Software Solution Design: An Overview

The BTC Team

(This is Part 1 of a Blog Series on Solution Design.)

Software Solutions can be game-changing to your organization. Whether you provide a service or product offering or want to enhance the in-house efficiency of operations and workflows, a well-designed software solution can offer a world of difference.

In this blog, we provide an overview of an important but often less-spoken-about stage of software development –Solution Design.

What is a software solution?

In a fundamental sense, software refers to programs that perform a particular set of tasks. A software solution is a broader term – it could encompass not just the custom code or program that’s written to accomplish particular tasks but also interact with other pieces of software, technology components, and systems.

A software solution is typically custom-built or configured to solve a specific customer problem. It could include:

  • Custom software development
  • Customized Assembly of multiple software products
  • Custom implementation of existing software platforms or products

All-in-all, a software solution is one that holistically addresses the customer’s business needs or problem statement with a set of technology components that are designed, configured, and developed to work in tandem with one another.

What does solution design refer to?

Solution Design is the first step towards the eventual physical deployment of any solution. It’s a blueprint for what needs to be built out.

Solution Design serves as an overarching reference for the entire project setting, including the direction for and expectations from the implementation phase.

As no solution can be built without proper design and architectural guidelines, the exercise of Solution Design plays a pivotal role. It lays a strong foundation for building a scalable and robust solution.

What to look for in a solution design?

Look for a holistic Solution Design that addresses the solution from a functional, technical, and UI/UX (user interface/user experience) standpoint.

It should comprise and may provide:

  • The defining of a functional feature set or scope,
  • A technical solution approach and architecture.
  • Guidelines for designing the user interfaces,
  • Completely functional and technical specifications with a full-fledged visual prototype.

What to look for in a solution design team?

Solution Design teams should possess strong technical and functional skill sets and knowledge. They should leverage this to design an optimum and practical solution.

Teams that engage in Solution Design teams should possess strong technical and functional skill sets and knowledge. They should leverage this to design an optimum and practical solution.

Teams that engage in Solution Design and Consulting often deliberate on various “build” versus “buy” (or a combination of both) options for the solution. They will take into consideration several factors, such as:

  • Functional and non-functional requirements
  • Budget and time constraints
  • Ease of maintenance
  • Scalability and more

Unless there’s a suitable off-the-shelf software product or solution readily available to use (while also being operable within existing constraints), it’s often advisable to go for a customized or tailored software solution. In this case, solution designers take up the job of designing the solution from the ground up.

How does solution design promote project success?

Good solution design is essential for the success of a project. Solution Design helps in the following six ways:

  1. Acts as a one-stop reference and guidance throughout the project for various stakeholders that are involved with the solution implementation
  2. Maps the business requirements to multiple aspects of the solution to be built out
  3. Provides a functional outline and technical architecture for the solution
  4. Offers clarity to developers on what to build, to the testing team on what tests to run, and to the client/customer on what to expect from the end product.
  5. Develops estimates for the cost, as well as timeline and resource requirements for the project
  6. Acts as a baseline for change control

That was a quick introduction to Solution Design in the context of software solutions. In subsequent blogs, we will go into the details of what comprises an actual Solution Design exercise, and what its outputs include.

How BTC can help

Boston Technology Corporation offers a full range of Solution Design Services to assist you with the elegant and optimized design of software solutions tailored for your organization.

Our team of solution architects brings with them cross-functional knowledge, expertise, and experience from diverse industry domains and an entire spectrum of strong techno-functional skillsets to best understand and address your business needs.

Contact us to learn how we can help you arrive at an effective and implementable end-to-end Solution Design.

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