ISO 42024 Revision Checker
ISO/IEC/IEEE DIS 42024 · Enterprise, systems and software, Architecture fundamentals Stage 40.99 Planning date 15 Sep 2027, an estimate 35 terms · 20 clause areas · 9 annex sections

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Architecture description concepts · 3.5.2

Solution description

The work product that expresses a solution entity. It usually covers several aspects of the entity over its full life cycle, including objectives, requirements, construction, test, operation, maintenance, sustainment and deployment.

  • definition
  • Term
  • ISO/IEC/IEEE DIS 42024
  • Last updated: 2026-10-21

What this term settles

The solution description is broader than a build specification. It covers the life cycle, including operation and sustainment. That breadth is what makes it useful to an auditor asking whether the entity can be run, not only whether it can be built.

What to do in your practice

Use one solution description per solution entity, with sections for the life cycle aspects. Trace it to the architecture description it realises. Keep it with the entity record so it survives project closure. Keep the solution description with the entity, not with the programme. A description filed under a programme code becomes unreadable to the next team, and the entity record is the only place a later engineer or auditor will look.

Who it binds

The role that owns the practice area the term governs. A definition binds nobody on its own; it binds the reader who adopts the term in a method, a description or a contract.

Evidence an auditor or regulator asks for

  • The solution description with life cycle sections populated.
    Shows the entity was designed for operation and sustainment.
  • A trace to the architecture description.
    Lets a reviewer test alignment.
  • The test and evaluation approach.
    Shows the claims in the description can be verified.
  • The retention record after project closure.
    Keeps the description available for later change.
  • The owner and approval of the solution description.
    An auditor asks who signed the description the build followed.
Ask your teamDoes this solution description say how the entity will be operated and sustained, or only how it will be built?

Common gaps this page catches

  • The description stops at build and leaves operation to a runbook written later.
  • No trace to the architecture description exists.
  • The description is archived with the project and lost to the entity.

What to prepare before publication

Add operation and sustainment sections to the template. Take one live solution and fill the gaps. Retain the result with the entity record.

Common questions

What does Solution description mean in ISO 42024?
The work product that expresses a solution entity. It usually covers several aspects of the entity over its full life cycle, including objectives, requirements, construction, test, operation, maintenance, sustainment and deployment.
What evidence should we keep for 3.5.2?
The solution description with life cycle sections populated. A trace to the architecture description. The test and evaluation approach.

Related units

Source. ISO/IEC/IEEE DIS 42024, Clause 3.5.2, Terms and definitions. Open the official record. Retrieved 21 October 2026.

https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/en/#iso:std:iso-iec-ieee:42024:dis:ed-1:v1:en

ISO catalogue record 87510, the status, stage and page count.

Claim level: definition. The definition is in the public preview. This page states it in our own words and does not reproduce the text.

Last updated: 2026-10-21 · Markdown version · Check your practice