The Overview and Summary Information product serves two purposes. In the initial phases of architecture development, it serves as a planning guide. Upon completion of an architecture project, this product provides summary textual information concerning “who, what, when, why, and how.”

Overview and summary information should be provided in a consistent form that will allow quick reference and comparison among architectures. The following directions apply when providing the Overview and Summary Information:

Provide a unique name for the architecture description, identify the architect, such as name and organization, identify involved organizations, and indicate when the architecture description was developed.

Explain why the architecture description is needed, what it is intended to demonstrate, the types of analysis expected to be applied to it, who is expected to perform the analysis, what decisions are expected to be made on the basis of that analysis, who is expected to make those decisions, and what actions are expected to result.

Identify the architecture views and products that have been developed (operational, systems, and/or technical) and the temporal nature of the architecture, such as the time frame covered, whether by specific years or by designations such as “as is,” “to be,” “transitional,” and “objective.”

Describe the interrelated conditions that compose the setting in which the architecture exists. Include such things as doctrine, relevant goals and vision statements, concepts of operation, scenarios, threats and environmental conditions. Identify the tasking that led to the architecture effort, and known or anticipated linkages to other architectures. Document specific assumptions and constraints regarding the architecture effort, and identify authoritative sources for the rules, criteria, and conventions that were followed in developing the architecture.

State the findings and recommendations that have been developed based on the architecture effort. Examples of findings include identification of shortfalls, recommended systems implementations, and opportunities for technology insertion.

Identify the tool suite used to develop the architecture data and products. Identify the file names, file format, and location of the data for each product.

It is also important to record the cost of level of effort required to build the architecture description, as well as any other lessons learned relating to approaches and techniques used.