Every business with IT systems needs Solution Architects to work alongside procurement and project managers – shaping, steering and managing technical risks in the development or integration business applications.

Every business with a substantial portfolio of business applications needs Enterprise Architects to oversee and rationalize what is so often a mess of applications and platform technologies – standardizing, de-duplicating and integrating applications that often hold multiple copies of the same data.

Enterprise and solution architect roles may span all of

• business architecture,
• data architecture,
• applications architecture and
• technology/infrastructure architecture, and interface with
• security architecture.

The two certificates

The BCS professional certificates in enterprise and solution architecture are called

• Foundation Certificate in Architecture Concepts and Domains
• Practitioner Certificate in Enterprise and Solution Architecture

Click on the links to find the BCS syllabus for each course.

The two courses

Each course is a 3 day event, covering the syllabus in depth, and going beyond the syllabus to illustrate the concepts and give delegates insights into real world practice.

The courses are offered four times a year as public Zoom course or, upon request, exclusively for your team.

• “I highly recommend [this course] if you actually want to learn, not just pass the exam… a really enjoyable and informative course.”
• “I thoroughly enjoyed your teaching, the work and the time to think about what I am and am not doing properly at the moment.”
• “Excellent course. I enjoyed every minute. Almost everything relevant to what I do. Great to meet you and thanks for an excellent week!”

FCACD: Foundation in Architecture Concepts and Domains

After the Foundation course you will be familiar with the terms, concepts and principles of enterprise, solution, business, data, applications and technology/infrastructure architecture. The course includes some discussions and class exercises, and concludes with extensive revision for the one hour multiple-choice examination for the BCS certificate.

Day 1

Fundamentals: Levels and domains. Standards and frameworks. Governance, risk management and compliance. Business case. Gap analysis. Drivers. Architecture description

Business Architecture: Meaning & objectives. Artifacts & activities. Business system structure and behaviour.

Day 2

Data Architecture: Meaning & objectives. Artifacts & activities. Data v information. Data structures.

Applocations Architecture: Meaning & objectives. Artifacts & activities. Application behaviour. Cross-reference grids. Kinds of application.

Software Architecture: Meaning & objectives. Artifacts & activities. System modelling techniques. The role of APIs.

Day 3

Infrastructure Architecture: Meaning & objectives. Artifacts & activities. Technology rationalization. Solution technology definition.

Security Architecture: Meaning & objectives. Artifacts & activities. Legislation and professional standard. Data, applications, and infrastructure security.

Solution Architecture Process: Meaning & objectives. Artifacts & activities. Different types of solution requirements. The SA lifecycle.

FCACD exam preparation.

Sit the exam when you choose after the class.

PCESA: Practitioner Certificate in Enterprise and Solution Architecture

The Practitioner course will prepare you for the 50 minute interview for the BCS Practitioner Certificate. It takes a deeper dive into some business, data, applications architecture topics introduced on the Foundation course. It covers the more managerial aspects of the architect’s role, including stakeholder management, risk management and governance. The courses includes case study work.

Day 1

Architecture Domains and Frameworks: 1.1 architecture in an organization. 1.2 architecture relationships. 1.3 architecture frameworks. 1.4 industry standards.

Architecture and the Organization: 2.1 the role of architecture. 2.2 business change cycle. 2.3 business needs.

Professionalism in Architecture: 3.1 compliance. 3.2 stakeholder types. 3.3 stakeholder needs.

Case study work.

Day 2

Professionalism in Architecture: 3.4 influencing others. 3.5 customer focus. 3.6 team roles and dynamics.

Architectural Process, Tools and Vision: 5.1 SA framework. 5.3 target solution architecture. 5.4 common architecture models. 5.5 common modeling techniques. 5.6 business requirement types. 5.7 preparing a gap analysis.

Case study work.

Day 3

Corporate Governance: 4.1 Corporate governance. 4.2 Key governance concepts. 4.3 Risk management.

Planning and Implementation: 6.1 Delivery road map. 5.8 Business case. 5.2 SDLC varieties.

Quality Assurance: 6.2 Separation of concerns. 6.3 Change management. 6.4 Continuous improvement.

Case study work.

Avancier PCESA exam in class.

BCS PCESA examination is by interview, some weeks after the course.

The training is aimed at anyone with several years experience of projects that develop or integrate business applications, whether in a technical role or business/systems analysis role. It is often attended by senior architects wanting a clear framework for their work.

The training is aimed at anyone with several years experience of projects that develop or integrate business applications, whether in a technical role or business/systems analysis role. It is often attended by senior architects wanting a clear framework for their work.