Systems architecture

A system architecture or systems architecture is the conceptual model that defines the structure, behavior, and more views of a system.

An architecture description is a formal description and representation of a system, organized in a way that supports reasoning about the structure of the system which comprises system components, the externally visible properties of those components, the relationships (e.g. the behavior) between them, and provides a plan from which products can be procured, and systems developed, that will work together to implement the overall system. The language for architecture description is called the architecture description language (ADL).

Several types of systems architectures (underlain by the same fundamental principles) have been identified as follows

• Collaborative Systems Architectures(such as the Internet, intelligent transportation systems, and joint air defense systems)
• Manufacturing Systems Architectures
• Social Systems
• Software and Information Technology Systems(Architectures)
• Strategic Systems Architecture
• Hardware architecture
• Software architecture
• Enterprise architecture