Architecture Portal

Worked example

A course cancellation and its consequences.

Adrian Sutherland · Version 1.0 · · © 2005–2026

The service change

A fictional training provider wants to offer learners suitable alternatives when a course is cancelled. Its first proposed trial uses a shared register and an agreed process for provider-run courses. Partner courses and refunds are outside that trial. Later options consider software support and partner courses.

The pages below follow the same case through the architecture. The proposals have not been implemented and their checks remain unrun.

Start with the business decision, then follow continuous ownership through the blueprint and its proposed checks.

Follow one requirement

P1 (Learner agreement) and R1 (Continuous ownership) remain in force as the proposed service develops. Follow one path through the records:

Record What to follow
D1 (Process-only trial) The shared register and accepted handovers for provider-run courses.
V1 (Two-handover check) The proposed check of owner, learner agreement and next action.
SI-C01 (Transfer acceptance contract) How a later software option preserves ownership when the reply to acceptance is lost.
SW-V1 (Component checks) Proposed checks of rules, atomic writes, concurrency and recovery.
L1 (Partner confirmation gap) A hypothetical finding that reopens partner responsibilities while retaining the agreement rule and internal case owner.

The object reference supplies the names and source of each record. The Business templates and Systems templates provide blank and completed versions. These are proposed arrangements and checks, with no actual trial results.

Purpose, work and information

View Follow the decision
Business architecture Outcomes, scope, alternatives and the first process-only increment.
Process and Structure Who accepts a handover, retains responsibility and arranges cover.
Information The case, learner agreement, assignments and record states.
Customer The learner, payer and representative, with their different roles.
Supplier A later partner option and responsibility for booking confirmation.
Channel The meaning of saved, pending and accepted actions across channels.

A later software option

View Follow the decision
Systems The acceptance contract, cooperating services, internal components and business rules.
Security Access, control ownership, revocation and response.
Technology Retaining data, releasing changes, operating environments and recovery assumptions.
Deployment and operations Readiness, service acceptance, support and recovery.

Direction and review

View Follow the decision
Management Direction, roadmap and authority to change shared decisions.
Finance Invented option costs, assumptions and financial commitments.
Metrics Proposed measures of service outcomes, method performance and recovery.

Follow the record identifiers between pages to see what a change affects. The templates collect editable records and completed examples. The blueprint brings the architecture together across all the aspects, with diagrams, an object reference and reusable records. The Systems catalogue supplies a wider set of logical responsibilities to consider.

About this edition

Refreshed for the September 2026 website update. This edition develops the earlier Architecture Portal and ASAF material; the fictional worked example was added in 2026.

Scope, limitations and next checks

Status and accountability

Read this page with its boundaries visible

Status

In development

Last reviewed

Intended users

  • Architects comparing and adapting their existing approach

Non-goals

  • A mandatory method or a prescribed implementation

Limitations

  • Guidance; the fictional service has not been implemented and its proposed checks remain unrun.

Next evidence sought

  • Review the reader journey and apply the records with a practising architect.