Terminology

2205 terms, tools, patterns and metrics an architect is expected to use precisely. Each one gets a short explanation of what it is, and — where it matters — what it is commonly confused with. Search filters as you type; the column headers sort.

All areas2205 Architecture Fundamentals77 Distributed Systems107 Data Architecture110 Cloud Architecture94 Networking88 API & Integration Architecture82 Reliability & Resilience75 Observability70 Performance & Capacity Engineering72 Security Architecture86 Cost Architecture & FinOps71 Business Architecture67 Architecture Communication67 Enterprise Architecture66 Legacy Modernization71 AI-Era Architecture69 Software Architecture & Engineering71 Architecture Patterns71 Architecture Decision-Making63 The Architect's Meta-Skills61 Delivery & Release Engineering66 Platform Engineering & Developer Experience70 Testing & Quality Architecture66 Data Platform Architecture64 Streaming & Real-Time Data69 Data Governance & Semantics69 Frontend & Experience Architecture66 Edge, Mobile & IoT68 Regulatory & Data Protection Architecture65 Assurance, Audit & Model Risk64

Kind Any concept794 practice734 pattern368 metric125 case-study77 tool62 protocol45

5 terms shown.

Term	Kind	Topic	What it is
Amortised Cost View Effective Rate Reporting, Commitment-Adjusted Showback	practice	Cost Allocation	Reporting each team's spend at the effective discounted rate spread across a commitment term, so a team's number moves only when its own usage moves rather than when the finance department buys something.
Cost Allocation	practice	Cost Allocation	Attributing spend to the team, service or customer that causes it — the prerequisite for every other cost conversation.
Cost Allocation Tagging	practice	Cost Allocation	A mandatory, enforced tagging scheme that attributes every resource to an owner, so spend can be understood and acted on below the level of the whole account.
Cost Attribution Tagging Strategy, Cost Ownership	practice	Cost Allocation	Assigning every unit of infrastructure spend to a team and a product, enforced at resource creation - the prerequisite without which no other cost control works.
Structural Cost Attribution Boundary-Based Allocation, Attribution Without Tagging	practice	Cost Allocation	Deriving cost ownership from deployment boundaries - account per workload, cluster per team - rather than from tags, because tagging discipline never survives contact with a growing organisation.