Understanding ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010:2011 : Standard for Architecture description

Approved on 10 Nov 2011, ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010:2011, Systems and software engineering — Architecture description, is the latest edition of the original IEEE Std 1471:2000, Recommended Practice for Architectural Description of Software-intensive Systems.

This standard replaces IEEE 1471:2000. It is identical to the ISO standard approved in July. The new standard, designated ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010:2011, Systems and software engineering — Architecture description, is available from IEEE and ISO.

In March 2006, IEEE 1471 was adopted as an ISO standard. It was published in July 2007 as ISO/IEC 42010:2007. Its text was identical to IEEE 1471:2000.ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010:2011 replaces both ISO/IEC 42010:2007 and IEEE Std 1471:2000.

Here is the composite and simplified view of Architecture and its ecosystem.

The storyboard for reading this diagram goes like this:

1. System which belongs to an environment addresses concerns of its stakeholders.
2. Every system has architecture
3. Architecture is described using Architecture Description(AD)
4. Stakeholders use AD to understand architecture
5. AD is created using Architecture Frameworks (AF) and Architecture Description Languages (ADL)
6. AD includes following:
   • Stakeholders and their concerns
   • Architecture Viewpoints & Views
   • Architecture Model kinds & Models
   • Architecture Rationale & Decisions
   • Correspondence Rules and Correspondences
7. Architecture Viewpoints include Model Kinds
8. Architecture Views include Architecture Models
9. Views are governed by Viewpoints
10. Models are governed by Model Kinds
11. Architecture Rationale justifies Decisions
12. Correspondence Rules specify Correspondences

So, what does this Standard contains ?
This Standard defines & specifies conformance requirements on contents of following:

• Architecture Descriptions of systems
• Architecture Frameworks
• Architecture Description Languages
• Architecture Viewpoints

The Standard defines architecture this way:
fundamental concepts or properties of a system in its environment embodied in its elements, relationships, and in the principles of its design and evolution.
This post is first in the series where I will try to explain this standard. In next post I will try to go into details of various AD elements.

Part 2 : Communicating Architecture : Key Terms of 42010

Part 3 : Architecture Description confirming to ISO Standard