Scenario: Rollins Manufacturing
Please read this scenario prior to answering the question
Rollins Manufacturing is a major supplier in the automotive industry, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio with
manufacturing plants in Chicago, Sao Paulo, Stuttgart, Yokohama, and Seoul. Each of these plants has been
operating its own Manufacturing Requirements Planning (MRPII) system, production scheduling, and custom
developed applications that drive the automated production equipment at each plant.
Rollins is implementing lean manufacturing principles to minimize waste and improve the efficiency of all of its
production operations. During a recent exercise held for internal quality improvement, it was determined that a
significant reduction in process waste could be achieved by replacing the current MRPII and scheduling
systems with a common Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system located in the Cleveland data center. This
central system would provide support to each of the plants replacing the functionality in the existing systems. It
would also eliminate the need for full data centers at each of the plant facilities. A reduced number of IT staff
could support the remaining applications. In some cases, a third-party contractor could provide those staff.
The Rollins Enterprise Architecture department has been operating for several years and has mature, welldeveloped architecture governance and development processes that are strongly based on TOGAF 9.At a
recent meeting, the Architecture Review Board approved a Request for Architecture Work from the Chief
Engineer of Global Manufacturing Operations who is the project sponsor. The request covered the initial
architectural investigations and the development of a comprehensive architecture to plan the transformation.
The Common ERP Deployment architecture project team has now been formed, and the project team has been
asked to develop an Architecture Vision that will achieve the desired outcomes and benefits. Some of the plant
managers have expressed concern about the security and reliability of driving their MRPII and production
scheduling from a central system located in Cleveland. The Chief Engineer wants to know how these concerns
can be addressed.
Refer to the Rollins Manufacturing Scenario:
You are serving as the Lead Enterprise Architect for the Common ERP Deployment architecture project.
One of the earliest initiatives in the Enterprise Architecture program at Rollins was the definition of a set of IT
principles and architecture principles that are well aligned with the overall enterprise principles. These now
need to be updated to address the concerns raised.
You have been asked to select a set of principles most appropriate for guiding the team to define a robust
solution.
[Note: You should assume that Rollins has adopted the example set of principles that are listed and defined in
TOGAF 9, Section 23.6.]
Based on TOGAF 9, which of the following is the best answer?