Architecture Compliance is a critical component of the TOGAF Architecture Development Method (ADM), ensuring that individual projects align with the overarching Enterprise Architecture. This process involves a formal review to verify that projects adhere to established architectural criteria, business objectives, and regulatory requirements. This article explores the key aspects, objectives, and processes of Architecture Compliance, providing practical examples and insights to help organizations achieve successful alignment.
Key Aspects of Architecture Compliance
Ensuring Project Conformance
Architecture Compliance ensures that individual projects conform to the Target Architecture, which outlines the desired future state of the enterprise architecture. This alignment is crucial for maintaining consistency and achieving strategic goals.
Example:
- Scenario: A financial institution is implementing a new customer onboarding system.
- Implementation: The project must conform to the Target Architecture, which specifies standards for data security, integration, and user experience. Compliance ensures that the new system aligns with the institution’s strategic objectives and regulatory requirements.
Verifying Compliance
The compliance of a specific project is verified against established architectural criteria, business objectives, and regulatory requirements. This process involves assessing the project’s adherence to Service Level Agreements (SLAs), Operational Level Agreements (OLAs), standards, and regulatory mandates.
Example:
- Scenario: A healthcare provider is deploying a new electronic health record (EHR) system.
- Implementation: The project is reviewed to ensure compliance with data privacy regulations, interoperability standards, and performance benchmarks. Non-compliance issues are identified and addressed to ensure the system meets regulatory and operational requirements.
Formal Compliance Review Process
A formal Architecture Compliance review process is essential for assessing the compliance of all projects to the Enterprise Architecture. This process involves identifying divergences from the architecture and planning realignment activities through dispensations or policy updates.
Example:
- Scenario: A retail company is implementing a new inventory management system.
- Implementation: The project undergoes a formal compliance review to assess its adherence to the Enterprise Architecture. Divergences are identified, and a realignment plan is developed to ensure the system meets the architectural criteria and business objectives.
Objectives of Architecture Compliance Reviews
Early Error Detection
Architecture Compliance reviews aim to catch errors early in the project lifecycle, reducing the cost and risk of changes required later.
Example:
- Scenario: A software development company is developing a new application.
- Implementation: Early compliance reviews identify architectural inconsistencies, allowing the development team to address issues before they become costly to fix.
Application of Best Practices
Compliance reviews ensure the application of best practices to architecture work, promoting consistency and quality across projects.
Example:
- Scenario: A manufacturing company is implementing a new ERP system.
- Implementation: Compliance reviews ensure that the ERP system adheres to industry best practices for data management, integration, and security.
Overview of Compliance
Compliance reviews provide an overview of the project’s adherence to mandated enterprise standards, ensuring that the architecture supports business objectives and regulatory requirements.
Example:
- Scenario: A telecommunications company is deploying a new network infrastructure.
- Implementation: Compliance reviews assess the network infrastructure’s adherence to enterprise standards for performance, scalability, and security.
Identifying Modification Needs
Compliance reviews identify where enterprise standards themselves may require modification to better support business objectives and regulatory requirements.
Example:
- Scenario: A global corporation is implementing a new data governance framework.
- Implementation: Compliance reviews identify gaps in the existing standards, prompting updates to better support data privacy and security requirements.
Architecture Compliance Review Process
Steps in the Review Process
- Request an Architecture Review: Initiate the review process by submitting a request.
- Identify Responsible Parties: Determine the project principals and the Lead Architect.
- Determine Scope: Define the scope of the review to focus on specific architectural aspects.
- Tailor Checklists: Customize checklists to address the project’s unique requirements.
- Schedule Review Meeting: Plan the compliance review meeting with relevant stakeholders.
- Interview Project Principals: Conduct interviews to gather insights and assess compliance.
- Analyze Checklists: Review completed checklists to identify compliance issues.
- Prepare Report: Document the findings and recommendations in a report.
- Present Findings: Share the report with stakeholders and obtain acceptance of the findings.
- Submit Report: Send the assessment report to the Architecture Review Coordinator for further action.
Example:
- Scenario: A government agency is implementing a new citizen services portal.
- Implementation: The agency follows the compliance review process to assess the portal’s adherence to architectural criteria, business objectives, and regulatory requirements. The findings are documented and presented to stakeholders for approval.
Key Roles in the Architecture Compliance Review Process
Architecture Board
The Architecture Board ensures that Enterprise Architectures are consistent and support overall business needs. It sponsors and monitors architecture activities to maintain alignment with strategic objectives.
Example:
- Scenario: A multinational corporation is establishing an enterprise architecture governance framework.
- Implementation: The Architecture Board oversees the compliance review process, ensuring that all projects align with the Enterprise Architecture and support business objectives.
Project Leader
The Project Leader is responsible for the entire project, ensuring that it adheres to architectural criteria and business objectives.
Example:
- Scenario: A software development company is implementing a new project management system.
- Implementation: The Project Leader oversees the compliance review process, ensuring that the system meets architectural requirements and business goals.
Architecture Review Coordinator
The Architecture Review Coordinator administers the architecture development and review process, ensuring that compliance reviews are conducted efficiently and effectively.
Example:
- Scenario: A healthcare provider is deploying a new patient management system.
- Implementation: The Architecture Review Coordinator manages the compliance review process, coordinating with stakeholders and ensuring that the system meets architectural criteria and regulatory requirements.
Outputs of Phase G: Implementation Governance
Phase G of the TOGAF ADM focuses on implementation governance, ensuring that architectural criteria are met during project implementation. Key outputs of this phase include:
- Architecture Contract: A signed agreement outlining the architectural requirements and responsibilities.
- Compliance Assessments: Reports documenting the compliance of projects to the Enterprise Architecture.
- Change Requests: Requests for changes to the architecture or project scope based on compliance findings.
- Architecture-Compliant Solutions: Deployed solutions that adhere to the architectural criteria and business objectives.
Example:
- Scenario: A retail company is implementing a new point-of-sale (POS) system.
- Implementation: Phase G outputs include a signed Architecture Contract, compliance assessments, change requests, and the deployment of an architecture-compliant POS system.
Architecture Compliance Review Checklists
Checklists are essential tools in the compliance review process, ensuring that all aspects of the architecture are assessed thoroughly. Common checklists include:
- Hardware and Operating System Checklist: Assesses compliance with hardware and operating system standards.
- Software Services and Middleware Checklist: Evaluates adherence to software and middleware requirements.
- Applications Checklist: Reviews compliance with application standards and best practices.
- Information Management Checklist: Assesses data management practices and compliance with regulatory requirements.
- Security Checklist: Evaluates security measures and adherence to security standards.
- System Management Checklist: Reviews system management practices and compliance with operational requirements.
Example:
- Scenario: A financial institution is implementing a new trading platform.
- Implementation: Compliance review checklists are used to assess the platform’s adherence to hardware, software, security, and system management standards.
Levels of Architecture Conformance
Architecture conformance levels provide a framework for assessing the degree to which a project aligns with the Enterprise Architecture. The levels include:
- Irrelevant: The implementation has no features in common with the architecture specification.
- Consistent: Some features are implemented in accordance with the architecture specification.
- Compliant: All implemented features are covered by the architecture specification.
- Conformant: All features in the architecture specification are implemented, with some additional features.
- Fully Conformant: There is full correspondence between the architecture specification and implementation.
- Non-Conformant: Some features are implemented not in accordance with the architecture specification.
Example:
- Scenario: A software development company is assessing the conformance of a new application to the Enterprise Architecture.
- Implementation: The application is evaluated against the conformance levels to determine its alignment with the architecture specification and identify areas for improvement.
Dispensations
Dispensations provide a mechanism for requesting changes to existing architectures, contracts, or principles outside of normal operating parameters. They are granted for a specific time period and set of services, ensuring that the architecture remains adaptable to changing business needs.
Example:
- Scenario: A healthcare provider needs to implement a temporary solution to address a regulatory change.
- Implementation: A dispensation is granted to allow the implementation of the temporary solution, with clear operational criteria and a defined timeframe for realignment with the Enterprise Architecture.
Compliance Assessment
Compliance assessment is an ongoing process that governs the architecture through implementation, ensuring that the original Architecture Vision is realized and that implementation learnings are fed back into the architecture process.
Example:
- Scenario: A manufacturing company is deploying a new supply chain management system.
- Implementation: Ongoing compliance assessments ensure that the system adheres to the architectural criteria and business objectives, with learnings incorporated into future architecture developments.
Success Factors for Architecture Compliance
Alignment with Business Objectives
Aligning IT projects with business objectives is crucial for achieving successful architecture compliance. This alignment ensures that the architecture supports strategic goals and delivers value to the organization.
Example:
- Scenario: A retail company is implementing a new customer loyalty program.
- Implementation: The project is aligned with the company’s business objectives, ensuring that the loyalty program supports customer engagement and revenue growth goals.
Support from Senior Management
Support from senior management is essential for driving architecture compliance initiatives. This support ensures that compliance is prioritized and that resources are allocated to achieve successful outcomes.
Example:
- Scenario: A financial institution is implementing a new risk management architecture.
- Implementation: Senior management supports the compliance initiative, ensuring that the risk management architecture adheres to regulatory requirements and business objectives.
Corporate Architecture Governance Policies
Establishing corporate architecture governance policies is crucial for maintaining consistency and compliance across the enterprise. These policies provide a framework for assessing and enforcing architecture compliance.
Example:
- Scenario: A multinational corporation is establishing an enterprise architecture governance framework.
- Implementation: Corporate architecture governance policies are developed to ensure that all projects align with the Enterprise Architecture and support business objectives.
Conclusion
Architecture Compliance is a critical component of the TOGAF ADM, ensuring that individual projects align with the Enterprise Architecture and support business objectives. By following a formal compliance review process, organizations can identify and address divergences, apply best practices, and achieve successful alignment. This article provides practical examples and insights to help organizations implement effective architecture compliance initiatives, driving success and achieving strategic goals.