TOGAF Enterprise Architecture Practitioner — Question 41

Please read this scenario prior to answering the question.
You are the Lead Enterprise Architect at a major agribusiness company. The company's main annual harvest is lentils, a highly valued food grown worldwide. The lentil parasite, broomrape, has been an increasing concern for many years and is now becoming resistant to chemical controls. In addition, changes in climate favor the propagation and growth of the parasite. As a result, the parasite cannot realistically be exterminated and it has become pandemic, with lentil yields falling globally.
The CEO appreciates the seriousness of the situation and has set out a change in direction that is effectively a new business for the company. There are opportunities for new products, and new markets. The company will use the fields for another harvest and will cease to process third-party lentils. Thus, the target market will change, and the end-products will be different and more varied. This is a major decision and the CEO has stated a desire to repurpose rather than replace so as to manage the risks and limit the costs.
The company has a mature Enterprise Architecture practice based in its headquarters and uses the TOGAF standard as the method and guiding framework. The practice has an established Architecture Capability, and uses iteration for architecture development. The CIO is the sponsor of the activity.
The CIO has assigned the Enterprise Architecture team to this activity. At this stage there is no shared vision, or requirements.
Refer to the scenario.
You have been asked to propose the best approach for architecture development to realize the CEO’s change in direction for the company.
Based on the TOGAF standard which of the following is the best answer?

Answer options

• A. You propose that this engagement define the baseline Technology Architecture first in order to assess the current infrastructure capacity and capability for the company. Then the focus should be on transition planning and incremental architecture deployment. This will identify requirements to ensure that the projects are sequenced in an optimal fashion so as to realize the change.
• B. You propose that the team focus on architecture definition, with emphasis on defining the change parameters to support this new business strategy that the CEO has identified. Once understood, the team will be in the best position to identify the requirements, drivers, issues, and constraints for the change. You would ensure that the architecture development addresses non-functional requirements to assure that the target architecture is robust and secure.
• C. You propose that the priority is to understand and bring structure to the definition of the change. The team should focus iteration cycles on a baseline first approach to architecture development, and then transition planning. This will identify what needs to change in order to transition from the baseline to the target, and can be used to work out in detail what the shared vision is for the change.
• D. You propose that the team focus its iteration cycles on architecture development by going through the architecture definition phases (B-D) with a baseline first approach. This will support the change in direction as stated by the CEO. It will ensure that the change can be defined in a structured manner and address the requirements needed to realize the change.

Correct answer: C

Explanation

The correct answer is C because it emphasizes understanding the change and structuring its definition, which is crucial when there are no shared visions or requirements yet. This approach ensures that the transition from the current state to the desired target state is well-planned, while the other options either focus prematurely on architecture definition or do not adequately address the need for a clear understanding of the change parameters.