8. Conduct a gap analysis

Objective    Approach     Inputs     Activities    Outputs


target architecture development - gap analysisObjective

The objective of this step is to identify areas of the current and target system for which provision has not been made in the Technology Architecture. This is required in order to identify projects to be undertaken as part of the implementation of the target system.

Approach

A key step in validating an architecture is to consider what may have been forgotten. The architecture must support all of the essential information processing needs of the organization, as driven by the required applications. The most critical source of gaps that should be considered is stakeholder concerns that have not been addressed in subsequent architectural work.

Gap analysis highlights services and/or functions that have been accidentally left out, deliberately eliminated, or are yet to be developed or procured:

When the exercise is complete, anything under 'Eliminated Services' or 'New Services' is a gap, which should either be explained as correctly eliminated, or marked as to be addressed by reinstating or developing/procuring the function.

Table 1 shows an example from the Network Services category when functions from the current architecture are missing from the target architecture:

 

Table 1: A Gap Analysis Matrix

Inputs

The inputs to this step are:

Activities

Key activities in this step include:

  1. Create gap matrix as described under Approach, above.
  2. Identify building blocks to be carried over, classifying as either changed or unchanged.
  3. Identify eliminated building blocks.
  4. Identify new building blocks.
  5. Identify gaps and classify as those that should be developed, those that should be procured, and those inherited.

Outputs

The output of this step is:

Postscript


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