Digital Transformation Agency
What are you looking for today?
Search
This document can be found at
Home >
Architecture Taskforce releases beta concepts and canvases
Architecture Taskforce releases beta
concepts and canvases
3 July 2020
Tags:
Capability (/taxonomy/term/398) Platforms (/taxonomy/term/396)
Service design (/taxonomy/term/64)
The Whole of Government Architecture Taskforce (/blogs/developing-whole-government-
architecture) is creating a Beta Concepts Model. This defines and simplifies the architecture of
Australian Government platforms, products, and services.
This work supports increasing the visibility and re-use of existing and planned cross-
government services and platforms. An objective of the Taskforce is to take government from
siloed capabilities to a landscape of connected platforms and services.
Architecture concepts
One stream of the Taskforce’s current work is to develop a framework of architecture concepts.
The term ‘concepts’ refers to categories of architectural components relevant to the Taskforce’s
objective. We selected these concepts from the range of components needed to conduct the
business of government.
For example, one concept is ‘Government Service’, shown in the diagram below. This is the
end-to-end means of meeting a user need, such as applying for the age pension, or lodging a
tax return.
Another concept is ‘Platform’. Agencies can reuse this building block in many government
service delivery contexts. A platform is a ‘black box’ that exposes services — called ‘Enabling
Services’. These are used by many systems and processes that deliver government services to
people and businesses.
Government architecture concepts
The line of visibility
A ‘line of visibility’ separates the concepts. Those above the line relate to the reasons people
and organisations engage with government. The concepts below the line relate to the means
of government service delivery. The central concept, ‘Government Service’, straddles the line of
visibility. It also links to the current and potential initiatives to develop new platforms and
shared capabilities.
The purpose of the concepts model
The concepts model provides an easy-to-understand structure to simplify the complexity of
government. It defines core architecture concepts and illustrates them with examples and
clarifications, offering a new way of looking at government architecture. It emphasises
improving service delivery for users and identifying common capabilities.
The selected architecture concepts provide a foundation for the Taskforce’s other streams. For
example, the Taskforce is also cataloguing existing platforms. It will list the enabling services
each platform provides and map them to the relevant business capability.
Applying the concepts model
The Beta concepts model includes architecture canvas templates, which we have trialed with
the agencies involved. The canvases are 1-page views of a single government service or
business scenario. They show the government components contributing to the service or
scenario.
For example, in the scenario of a person needing income support, the customer may access
several government products or services. These might be services like JobSeeker, Veteran’s
Pension, Carer Allowance, or tax offsets. Another example is the scenario of a business
importing goods from overseas. They will access government services such as Import Permit,
Customs Duty Assessment, and Biosecurity Clearance. A scenario canvas shows all these
possibilities and the important components that enable their delivery.
A canvas focused on a government service maps the details of the components to deliver that
service. The canvas view gives a clearer insight into what makes a government service work.
Find out more
The private Beta version of the Government Architecture Concepts Model is now available to
interested government agencies. Contact the Taskforce at
xxxxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx
(mailto:xxxxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx) for more information.
For media enquiries email us at xxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx (mailto:xxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx)
For other enquiries email us at
xxxx@xxx.xxx.xx (mailto:xxxx@xxx.xxx.xx)
© Commonwealth of Australia. With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms and
where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under the CC BY 4.0 license.
