Software Architecture for Executives and Acquisition Professionals

This course is designed to broaden awareness of Department of Defense acquirers about the benefits of adopting software architecture technology as a means of reducing acquisition risk and achieving system qualities. This course is also appropriate for defense contractors who want to increase their competitive advantage by gaining insight into how the government may incorporate software architecture technologies into acquisitions.

Who should attend: DoD and US government Program Executive Officers, acquisition program managers, acquisition project managers, other senior acquisition managers, project leaders, system engineers, software managers, contracting officers, and contracting officer technical representatives. Commercial suppliers doing business with the DoD can also benefit.

Course Overview: The course is divided into two parts. 

The first part will cover software architecture fundamentals and concepts, and the benefits of adopting architecture-centric practices. Topics include:

• The importance of software architecture technology and its impact on the warfighter
• Fundamental software architecture concepts, definitions, and practices
• Software architecture-centric techniques that have been applied successfully in the DoD.

The second part describes how an acquisition organization can adopt an architecture-centric approach in a system acquisition. This focuses on answering four key questions:

1. Why should an acquisition organization adopt an architecture-centric acquisition approach?
2. When and where does such as approach fit it in the DoD 5000 life cycle?
3. How can a program adopt such an approach in a DoD system acquisition?
4. What is involved in actually implementing such an approach in an RFP/contract?

This "Why, When and Where, How, and What" approach provides the knowledge to apply these techniques in an acquisition context.