Meet the IRP Student Team – Solution Architecture 

Meet the IRP Student Team – Solution Architecture 

February 07, 2022

The Integrated Renewal Program – Student (IRP Student) refers to the renewal of the UBC Student Information System (SIS) that the University is undertaking. The renewed system will support UBC students in achieving their academic goals and create a better experience for all users through a new set of tools and new ways of working.  

IRP Student has eight core teams – Student Solution, Ecosystem Delivery, Transformation & Change Management, Security, Access, Data and Reporting, Technical Delivery, Solution Architecture, Quality Assurance, and Program Management Office. This series aims to explain each team, their objectives, and their role within the IRP Student program in terms you, our UBC community, will understand. 

The Solution Architecture team is accountable for the conceptual and logical designs of the new student information ecosystem.  

We work closely with the Student Solution, Ecosystem and Technical Delivery teams to analyze possible solutions to address identified business requirements of IRP Student. Once we have reviewed the solution space, we propose an optimum solution for the way forward in the design of the new student information ecosystem, in the context of both the program and the university. 

- Luca Fillipozi, Senior Enterprise Solution Architect - Solution Architecture

Solution architecture involves understanding requirements, and proposing solution options. This is an iterative process. Within a large and complex project like IRP Student, there are typically three phases that occur: 

  • Conceptual – The Solution Architecture team suggests multiple possible solutions to a design requirement.  
  • Logical – Once all solutions have been considered, the best design approach is suggested with data flow diagrams, sequence diagrams, requirement mapping to product capability, etc. 
  • Detailed – Once a way forward has been confirmed, technical mappings, the implementation approach, work breakdown structure, etc., get completed by the Technical Delivery team in collaboration with the functional and architecture teams. 

Solution Architecture will fulfill the role of providing architectural guidance and coordinating architectural alignment amongst the various IRP Student teams.  

For more information about IRP Student teams, read the other entries in this content series on the IRP Student website

*Reflecting on our experience so far in working with Workday and seeing how our design is shaping up, we realize that we have to embrace change and be confident in our ability to adapt. Workday Student, along with IRP Student’s functional requirements, are evolving quickly and this could mean that we may have to adapt our approach throughout the project timeline.