Opportunity & Solutions in ADM (Phase E)

In TOGAF’s Architecture Development Method (ADM), Opportunity & Solutions refers to identifying and designing potential solutions to address the business and technical challenges revealed earlier in the ADM cycle. This phase ensures that the architecture aligns with business needs while providing practical solutions for the identified opportunities.

In simple terms, it’s about turning the problems or gaps you've identified in the earlier phases into concrete solutions that will be implemented to meet the organization's needs. This phase also ensures that opportunities for improvement are captured and addressed in the solution design.

This phase will be done with POC or MVP. Based on the outcome, it will be further moved to project proposal and approval.

Purpose of Opportunity & Solutions Phase (Phase E)

1. Identify Solutions for Business Needs: It connects business goals and requirements to practical solutions, ensuring that the architecture will support the business in the most efficient way possible.
2. Assess Feasibility and Value: Evaluate the potential solutions and their feasibility, ensuring they provide value in terms of cost, time, and resources.
3. Define Transition Roadmap: Plan how to move from the current architecture to the future architecture through specific projects, phases, or releases.

Outputs of the Opportunity & Solutions Phase

1. Opportunity and Solution Definition:

   • A clear definition of the opportunities that have been identified and the solutions proposed to address them.

2. Solution Architecture Models:

   • Detailed solution designs provide a blueprint for the proposed solution, ensuring all technical and business aspects are covered.

3. Feasibility Assessments:

   • Evaluation reports on the feasibility of the proposed solutions, covering aspects like technical viability, cost, and risk.

4. Transition Roadmap:

   • A roadmap or plan that outlines how the transition from the current architecture to the target architecture will happen step-by-step.

5. Implementation and Migration Plans:

   • A detailed plan for implementing the selected solutions, including projects, timelines, resource requirements, and milestones.

6. Updated Architecture Requirements:

   • Refined or additional requirements based on the solutions, potentially including new technology, infrastructure, or applications.

Example in Simple Terms

Let’s say a retail company wants to improve its Customer Experience Domain.

• Inputs:

  • The Business Architecture might say that improving customer engagement is a priority.
  • The Technology Architecture may reveal that the current website is slow and doesn’t support personalized recommendations.

• Activities:

  • Opportunities: The company could improve customer engagement by implementing a recommendation engine and revamping the website for better performance.
  • Solutions: The solution might be to deploy a cloud-based recommendation engine, redesign the website with a faster, more scalable architecture, and improve mobile responsiveness.
  • Feasibility: A technical team evaluates the recommendation engine's scalability and cost against the company’s infrastructure.
  • Transition Plan: The transition plan might involve migrating to the new system over three phases: pilot testing, implementation, and full-scale deployment.

• Outputs:

  • A solution architecture defining how the recommendation engine will be integrated with the website.
  • A feasibility report showing that the solution is technically viable and cost-effective.
  • A transition roadmap with timelines for each deployment phase.