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• Foundations



• I. Strategic IT Planning and Management



• II. Technical Architecture
  
  
  • Foundations
  
  
  
  • A. Manage
  
  
  
  • B. Studies
  
  
  
  • C. Establish TARS
  
  
  
  • Resources
  
  
  
  
• III. Technical Evolution



• IV. Technology Fabrication Projects



• V. Technology Deployment



• VI. Technical Operations



• Consolidated Resources

Establish the evolving technical blueprint and accompanying guidelines to manage the integration and interoperability of the old with the new across the HS Agency.

Introduction

This guide defines the key activities, artifacts, and roles that are necessary to create and maintain a Technical Architecture for the HS Agency. The HS Agency's Technical Architecture guides the HS Agency's activities for the definition, purchase, creation, modification, integration, deployment, operation, and retirement of the technical infrastructure and the supported applications. It affects both technical management and engineering practices in use within the HS Agency.

The Technical Architecture is described in a comprehensive set of reference materials, called the A-TARS. The A-TARS provides guidance for system design and development staff during all phases of the application systems life cycle. This includes the standard technologies and practices needed to support three typical environments: business (HS programs such as TANF, development (software engineering and management practices), and operations (administration and support).

See the Organization of the IT Planning and Management Guides for the relationship of the Technical Architecture processes described in this guide with those of the other guides. Background on the fundamental concepts and principles upon which the approach is based is also available. For information on how to customize this guidance view the Application of the IT Planning and Management Guides pages.

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Processes

This guide defines the key activities, artifacts, and roles for the HS Agency Technical Architecture development, maintenance, and oversight processes. The activities are illustrated in the figure and described in the text below.

The top-level processes are:

1. Manage Technical Architecture Activities. This part of the Technical Architecture process establishes the Architecture Team and the management structure for architecture-related activities. Oversight and use of the Technical Architecture are also the responsibility of these activities.
2. Conduct Architectural Studies. These activities pursue engineering tradeoffs and other studies to obtain information necessary for making Technical Architecture decisions.
3. Establish the Technical Architecture Reference Set. These activities create and maintain the individual architectural descriptions, ensure their integration, and transition them into use.

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Background Information
Key principles and concepts relating to the architecture approach can be found in the background portion of this guide.

PDF Available
Adobe PDF versions of each published IT Planning and Management Guide, the Guides Foundations, and the Consolidated Resources are available for download.

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