needs the same way, like payroll. If special, building may be worth it. If it's the same everywhere, buying is usually cheaper and faster.
When evaluating a third-party library or framework for a new feature, what does checking its 'capability fit' involve, and why is comparing feature checklists on vendor or project websites not enough on its own?
basics
~20 sCapability fit means testing whether a tool actually solves your specific problem in practice, not just matching feature names on a list. A checklist can say 'yes' to a feature while the real behavior, limits, or edge cases don't match what you need.
In cost modeling for a system, what is the difference between capital expenditure (capex) and operating expenditure (opex), and why does moving from on-premises data centers to cloud computing typically shift spending from capex to opex?
basics
~20 sCapex is money spent upfront to buy something you own long-term, like servers. Opex is ongoing spending to run things day to day, like a monthly cloud bill. Cloud turns a big upfront hardware purchase into a recurring subscription-like cost.
When integrating two systems, what is the core difference between a synchronous request-reply call and an asynchronous message-based call, and what does each cost you?
basics
~20 sSync: caller waits for an instant answer, like a phone call. Async: caller sends a message and moves on, checking back later, like a letter. Sync is simple but ties your uptime to the other side; async is more resilient but harder to reason about.
What is the difference between an SLA, an SLO, and an SLI, and how do the three fit together when you design a system's reliability target?
basics
~20 sSLI is what you actually measure (e.g., % of successful requests). SLO is the internal goal for that measurement (e.g., 99.9%). SLA is the external, often contractual, promise to customers — usually set looser than the SLO so you have margin.