Architecture Communication Canvas Example

Example: E-Commerce Platform

Designed for: ModernShop E-Commerce Platform
Designed by: Architecture Team

Value Proposition

  • Enable seamless online shopping experience

  • Support 10M+ customers with 99.9% uptime

  • Reduce operational costs by 30%

  • Accelerate time-to-market for new features

Core Functions

  • Product catalog management with 1M+ items

  • Shopping cart and checkout process

  • User account management and authentication

  • Order processing and fulfillment

  • Payment processing (multiple providers)

  • Inventory management and tracking

  • Customer support system

Core Decisions - Good or Bad

Good: • Microservices architecture for scalability • Event-driven architecture for real-time updates • CQRS pattern for read/write optimization

Bad: • Monolithic database initially chosen • Insufficient caching strategy in v1.0

Strategic: • Cloud-first approach (AWS) • API-first design for future integrations

Technologies

Backend: • Java Spring Boot, Node.js • PostgreSQL, Redis, Elasticsearch

Frontend: • React.js, Next.js • Mobile: React Native

Infrastructure: • AWS (EKS, RDS, ElastiCache) • Terraform for IaC • GitLab CI/CD

Key Stakeholder

  • Product Manager (Feature prioritization)

  • CTO (Technical direction)

  • Customers (End users)

  • Operations Team (24/7 support)

  • Marketing (Campaign requirements)

Quality Requirements

  • Performance: < 2s page load time

  • Availability: 99.9% uptime SLA

  • Scalability: Handle 10x traffic during sales

  • Security: PCI DSS compliance

  • Usability: Mobile-first design

Business Context

External Systems: • Payment gateways (Stripe, PayPal) • Shipping providers (FedEx, UPS, DHL) • ERP system for inventory • CDN for static content (CloudFront) • Email service (SendGrid) • Analytics platform (Google Analytics)

Components / Modules

  • API Gateway - Central entry point

  • User Service - Authentication & profiles

  • Product Catalog Service - Search & browse

  • Cart Service - Shopping cart management

  • Order Service - Order processing

  • Payment Service - Payment processing

  • Inventory Service - Stock management

  • Notification Service - Email/SMS alerts

Core Risks

  • Single points of failure in payment processing

  • Data breach - customer data exposure

  • Scalability bottlenecks during peak times

  • Third-party dependencies (payment gateways)

  • Compliance risks - PCI DSS violations

Missing Information

  • Detailed disaster recovery procedures

  • Performance benchmarks for each service

  • Security penetration test results

  • Cost analysis per transaction

  • Customer journey analytics data

Software Architecture Canvas by Gernot Starke, Patrick Roos and arc42 Contributors is licensed under Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International