Information Systems Architecture (ISA)

The Information Systems Architecture of an organization is a common framework, within which different kinds of individual information systems play their respective roles and interact with one another. It n is a framework for structuring and co-ordinating

• the subsystems and components of the individual information system applications;
• the interaction between different information system applications;
• the subsystems and components of the information system infrastructure;
• the interaction between the applications and the infrastructure.

For example, information system architecture may define

• a standard functional structure for the

subsystems and components of a certain application type, e.g. a statistical survey application;

• standard interfaces for interactions and data exchange between different types of subsystems or components;
• standard interfaces for human interactions with information systems;
• standard interfaces for interactions and data exchange with external information systems;
• services to be provided by the information system infrastructure;
• standard hardware, software, and data components to be used.