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Architectures 

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Architectures

The term 'architecture' is most commonly associated with the construction of buildings. It describes the way people's current and emerging requirements are combined with a knowledge of the surrounding environment, resource availability, various constraints and the technologies available to provide a blue print for construction.

A Broad Blueprint

An ICT architecture serves a similar purpose. It is a broad blue print for acquiring, developing, implementing and integrating ICT in a manner that supports the business functions and strategies of an enterprise. An ICT architecture supports the alignment of information technology solutions with business needs and reduces the inherent risks of investing in products and systems based on complex and rapidly changing technologies.

There are many ways to describe, present and document ICT architectures. This is because different perspectives can be applied. For example, different perspectives can focus on:

• Services and processes to be supported;
• Clusters of functionality required;
• Information and data that must be recorded and exchanged;
• Specific technology products that are deployed and integrated; and
• Technical standards for building systems and for interoperability between systems.

There are also different levels of detail that can be applied and presented.

A How-to Manual

An ICT Architecture Framework documents the architecture from a number of these perspectives and at various levels of detail. Its also serves as a broad 'how-to' manual: moving an organisation step-by-step toward a sound ICT architecture.

Open Standards and Interoperability

Increasingly, organisations are building ICT architectures based on open standards to better facilitate interoperability between internal systems and with external collaboration partners.
Within the education domain, current ICT architectural challenges include how to ensure that repositories of learning content interoperate with portals, administration systems, learning management systems, library information systems and corporate directories.