View source for Technical Component

__NOFACTBOX____NOTOC__
[[File:Icon TC.png|thumb|left|80px|Technical Component symbol]]Technical Components (TCs) strictly are not part of OIAm, in that they are not "pure" architecture artefacts. Instead, they are documents that help show how architectural considerations have been represented in actual infrastructure designs. Creation of the Technical Components is the task of the lead infrastructure designers.

==Purpose==
To record in a central place all properties and remarks that are necessary or desirable for the communication between infrastructure designers and infrastructure architects, and for architectural governance of infrastructure designs.

==Explanation==
A lead infrastructure designer will be tasked with creating a design for an infrastructure facility according to a certain [[Pattern Variant]]. To this end, he selects any number of technical "artefacts" (actual products (hardware and/or software), protocols and standards) that he knows can be configured to deliver the functionality requested from the infrastructure facility, and creates the necessary design documents that the infrastructure engineers need to actually build and operate the facility. However, his choice of technical "artefacts" must be shown to comply with the architectural guidelines put down in the Pattern Variant. Furthermore, the designer is required to show that he adhered to ''all'' relevant architectural guidelines. This check on compliancy can be performed using the [[Design Outline]], which contains all relevant information on the design created.

Since standardization promotes reuse, technical "artefacts" used in a particular Design Outline probably will feature also in other Design Outlines. In fact the majority of technical artefacts can be expected to appear in more than one Design Outline. The DIR thus allows designers to record all relevant properties of a technical artefact in a separate article of type "Technical Component", and then link to that article from his Design Outline.

==Contents of a Technical Component==
A TC must contain:
* Manufacturer (if it's a product like hardware or software) or Steward (if it's a non-manufactured artefact, like a standard or location)
* Optionally: a link to the homepage of the manufacturer of steward
* Preferably: a link to a webpage with information on the artefact: product homepage, a whitepaper or article on a standard, an internal webpage for the physical location
* Description of the functionality that the component can deliver
* Description of the characteristics and indications for usage of the component in the own organisation's infrastructure
Note: when a designer reuses a Technical Component, the existing TC page may be augmented, but existing texts may not be altered, since this potentially could invalidate the TC's use in the earlier created Design Outline. If the described properties and characteristics of the TC are incompatible with the intended new use of the TC, then either the incompatibilities are remedied (facilitating reuse and standardization), or a separate new TC must be created, clearly explaining the different use with respect to the earlier TC.

==Current list of Technical Components==
These are the {{#ask:[[Category:Technical Component]]|format=count}} currently available Technical Components:
{{#ask:[[Category:Technical Component]]|?Is of type|?Owner|?Owner|?Page maturity=Maturity}}