4+1 is a view model designed by Philippe Kruchten for "describing the architecture of software-intensive systems, based on the use of multiple, concurrent views". The views are used to describe the system from the viewpoint of different stakeholders, such as end-users, developers and project managers. The four views of the model are logical, development, process and physical view. In addition selected use cases or scenarios are used to illustrate the architecture serving as the 'plus one' view. Hence the model contains 4+1 views:
The 4+1 view model is generic and is not restricted to any notation, tool or design method. Quoting Kruchten,
The “4+1” view model is rather “generic”: other notations and tools can be used, other design methods can be used, especially for the logical and process decompositions, but we have indicated the ones we have used with success.