Stellent is built on an open, scalable architecture designed to address the needs of simple imaging requirements to the most complex workflow/collaboration requirements.
3-Tiered Architecture:

The first tier (client layer) consists of clients sharing the same ActiveX controls for accessing and acting on information. In addition to the end-user clients, there is also the Stellent Command Client. a GUI-less client, capable of executing a script written in Stellent's simple batch command language.

The second (brokerage services) tier brokers the messages from the first tier. When a client initiates a session, the security layer authenticates the user via NT security mechanisms. Also upon session initiation, Stellent's Distributed Software Maintenance Service (DSMS) verifies the client has all the tools required to perform the requested service. If the client does not have a tool, or if the tool needs to be upgraded, it is automatically pushed out to the client. The DSMS makes the distribution and maintenance of Stellent software far easier, faster and lower cost, while ensuring the consistence of the enterprise tool set. The Request Broker sends the client message to one of three appropriate application services, which are the storage, the information broker and the output. While all three of these are important, the information broker deserves special mention. It knows how to retrieve information from not only the built-in data repositories (archive, process, reports) but also non-Stellent sources. This makes it feasible to integrate other stores such as document management, legacy applications, full text search indexes, etc.

The Third Tier (data access tier) is responsible for database and workflow services. It provides database information to the other tiers as necessary. This tier, also known as the back-end, is responsible for the entire data store and tied closely to system performance.

Built on Standards:
The architecture is built entirely on industry standards. The first tier (client layer) uses Web standards wherever reasonable, including HTML, TCP/IP and ActiveX. The second tier (brokerage services) uses NT security services. The third tier (data access tier) supports the appropriate data standards, including ODBC, the Workflow Management Coalition (Interface 4) and all the appropriate output standards.