Key takeaways
- Draft = not yet formally reviewed; approved = accepted under governance.
- Approved does not mean final: changes go through change control.
- The ADM iterates over the cycle, between phases, and within phases.
- Each iteration re-decides breadth, detail, time period, and assets to reuse.
- Architecture Project for the architecture team; Contract and ARS for implementation.
Draft or approved: a matter of governance
A document being worked on, which has not yet undergone any formal review or approval, has “draft” status. Once it has been reviewed and accepted according to the organization’s governance practices, it becomes “approved”.
Approved does not mean frozen. An approved deliverable may still evolve in later phases, but every change goes through change control and governance. To track this lifecycle, the architect adapts a version numbering policy to the organization’s needs, tools, and repositories. This mechanism notably shows how the Baseline and Target definitions mature over the cycle.
Iterating at three levels
The ADM iterates over the complete cycle, between phases, and within each phase. At every new iteration, the team revisits four scoping decisions. Reusable assets come from previous iterations but also from the industry: other frameworks, systems models, vertical models.
Information flows also cause iteration. Any activity carried out within the ADM’s scope means executing a phase with its inputs and outputs: working on a roadmap is executing Phase E. Since no change can be considered without its effects on other domains, the phases building a candidate architecture progress together until it has been tested against stakeholder requirements.
- Which breadth of the enterprise to cover
- Which level of detail to reach
- Which time period to target, with any intermediate stages
- Which architecture assets to reuse
Why architecture creation must be governed
The ADM, tailored or not, is itself a key process, managed like the other artifacts classified in the Enterprise Continuum and held in the Architecture Repository. The Architecture Board must make sure the method is correctly applied across all phases: this is how nothing is overlooked and the required deliverables exist.
To direct the architecture team, TOGAF provides the Architecture Project: it originates from a Request for Architecture Work and is managed with the Statement of Architecture Work, preferences being expressed as objective, priority, and specification. To direct implementation teams, it provides the Architecture Contract, which sets a target and allows compliance testing, and the Architecture Requirements Specification, against which design choices are checked. This governance lets the organization control value realization.
TERMS TO KNOW
The terms, in context.
- Draft
- Status of a deliverable under development, without formal review or approval.
- Approved
- Status of a deliverable reviewed and accepted under the organization’s governance; it may still evolve.
- Iteration
- Revisiting the cycle, a phase, or an activity to refine the architecture in light of new information.
- Architecture Project
- Concept directing the architecture team on an issue; it starts with a Request for Architecture Work.
- Architecture Contract
- Agreement steering the implementation team towards a target and allowing its compliance to be tested.