Overview
The IEC SRD 63188:2022 - Smart Cities Reference Architecture Methodology (SCRAM) provides a standardized methodology for creating a Smart Cities Reference Architecture (SCRA). SCRAM is a tailorable template and guide for designing architectures for practically any city system. It defines desired smart-city characteristics, a consistent set of viewpoints and corresponding model-types, and dependency matrices to promote consistency, interoperability and uniformity across smart city architectures.
Key topics
- Methodology & data schema: Processes and a data schema for producing an SCRA and tailoring it to local contexts.
- Problem space analysis: Problem space description, specifics and terminologies to capture city needs and contexts.
- Stakeholders & concerns: Classification of stakeholders, stakeholder concerns, aggregated concerns, and dependency matrices linking stakeholders to the problem space.
- Mission, vision & strategic goals: Techniques to derive mission and vision statements and map them to strategic goals and solution constraints.
- Solution space characteristics: Solution space constraints, essential desirable characteristics and architecture principles (digital orientation, platform-enabled solutions, capabilities/functions, services/APIs, common engineering and governance practices, crosscutting aspects).
- Viewpoints & model-types: Defined viewpoints include Value, Big Picture, System–Solution Engineering, Platform Engineering, Platform Component Engineering, Solution Engineering, Crosscutting Aspects, Corporate, Risk Management, Software Factory and Standards - each associated with specific model-types.
- Artefacts & use cases: High-level requirements, stories, use cases, and mapping of problem space coverage to generated artefacts for implementation planning.
- Tailoring & use: Guidance on customizing the SCRA for different city scales, domains or governance models.
Applications
SCRAM is practical for:
- City CIOs, urban planners and municipal IT teams developing digital transformation roadmaps and interoperable city platforms.
- Systems architects and solution integrators designing scalable, platform-oriented smart city systems.
- Vendors and software/product teams building APIs, microservices and platform components for municipal deployments.
- Policy makers, procurement teams and standards developers creating consistent specifications, governance models and risk-management approaches.
Use cases include mobility systems, utilities, public safety, citizen services and cross-domain platform integration.
Practical benefits
- Promotes consistency and reusability across smart city projects.
- Supports alignment between stakeholder concerns, mission/vision and technical design.
- Facilitates interoperability through shared reference architecture viewpoints and model-types.
- Aids governance, risk management and scalable platform delivery (including software factory practices).
Related standards
SCRAM aligns with systems and IT architecture best practices and complements sectoral standards for energy, transport and communications. Users should consult applicable IEC and sector-specific standards when applying SCRA artifacts to implementations.
Keywords: Smart Cities Reference Architecture Methodology, SCRAM, SCRA, smart city architecture, reference architecture, viewpoints, model-types, stakeholders, architecture principles.