System landscape diagram

The system context, container, component, and code diagrams are designed to provide a static view of a single software system but, in the real-world, software systems never live in isolation. For this reason, and particularly if you are responsible for a collection/portfolio of software systems, it’s often useful to understand how all of these software systems fit together within a given enterprise, organisation, department, etc. Essentially this is a map of the software systems within the chosen scope, with a set of system context, container, component, and code diagrams for each software system of interest.

From a practical perspective, a system landscape diagram is really just a system context diagram without a specific focus on a particular software system.

Example

Diagram key

Scope

An enterprise/organisation/department/etc.

Primary elements

People and software systems related to the chosen scope.

Intended audience

Technical and non-technical people, inside and outside the software development team.

Recommended?

Yes, particularly for larger organisations - it’s a bridge into the enterprise architecture world.