Describe and document integration architecture
The exam tests whether you can turn business requirements into an architecture description that another team can build, govern, and operate. Expect questions on views, non-functional requirements, dependencies, and asset catalogues rather than on drawing tools.
What the document must contain
- Scope and context: actors, systems of record, upstream and downstream dependencies.
- Logical layering: experience, process, and system APIs, plus supporting services such as queues and schedulers.
- Interface contracts: RAML or OAS, version, error model, SLA, consumers, owner.
- NFRs: availability, latency percentiles, throughput, RPO/RTO, data residency, retention.
- Runtime topology and the environment promotion path.
Rules that earn marks
Document decisions and their rationale in lightweight ADRs; a diagram without ownership or NFRs is decoration. Keep logical architecture separate from physical deployment. Use Exchange as the system of truth for published contracts, with semantic versions and lifecycle states. Trace each requirement to a component and each component to an owner.
Worked example
A retailer needs mobile order status under 800 ms p95, sourced from SAP, with Salesforce case creation for exceptions. The document defines an OrderStatus experience API for mobile, an OrderOrchestration process API, and SAP and Salesforce system APIs. A sequence diagram shows the read path; the NFR section explains that the 800 ms target forces caching in the process layer and an asynchronous path for case creation. The error contract lists 404 and 409. Reasoning: the latency number changes the design, so it must be captured before build.
Traps
Documenting only the happy path; omitting NFRs and ownership; mixing logical and physical views; leaving contracts unversioned; writing architecture after delivery.