Demonstrate your job-ready skills to employers in this portfolio-worthy capstone project! During this course, you’ll apply your systems and solutions architecture, stakeholder management, and cloud-native deployment skills to create a real-world enterprise architecture.


Systems and Solutions Architect Capstone Project
This course is part of IBM Systems and Solutions Architect Professional Certificate

Instructor: IBM Skills Network Team
Included with
Recommended experience
What you'll learn
Design an enterprise architecture that replaces a legacy system and supports digital services, real-time data integration, and automated processes
Create solution blueprints, system and data models, cloud-native deployment strategies, and security frameworks that align with regulatory standards
Develop process flow, CI/CD pipelines, and a phased implementation roadmap
Apply cloud-native platforms, APIs, and microservices principles to modernize core enterprise operations and agile delivery
Skills you'll gain
- Cloud Applications
- Cloud Infrastructure
- Application Programming Interface (API)
- Unified Modeling Language
- Enterprise Architecture
- SQL
- Data Modeling
- Software Development Life Cycle
- CI/CD
- Architectural Design
- Requirements Analysis
- Cloud Computing
- Microservices
- Data Governance
- Database Design
- Software Systems
- Database Management
- Docker (Software)
- Cloud-Native Computing
- Stakeholder Engagement
Details to know

Add to your LinkedIn profile
December 2025
24 assignments
See how employees at top companies are mastering in-demand skills

Build your Cloud Computing expertise
- Learn new concepts from industry experts
- Gain a foundational understanding of a subject or tool
- Develop job-relevant skills with hands-on projects
- Earn a shareable career certificate from IBM

There are 7 modules in this course
In this module, you’ll get oriented with the capstone project’s structure, tools, and expectations. You’ll explore how the project mirrors a real-world systems architecture workflow, leading the early planning phases by creating foundational documents. You’ll review a project charter, stakeholder mapping, and engagement strategy to align business, compliance, and technical teams. You will identify key stakeholder groups across departments and define architectural goals in alignment with business objectives and regulatory mandates. Further, you’ll collect and validate both functional and non-functional enterprise-level requirements, capturing critical factors. This foundation for scalable architectural design ensures that you are prepared to navigate current and future state processes using tools such as business requirements documents (BRDs), software requirements specifications (SRSs), and requirements traceability matrices (RTMs).
What's included
2 videos1 reading3 assignments7 plugins
This module focuses on architectural planning and modeling the core processes of the enterprise ecosystem. You’ll demonstrate how to translate high-level business and regulatory requirements into structured, actionable architectural components using industry-standard tools and techniques. You’ll explore how to build foundational project planning artifacts, including a traceability matrix and a risk register, that consider real-world enterprise risks. You’ll learn to conduct a SWOT analysis, design and document enterprise workflows using UML diagrams, process flowcharts, and architecture blueprints. You’ll explore visual artifacts to communicate the end-to-end flow of data and logic across systems.
What's included
3 assignments5 plugins
In this module, you will design and implement the foundation of cloud and enterprise architecture. You’ll focus on deploying scalable, secure infrastructure components that enable agility, compliance, and high performance in the enterprise. You’ll leverage tools, such as Docker and cloud platforms, including IBM Cloud and AWS, to design a microservices-based deployment model. You’ll learn to configure secure container registries, deploy images, and architect cloud environments. Further, you will create a data infrastructure blueprint, audit trails, and regulatory reporting. You’ll architect an event-driven architecture that supports real-time alerts to mitigate potential risks. Finally, you’ll estimate computing, storage, and bandwidth needs, aligning resource planning and document hardware, software, and network components across environments to create a complete infrastructure view.
What's included
6 assignments11 plugins
This module focuses on designing the core systems architecture, data models, defining the structure, and behavior of key system components to business requirements and regulatory standards. You’ll explore architecture diagrams and UML models to define the roles, interactions, and data flows between core enterprise services. You’ll also identify and recommend appropriate tools, frameworks, and platforms for each architectural layer. In addition, you’ll gain hands-on experience validating solution feasibility through small-scale prototypes and proofs of concept. Finally, you’ll design conceptual and logical entity-relationship diagrams (ERDs), apply normalization up to 3NF, and translate models into SQL DDL scripts.
What's included
6 assignments11 plugins
In this module, you will focus on validating the systems architecture through testing strategies and deployment planning. You’ll review test plans for completeness, consistency, and alignment with architectural requirements. You’ll explore tools, such as requirements traceability matrix (RTM), test-driven development (TDD), and behavior-driven development (BDD), to verify business logic, system interactions, and user experience flows. You’ll also create configuration and API documentation to support consistent deployments and seamless integrations. Additionally, you’ll design backup and disaster recovery strategies to protect critical systems and ensure business continuity. Finally, you’ll develop CI/CD pipelines, monitoring frameworks, and incident response plans to maintain system reliability and performance.
What's included
6 assignments11 plugins
In this module, you will complete your systems architect design, from engaging stakeholders to deploying strategies and ensuring compliance alignment. You’ll apply what you learned to create a system blueprint, UML diagrams, ERDs, data flow charts, cloud topology, CI/CD pipelines, and monitoring frameworks. You’ll prepare a document for submission, ensuring that your design vision is clearly communicated and implementation-ready. This submission will serve as a capstone evaluation and a portfolio-ready artifact that you can showcase to potential employers.
What's included
1 app item3 plugins
In this final module, you will shift focus from project execution to career advancement. You’ll reflect on your project experience, refine your professional brand, and prepare to pursue roles in systems architecture. You’ll draft a resume and a cover letter showcasing your skills and regulatory understanding. You’ll explore various career paths in enterprise architecture and practice common but practical interview questions.
What's included
3 videos2 readings5 plugins
Earn a career certificate
Add this credential to your LinkedIn profile, resume, or CV. Share it on social media and in your performance review.
Instructor

Offered by
Explore more from Cloud Computing
Why people choose Coursera for their career





Open new doors with Coursera Plus
Unlimited access to 10,000+ world-class courses, hands-on projects, and job-ready certificate programs - all included in your subscription
Advance your career with an online degree
Earn a degree from world-class universities - 100% online
Join over 3,400 global companies that choose Coursera for Business
Upskill your employees to excel in the digital economy
Frequently asked questions
This advanced course is recommended for learners with basic IT knowledge, understanding of systems and solution architects, and familiarity with cloud computing and stakeholder management. Previous experience with stakeholder and project management is helpful but not required. To ensure you have the skills you need to successfully complete this project, we recommend that you have completed all the prior courses in the IBM Systems and Solutions Architect Professional Certificate.
You will need a laptop or desktop computer with a modern web browser and a reliable internet connection. You should also need to install or access the free version of:
• Lucidchart
• MySQL
• IBM Cloud/AWS
• Microsoft Visio
• Kubernetes
• Visual Studio Code
• Jenkins
• Docker
This course is designed for aspiring system architects, system analysts, IT professionals, or engineers seeking to advance their careers by refining their skills in cloud computing, software development, systems engineering, DevOps, and enterprise architecture. It also supports learners transitioning into system architect roles from related fields, such as business analysis, project management, or testing engineering.
More questions
Financial aid available,





