The primary objective of this capstone course is to build on concepts students have already touched 
on “piecemeal” in prior courses to give them a comprehensive view of the tools and approach required 
for the practice of software solution architecture.  The principles taught in this capstone prepare 
students for work as solution architects in the field, if that is the chosen path, which is a 
technical profession with certification processes that are documented by the Open Group, here. 

With this Capstone, students, working as teams, will use an architecture tool, provided by IBM, to 
create (over the duration of the course) a comprehensive solution architecture for a real world 
problem (such as, for example, the manufacture and transportation of Vaccines).  For examples of 
such architectures, see the IBM Cloud Architecture center, here.  Students will also use a free 
version of the Trello application (see here) to manage the work of their teams. 

Learning objectives for this course are: 

1. Understand the concepts of IT solution architecture and how that practice relates to business 
   architecture, software design and implementation. 

2. Understand the different views/models that comprise a solution architecture (and how to create 
   those models). 

3. Understand the role of architectural prototypes in validating architectures (and create such a prototype).

4. Understand where solution architecture fits in the larger field of computer science and have 
   a perspective of different career opportunities in that area. 

5. Hear from several guest speakers who will provide the students with perspectives on the 
   discipline of solution architecture. 

6. Learn how to work as a team to create a solution architecture for a real world problem. 
   

Prerequisite for the class is a C or better in CS 3704 OR 3714 OR 3754.