How to effectively visualize an Application Landscape in Enterprise Architecture

In enterprise & solution architecture, connecting boxes with arrows is an often used and overrated visualization from high-level, thru component architecture, down to data and class diagrams. However, to create a holistic view on systems, component diagrams are not enough! When it comes to analysis or transformation of a high-level application- or service-architecture, I prefer to draw an Application Landscape Diagram, which I would like to show and elaborate on in this post.

Definition & Dimensions

The template shown above is a simple matrix with two dimensions. Later, more will be added, but first, it is crucial to understand or define the X and Y dimensions. In a detailed design, the diagram can be used in different ways, and everyone working on it should have a common understanding of the taxonomies.

Products

The vertical columns (blue) visualize products or services. Some say business lines, for SaaS platforms, for example, it makes sense to talk about applications or modules. For architects or consultants the term “services” would probably be more appropriate… Whatever the dimension is called, it should be an explicit name and all stakeholders should understand it the same way.

While we should try to keep products as high-level as possible, overgeneralization makes no sense at this point. In the later application, we want to find out how similar products differ technologically. You only have one product? That’s rarely the case. You can use customer segmentation here or differentiate by legacy and follow-up implementation.

My recommendation here is to start broadly and then gradually eliminate intermediate layers.

Functions

The horizontal rows (green) denote functions, some say features, components or modules. With the last term “modules” something becomes very clear: Explicit wording is indispensable because otherwise, there is room for interpretation whether e.g. “module” means a product or a function.

While there is general functionality used in and by most companies (e.g. IAM, CRM, ERP), this can also be branch-typical or specialized functions that are needed or shared across products. Examples could be PIM and payment gateway for commerce platforms, hardware-control software for some industry segments or dispatching applications for service & delivery companies.

Color Codes

While color codes can be used for very different aspects, I often prefer them to indicate the level of customization for each application. Custom or customized applications are not bad by default but often pose an architectural difficulty or risk in terms of maintainability, testing, and extension. I therefore use blue for standard software, yellow for standard software with integrations or customizations, and red for entirely custom development.

Visual Conclusions

Once you have defined and agreed on the dimensions and their naming, the chart can be filled with the corresponding solutions, technology, applications, or providers. The process is rather simple: For each solution or technology in place, a box (colored) is created. The boxes are connected where technologies or implementations span multiple applications, functions, or both. Since the order of products (left to right) or functions (top to bottom) has no purpose, the rows and columns should be arranged so that as many commonalities as possible can be visually represented.

Looking at the diagram above, we’re able almost instantly to draw spontaneous conclusions and improvements to the overall architecture:

Unified IAM

It is almost impossible to overlook the fact that identity and access management have been set up separately for each product. Centralizing the IAM infrastructure is an obvious solution, as it not only saves costs but also creates a uniform user base.

Database & Provider Fragmentation

We use the same database technology in the three columns on the right but with different managed providers. Unifying the providers would be potentially easy to realize and could save maintenance as well as administration effort. Also, the Postgres instance on the left could potentially be integrated and migrated into one single database provider.

Shared Hosting Platform

As some of the products use different shared hosting platforms to provide their services, they could be unified into one. Taking the CloudFlare CDN / caching layer into account, one could even consider providing and delivering the application directly on the edge of the CDN, so the whole annotated area could be served by one single provider.

Tools

Depending on the tool used, this can take some serious time. Even if I am a friend of whiteboards or pen & paper, I really recommend to work with a digital tool to be agile and to ensure traceability.

As one can see from the images, I obviously used a simple spreadsheet (in this case Google Sheets) but Excel or Open Office Calc would be equally sufficient. If spreadsheets are too old-fashioned, or you just want to be more creative, Miro or literally every “digital piece of canvas” is a good alternative. Also, depending on the company and customer, there’s probably an enterprise architecture tool in place. Most of them should provide similar capabilities.

Closing Words

Please keep in mind, especially business people, that this is only a visualization technique. It doesn’t replace skilled and experienced solution architects, but probably helps them to analyze or communicate more efficiently.

Although the principle and the document look very simple, the technique works even for large corporate organizations. I actually have customers who have such diagrams printed on posters on the office wall. However, as with all architecture and transformation processes, the application landscape should not be a one-off initiative. The technology only offers real added value, when the status quo is continuously analyzed and improved. Last but not least, the chart is suitable for visually comparing the current with the target situation and deriving architecture initiatives from this. Once an initiative is done, don’t forget to update the chart.