Application Pattern Fields

Within ArchRepo, Application Patterns have a single property field. Most of a pattern’s content is captured through its relationships — to UI components, technologies, business rules, use cases, and acceptance criteria.

1. Description

• What it’s for: A clear explanation of what this pattern represents, what it provides to applications that follow it, and when it should be applied.

• What to include:

  • Describe the purpose of the pattern — what architectural problem or standard it addresses.
  • Summarise what applications get by following this pattern: the UI components, technology choices, business rules, and acceptance criteria that come with it.
  • Identify which applications should follow this pattern, or what characteristics make an application a good candidate.
  • Note any constraints or prerequisites — for example, “requires the standard authentication service” or “applies only to customer-facing web applications”.

• Example: "The Standard Customer Portal Pattern defines the shared frontend architecture for all customer-facing web applications. Apps following this pattern use the approved React component library, conform to the WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standard, implement the standard session management business rules, and are required to pass the core customer portal acceptance criteria before go-live."

Relationships

Most of the value of an Application Pattern comes from its relationships. Use these to attach shared standards to the pattern rather than repeating them on each individual application: