When working with business technology architecture, the architect operates at different levels of abstraction and scope. For strategic stakeholders, it is often desirable to view the architecture with a broad scope and a high level of abstraction, while engineering and development stakeholders are typically at the opposite end of the spectrum, focusing on the detailed architecture of a single solution.
Selecting a view is not straightforward, as different stakeholders may require varying levels of scope or abstraction depending on the context of a given situation. To help organize the views in this library, the following levels of scope and abstraction are defined.
STRATEGIC
The strategic level is concerned with the overarching vision and strategy for the use of technology within the organization, aligning that technology with long-term business objectives. Architecture at this level often focuses on the practice of Enterprise Architecture and is described using a high level of abstraction.
This level provides a holistic view of the organization’s technology landscape, strategic roadmaps for future growth, and guidelines for maintaining coherence and compliance across all IT initiatives.
TACTICAL
Working with architecture at the tactical level focuses on translating strategic objectives into actionable plans and establishing the foundation for specific projects and solutions. These architectures transform the architecture at the strategic level into a set of executable architectures, often encompassing multiple solutions.
The aim of the arcitecture at the tactical level is to provide a plan at that enables an understanding of the technology landscape in terms of people, processes, and technology, with information serving as the lifeblood connecting them. This serves as an essential bridge for turning strategies into executable projects and programs.
SOLUTION
Architectures at the solution level provide the operational design for a single solution, commonly known as the practice of Solution Architecture. This represents a detailed level of architecture, focusing on the design of specific solutions, for example, systems, applications, services or infrastructure.
Architecture at the solution level is created within the context of the architecture at the tactical level. The tactical level provides the foundation for solutions with elements such as requirements, surrounding landscape and design principles.
Architecture at the solution level offers a level of detail that enables developers and engineers to produce a product or implement a change within the organization that delivers an expected value to the stakeholders.
Architecture Mindset 