Answer:
a. architectural design phase.
Step-by-step explanation:
Architectural design phase basically deals with the interaction between the very important and essential modules of the software system that is to be developed.
Hence, defining the components of the system and how these components are related to each other is part of the architectural design phase. These components include the input, process, and output, they are linked to their respective interface in order to establish the functionality and framework of the software system.