Introduction Products and Services System Solutions Industry Solutions Enterprise Solutions
The Solutions Continuum represents the implementations of the architectures at the corresponding levels of the Architecture Continuum. At each level, the Solutions Continuum is a population of the architecture with reference building blocks, either purchased products or built components, that represent a solution to the enterprise's business need expressed at that level. A populated Solutions Continuum can be regarded as a solutions inventory or re-use library, which can add significant value to the task of managing and implementing improvements to the IT environment.
The Solutions Continuum is illustrated in Figure 3.
Figure 3: The Solutions Continuum
In the Architecture Continuum in Figure 1, the arrows represent bi-directional relationships that exist between the different architectures in the Architecture Continuum (the leftwards direction focused on meeting customer needs and business requirements, the rightwards direction on leveraging architectural components and building blocks).
A similar concept applies to the bi-directional arrows underlying the Solutions Continuum in Figure 3. The rightwards direction of the arrows is focused on providing solutions value (i.e., Products and Services provides value in creating Systems Solutions; Systems Solutions value is used to create Industry Solutions; and Industry Solutions are used to create Customer Solutions). The leftwards direction is focused on addressing enterprise needs.
These two viewpoints are significant for a company attempting to focus on its needs while maximizing the use of its internal resources through leverage.
The following subsections describe each of the solution types within the Solutions Continuum.
Products are separately procurable hardware, software, or service entities. Products are the fundamental providers of capabilities.
Services include professional services, such as training and consulting services, that ensure the maximum investment value from solutions in the shortest possible time; and support services, such as Help Desk, that ensure the maximum possible value from solutions (services that ensure timely updates and upgrades to the products and systems).
A System Solution is an implementation of a Common System Architecture comprised of a set of products and services, which may be certified or branded. It represents the highest common denominator for one or more solutions in the industry segments that the System Solution supports.
System Solutions represent collections of common requirements and capabilities, rather than those specific to a particular customer or industry. System Solutions provide organizations with operating environments specific to operational and informational needs, such as High Availability Transaction Processing and Scaleable Data Warehousing systems. Examples of Systems Solutions include: an Enterprise Management System product, or a Security System product.
Computer systems vendors are the primary provider of Systems.
An Industry Solution is an implementation of an Industry Architecture, which provides reusable packages of common components and services specific to an industry.
Fundamental components are provided by System Solutions and/or Products and Services, and are augmented with industry specific components. Examples include: a physical database schema or an industry specific point-of-service device.
Industry Solutions are industry-specific, aggregate procurements that are ready to be tailored to an individual organization's requirements.
In some cases an Industry Solution may include not only an implementation of the Industry Architecture, but also other solution elements, such as specific products, services and systems solutions that are appropriate to that industry.
An Enterprise Solution is an implementation of the Enterprise Architecture that provides the required business functions. Because solutions are designed for specific business operations, they contain the highest amount of unique content in order to accommodate the varying people and processes of specific organizations.
Building Enterprise Solutions on Industry Solutions, Systems Solutions, and Products and Services, is the primary purpose of connecting the Architecture Continuum to the Solutions Continuum, as guided by the Architects within an enterprise.
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