Scenario Please read this scenario prior to answering the Question Your role is that of Lead
Enterprise Architect within the staff headquarters of a large hotel chain. The chain manages
over 500 hotels across North America and Canada, with another 230 hotels internationally
in the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Unlike other hotel chains,
which are often a mix of companyowned and franchised units, each hotel in the chain is an
independently owned and operated franchise. Many of the hotels use the same internal IT
systems that they used before they joined the franchise. Until recently, the only requirement
that has been placed on each hotel is that they use a standard financial reporting system to
report their financial results to the headquarters on a weekly basis. The CEO of the chain
has stated his concerns about the inefficiencies of the current approach and identified the
need to change. He has defined a new strategic vision that will enhance the business by
providing its franchisees new support services including worldwide reservations, global,
national and regional marketing as well as consolidated financial, logistics, and yield
management. This strategy is part of the long-term commitment to enhance the brand
image and drive superior revenue for the chain. He has also stated that he expects
improved financial results by the end of the current fiscal year. These changes will provide
the chain with improved utilization of its capacity and more efficient operations. The addition
of a corporate-wide data warehouse will provide analytics that will enable the marketing
group to improve its ability to target advertising into key national and regional markets to
improve yields. The chain has a mature enterprise architecture practice based in its
headquarters and uses TOGAF 9 as the method and guiding framework. The CIO is the
sponsor of the activity. In planning this change, the Chief Architect engaged the services of

a well-known consulting firm that specializes in business strategy. An initial study has been
conducted to identify the strategic changes needed to implement the CEO’s vision. This
recently completed with approval of a strategic architecture encompassing the entire chain,
including detailed requirements and recommendations. Based on the recommendations
from the initial study, the chain has taken the decision to adopt a packaged suite of
integrated applications that is tailored to the needs of the hospitality industry. Refer to the
scenario You have been asked by the Chief Architect to propose the best approach for
architecture development to realize the CEO’s vision. Based on TOGAF, which of the
following is the best answer?

A.
You propose that the team focus on defining the target architecture by going through the
architecture definition phases (B-D). This is because the initial study identified the need to
change. This will ensure that the change can be defined in a structured manner and
address the requirements needed to realize the vision.

B.
You propose that this engagement define the baseline Technology Architecture first in
order to assess the current infrastructure capacity and capability. Then the focus should be
on transition planning and architecture deployment. This will identify requirements to ensure
that the projects are sequenced in an optimal fashion so as to realize the vision.

C.
You propose that the target architecture is defined first, followed by transition planning.
This is because the vision is well understood and the strategic architecture agreed. The
target first approach will ensure that the current problems and inefficiencies of the baseline
architecture are not carried forward, and that the proposed solution addresses the
requirements identified in the initial study.

D.
You propose that the team focus on architecture definition, with a specific emphasis on
understanding the strategic change parameters of the business strategy. Once understood,
the team will be in the best position to identify the requirements, drivers, issues, and
constraints for this engagement. You would ensure that the target architecture addresses
non-functional requirements so as to ensure the target architecture is robust and secure.

Explanation: