4 of the 10 questions we have for this objective, shown with the answer and the reasoning.
How to implement Architecture Change Management
Ferncliff Telecom's Architecture Board has reviewed a Phase H change analysis and agreed that a new regulatory regime for network resilience requires significant changes across business, data and technology architectures. The board asks the architect how to start the work formally.
What should the architect do next?
- AIssue Change Requests directly to the implementation projects and update their Architecture Contracts.Change Requests to projects suit changes the current architecture can absorb. A significant change across three domains needs architecture development first.
- BPrepare a Request for Architecture Work so that a new ADM cycle can be initiated to address the change.When Phase H concludes that a change requires re-architecting, the output is a Request for Architecture Work that starts a new cycle of the ADM.
- CUpdate the Requirements Repository and let each domain architect revise their own section of the existing Architecture Definition Document.Editing documents domain by domain without a new cycle bypasses scoping, stakeholder engagement and approval for a significant change.
- DStart the new work at Phase G by running compliance reviews against the new regulation.Compliance reviews check projects against an agreed architecture. No architecture for the new regulation exists yet.
Why: Phase H (TOGAF Standard, ADM, Phase H: Architecture Change Management) ends with activating the process to implement change. When the change requires re-architecting, Phase H produces a Request for Architecture Work, which is the formal input that initiates a new ADM cycle. Because the Architecture Board has already agreed that the change is significant and cross-domain, the decisive step is to start a new cycle formally rather than patch projects or documents. The distractors use real change mechanisms that are suited to smaller changes.
How to implement Architecture Change Management
Sable Energy operates a target field-service architecture. The mobile workforce team, the only stakeholder group affected, asks to keep using an older offline-sync component for one more year because the replacement drains device batteries. The Architecture Board agrees that the deviation is low risk and can be allowed under a dispensation with a review date. No principle, building block definition or business capability changes. A board member asks whether this should start a new ADM cycle.
What should the architect advise?
- AStart a new ADM cycle, because any deviation from the Target Architecture invalidates the architecture.Deviations that can be governed under a dispensation do not invalidate the architecture. Restarting the ADM for this would be disproportionate.
- BHandle it through change management rather than a new ADM cycle, because the change affects one stakeholder group and can be allowed under a dispensation.The Phase H guidance is that changes affecting only one stakeholder, or that can be allowed under a dispensation, are more likely candidates for change management than for re-entry to the ADM.
- CReturn to Phase E to define a new Transition Architecture that includes the older component.Defining a new Transition Architecture is migration planning for a new target. It is not needed to approve a bounded, time-limited deviation.
- DRaise a Request for Architecture Work so that the mobile workforce team can redefine the field-service principles.A Request for Architecture Work starts a new architecture engagement. No principle is changing, so there is nothing for a new engagement to redefine.
Why: Phase H (TOGAF Standard, ADM, Phase H: Architecture Change Management) offers a rule of thumb for the decision between change management and a new ADM cycle. A change that impacts two or more stakeholders is likely to require architecture redesign and re-entry to the ADM. A change that impacts only one stakeholder, or that can be allowed under a dispensation, is more likely to be a candidate for change management. The scenario gives both signals: a single stakeholder group and an agreed dispensation with a review date. The distractors all send a small, governed deviation back into architecture development.
How to implement Architecture Change Management
Redwick Bank has just completed implementation of its target lending architecture and closed Phase G. The Architecture Board wants a reliable way to know when business or technology changes mean the architecture should be changed or a new ADM cycle started.
What should the architect set up at the start of Phase H?
- AA new Statement of Architecture Work for the next lending architecture.A Statement of Architecture Work is created in Phase A once a new engagement is approved. No new engagement has been justified yet.
- BA fresh gap analysis between the new baseline and a future target.Gap analysis is done in Phases B to D of a new cycle. Phase H first needs to detect whether change is needed.
- CA value realisation process and monitoring of technology and business changes, feeding change analysis to the Architecture Board.Phase H steps include establishing the value realisation process, deploying monitoring tools and providing analysis for architecture change management.
- DArchitecture Contracts with every business unit that uses the lending platform.Architecture Contracts govern implementation in Phase G. They do not detect future changes to the business or technology environment.
Why: Phase H (TOGAF Standard, ADM, Phase H: Architecture Change Management) begins with establishing the value realisation process and deploying monitoring tools, so that the enterprise can track whether the architecture delivers its intended value and spot technology and business changes. The architect then provides analysis to the Architecture Board, which decides whether a change goes through change management or triggers a new ADM cycle. The distractors are activities from Phases A to D and G that presuppose a decision Phase H has not yet made.
How to implement Architecture Change Management
Morven Health's architect is triaging five change requests received in Phase H against the implemented target architecture: (1) retire a second reporting tool that duplicates the approved analytics platform; (2) merge two identical patient-address services into one; (3) add a patient mobile app channel that uses existing services; (4) move from a hospital-centred to a community-care operating model; (5) introduce a national data-sharing capability affecting clinicians, finance and regulators.
Which two change requests are simplification changes? Each correct answer presents part of the solution.
- ARequest 1, retiring the duplicate reporting tool.Removing a duplicate tool reduces redundancy without changing the architecture's structure, which is a simplification change.
- BRequest 2, merging the two identical patient-address services.Consolidating identical services removes duplication, which is a simplification change that change management can normally handle.
- CRequest 3, adding the mobile app channel.A new channel adds capability on top of existing services, which makes it an incremental change rather than a simplification.
- DRequest 4, moving to a community-care operating model.A new operating model changes the fundamentals of the architecture, which makes it a re-architecting change.
- ERequest 5, introducing the national data-sharing capability.A new capability affecting several stakeholder groups is likely to need re-architecting, not simplification.
Why: Phase H (TOGAF Standard, ADM, Phase H: Architecture Change Management) classifies changes as simplification changes, which can normally be handled through change management techniques; incremental changes, which may be handled through change management or partial re-architecting; and re-architecting changes, which require the architecture to go through the ADM cycle again. Requests 1 and 2 remove redundancy, request 3 adds a channel incrementally, and requests 4 and 5 alter the operating model or affect multiple stakeholder groups. Classifying correctly decides which governance route each request takes.