Phase A: Initiation and Framework

Objective    Approach     Inputs     Steps    Outputs

Objective

The objective of this phase is to define the relevant business requirements that apply to this evolution of the architecture, based on the principles, business goals and strategic drivers of the organization, and to define an architectural vision that demonstrates a response to those requirements.

Approach

Business Scenarios are an appropriate and useful technique to discover and document business requirements. Business Scenarios are described in Part IV of TOGAF.

Once an architectural vision is defined and documented in the Statement of Architecture Work, it is critical to build a consensus, as described in Part IV, IT Governance. Without this consensus it is very unlikely that the final architecture will be accepted by the organization as a whole. The consensus is represented by the sponsoring organization signing the Statement of Architecture Work.

This phase also defines what is in and what is outside the scope of the architecture effort and the constraints that must be dealt with.  The constraints may be informed by a set of architectural principles, as explained in Part IV, Architectural Principles.

The phase starts with receipt of a Request for Architecture Work from the sponsoring organization to the architecture organization.

Inputs

The inputs to this phase are:

• Request for Architecture Work

Steps

Key steps in this phase include:

1. Problem: Identify, document and rank the problem that is driving the project.
2. Business Architecture: Identify environment and document, as business architecture models, the business and technical environment where the problem situation is occurring.
   • Business Scenarios are a useful technique to discover and document business requirements, as described in Part IV of TOGAF.
3. Objectives: Identify and document desired objectives, the results of handling the problems successfully.
4. Human Actors: Identify human actors and their place in business model, the human participants and their roles.
5. Computer Actors: Identify computer actors and their place in technology model, the computing elements and their roles.
6. Roles, Responsibilities and Measures of Success: Identify and document roles, responsibilities and measures of success per actor, the required scripts per actor, and the desired results of handling the situation properly.
7. Statement of Architecture Work: Document the Statement of Architecture Work.
8. Checkpoint: Check the original motivation for the project against the Statement of Architecture Work and Business Architecture, and refine only if necessary.
   • Here you check the original problem against the proposed Business Architecture and ask if you understand the problem well enough to move forward - i.e., is it fit for the purpose of inspiring subsequent architecture work?

Outputs

The outputs of this phase are:

• Statement of Architecture Work

• Business Architecture - Version 1

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