

In other words, there are instances where it applies and others where it doesn’t. We examined Agile extensively in other articles and believe Agile is sometimes promoted as a context-free answer to a context-specific question. That may be true for small projects or standard, off-the-shelf offerings. Professionals espousing Agile values consider extensive documentation an effort-intensive, low-value activity and overhead that can be abandoned without risk. It’s a vehicle for bouncing off ideas on a complex and potentially cognitively overloading topic. Like any technical artifact, the HLD is an excellent communication and collaboration tool.High-level estimates can be derived from the HLD, allowing project planners to calculate the project’s cost and assess project risk.
#Elevated design architect software#
The HLD is generally provided with the Functional Specs to support the Statement of Work (SOW), a binding document between the software vendor and the client.It forms the basis of the stakeholders’ acceptance of the proposed solution, a baseline from which implementation can begin.

The infographic below shows the main advantages of having a High-Level Design. Illustrating solutions from different angles helps reduce their complexity and enhance their assimilation. Other forms and representations - Besides the popular decomposition methods presented above, an IT solution can be represented in a few different views: behavioural, temporal flow, and states and modes.Information capture, processing, storage, replication, validation, and reporting are all aspects of data flow that must be documented. Data flowdiagrams describe the input and output data and its path in the system.These must be suitably documented as they might impact operations or how users interact with the system. The business processes, use cases, and user stories - IT projects typically add or modify business use cases, such as user interfaces or functionality, besides pure compliance or maintenance.This section details whether new modules, skillsets, licenses, or operational requirements are needed for this project. A logical breakdown of the solution is necessary if it is complicated, adds new modules, or updates existing ones.Make sure you use consistent system modelling language across all your diagrams. Network diagrams describe servers, network devices, communication links, and specialized hardware. A high-level network and architecture diagram - Architectural diagrams describe the major components of a software system, such as platforms, applications, and interfaces.Business requirements are documented outside the HLD in a Business Requirements Document ( BRD).

