TOGAF Enterprise Architecture Practitioner — Question 114

Please read this scenario prior to answering the question

You are working as an Enterprise Architect for a company that is an international supplier of manufacturing systems. You are part of an Enterprise Architecture (EA) team that has responsibilities across the company.

The company has four manufacturing plants where it assembles both standard and customized products for industrial production automation. Each of these plants has been operating its own planning and production scheduling systems, as well as applications and control systems that drive the automated production line.

During a recent management meeting, a senior Vice-President mentioned an interview where a competitor company’s CIO explained how they had improved their production efficiency. Multiple planning and scheduling systems had been replaced by a common system in a central data center. Some discussion followed, and the CIO explained that the situations are not comparable as the company’s current systems architecture is already optimized. As the competitor has reported better financial results, the CEO has asked to investigate the common central data solution.

In response, the Architecture Board approved a Request for Architecture Work to find out if such an architecture transformation would lead to efficiency improvements. You have been asked to help the architecture team with this project.

A concern of the plant managers is the safety and dependability of using a remote centralized system for planning and scheduling production. The system they choose must also be able to work with the local partners in the supply chain at each plant.

The company has an Enterprise Architecture (EA) practice and uses the TOGAF Standard as the basis for its work. It has been running for many years and has established governance and development processes for EA. The Chief Information Officer (CIO) sponsors the Enterprise Architecture program.

Refer to the scenario -

You have been asked to describe how you will start the architecture project.

Based on the TOGAF Standard, which of the following is the best answer?

Answer options

• A. You would gather information from your suppliers and conduct a series of briefings with those of them that are on the current approved supplier list. Based on the findings from the research, you would define a preliminary Architecture Vision including summary views, high-level requirements, and high-level definitions of the baseline and target environments from a business, information systems, and technology perspective. You would then use the Architecture Vision to build agreement among the key stakeholders.
• B. You would develop baseline and target Architectures for each manufacturing plant, ensuring that the views corresponding to selected viewpoints address key concerns of the stakeholders. A business case, together with performance metrics and measures should be defined to ensure the architecture meets the business needs. A consolidated gap analysis between the architectures will then validate the approach and determine the capability increments needed to achieve the target state.
• C. You would start a test project that will allow your suppliers to demonstrate potential off-the-shelf solutions that address the concerns of the stakeholders. Trying out a test project will save time and money later on. After looking at the results of that test project, a complete set of requirements can then be made that will guide the evolution of the architecture. Once the requirements are completed, there should be a formal stakeholder review, and permission asked to move forward to develop the target architecture.
• D. You would conduct a series of interviews at each manufacturing plant using the business scenarios technique. This will help you understand the systems and integrations with local partners. Stakeholder analysis will be used to identify key people involved and their concerns. Next, you will then determine and record the main stakeholder requirements for the architecture. Finally, you will then create clear high-level descriptions of the current and future architectures.

Correct answer: D

Explanation

Option D is correct because it emphasizes understanding the specific needs and concerns of stakeholders through interviews, which aligns with the TOGAF approach of gathering detailed requirements before moving forward. Options A, B, and C focus on developing visions or solutions without first thoroughly assessing stakeholder needs, which could result in misalignment with the actual requirements necessary for a successful architecture project.