AAOE Platform Reference Architecture

Purpose

This specification describes the logical architecture of an engineering platform designed according to AAOE principles: the capabilities, responsibilities, information flow, and relationships between architectural components that support the AAOE Meta-Model.

It is a capability architecture, not a software product. It is implementation-independent and does not prescribe technologies, vendors, programming languages, frameworks, or deployment models. Organizations adopting AAOE may realize these capabilities however best suits their context.

Architectural Principles

This architecture reuses the principles already established by the AAOE Meta-Model:

• Evidence precedes authority.
• Authority precedes specification.
• Specification precedes implementation.
• Traceability is preserved.
• Governance is explicit.
• Knowledge continuously evolves.

Architectural Capabilities

• Knowledge Repository — holds AAOE's canonical knowledge: accepted specifications, decisions, and discoveries, as the durable source of truth described by the AAOE Meta-Model's Knowledge View.
• Governance Services — enforce the governance rules defined by each lifecycle specification, so that only approved artifacts gain authority.
• Work Management — scopes, issues, and tracks Work Orders, connecting approved architecture to implementation.
• Agent Orchestration — coordinates Implementation Agents carrying out Work Orders within their stated scope.
• Traceability Engine — maintains the evidence chain defined by the Traceability Model, connecting every artifact to its upstream authority.
• Specification Registry — catalogues specifications by their stable identity, as defined by the Specification Lifecycle.
• Discovery Repository — captures and preserves observations as Discoveries, as defined by the Discovery Lifecycle.
• Review & Approval — supports Architecture Review, producing the approval decisions that allow work to advance.
• Release Management — integrates approved work into the canonical release state, as defined by Release Management.
• Observability — provides visibility into the state and progress of engineering work across the platform.

Each capability has a defined responsibility. This specification does not define how any capability is implemented.

Logical Architecture

Users
        ↓
Architecture
        ↓
Knowledge Repository
        ↓
Governance Services
        ↓
Agent Orchestration
        ↓
Implementation
        ↓
Traceability Engine
        ↓
Review
        ↓
Release
        ↓
Knowledge Repository

• Users → Architecture — human participants establish or extend architectural intent.
• Architecture → Knowledge Repository — that intent is grounded in, and recorded alongside, existing canonical knowledge.
• Knowledge Repository → Governance Services — governance evaluates proposed work against canonical knowledge and applicable rules.
• Governance Services → Agent Orchestration — approved work is handed to orchestration for execution.
• Agent Orchestration → Implementation — Implementation Agents carry out the scoped work.
• Implementation → Traceability Engine — the resulting artifacts are linked to the Work Order and architecture that produced them.
• Traceability Engine → Review — traceable artifacts are evaluated through Architecture Review.
• Review → Release — approved results are integrated.
• Release → Knowledge Repository — integrated work becomes canonical knowledge, closing the loop for future architecture.

Primary Actors

• Human Architect — establishes architectural intent and authors Work Orders, as defined by Roles & Responsibilities.
• Human Reviewer — performs Architecture Review and grants approval.
• Release Manager — integrates approved work into the canonical release state.
• Implementation Agent — executes Work Orders within their stated scope.
• Knowledge Curator — maintains the Knowledge Repository, Discovery Repository, and Specification Registry so canonical knowledge stays navigable and consistent.
• Future AI Agents — specialized agents that may take on scoped responsibilities within Implementation, as anticipated by Roles & Responsibilities' Future Specialized Roles.

Information Flow

Observation
        ↓
Discovery
        ↓
Decision
        ↓
Specification
        ↓
Work Order
        ↓
Implementation
        ↓
Review
        ↓
Release
        ↓
Knowledge

This flow mirrors the Engineering Knowledge Graph defined by the AAOE Meta-Model. The platform's capabilities exist to carry this information flow without breaking traceability at any stage.

Cross-Cutting Capabilities

The following capabilities apply across every architectural component rather than belonging to a single stage:

• Security — protects knowledge and work at every stage of the flow.
• Auditability — every governed decision remains examinable.
• Traceability — evidence chains span the whole platform, not isolated capabilities.
• Observability — visibility into platform state is not limited to a single capability.
• Knowledge Management — canonical knowledge is referenced from every stage, not only the Knowledge Repository itself.
• Policy Enforcement — governance rules apply uniformly regardless of which capability is acting.
• Identity — actors must be identifiable wherever authority is exercised, to preserve traceability and accountability.

Extensibility

Organizations may implement any capability differently, replace it, or combine several into one system, provided the capability's responsibility and its place in the Logical Architecture and Information Flow are preserved. This architecture constrains what a platform must provide, not how it provides it.

Future Evolution

Additional capabilities may be introduced as AAOE's Meta-Model evolves, without changing the architectural principles this reference architecture is built on.