The solution architect advocates for the architecture constituency in the MSF Team Model. The solution architect is responsible for maintaining the architectural integrity of the product and ensuring the success of the project by designing the foundations on which all the value can be realized. This includes defining both the organizational structure of the application and the physical structure of its deployment. In these endeavors, the solution architect’s goal is to reduce complexity, decrease coupling and regression effects, and increase the cohesiveness of components by partitioning the system into parts which can be built and tested independently. The resulting architecture is extremely important because it not only dictates how the system will be built going forward but also establishes whether the application will exhibit the many traits that are essential for a successful project. These include its usability, whether it is reliable and maintainable, whether it meets performance and security standards, and whether it can be evolved easily in the face of changing requirements.

A person assigned to this role should be added to the Contributor permissions group. This allows them to do all that they need to perform their function, such as create and modify the documents, work items, and work products.