Scenario: Glacier Ridge LLC
Please read this scenario prior to answering the question Glacier Ridge LLC is a vacation property
management firm that is growing through acquisition. It manages over 200 resort properties across
North America. Many of the resort properties use the same internal IT systems that they used before
they were acquired. Until recently, the only requirement that has been placed en each property is
that they use a standard financial reporting system to report their financials ID the headquarters on
a weekly basis. The CEO 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 Glacier
Ridge property business by standardizing its operations across the network to provide consolidated
financial, human resources, logistics, sales and marketing, and yield management. He has also stated
that he expects results by the end of the current fiscal year. These changes will provide the company
with improved utilization of its capacity and more efficient operations. The addition of a corporatewide data warehouse will provide analytics that will enable the marketing group to improve its
ability to target advertising into key markets to improve yields. Glacier Ridge has mature enterprise
architecture (EA) practice 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 firm, including
detailed requirements and recommendations.
Based on the recommendations from the initial engagement, Glacier Ridge has embraced an
Architecture Vision to adopt an enterprise application that is tailored to the needs of the hospitality
industry.
Refer to the Glacier Ridge scenario Your role is that of Chief Architect. You have been asked to
recommend the best approach to take in this architecture engagement to realize the CEO’s vision.
Based on TOGAF 9, which of the following is the best answer?
A.
Since the initial engagement has identified the need to change, you recommend that the team
focus on defining the target architecture by going through the architecture definition phases (B-D).
This will ensure that the change can be defined in a structured manner and address the
requirements needed to realize the vision.
B.
Since the vision is well understood and the strategic architecture agreed, you recommend that the
target architecture is defined first, followed by transition planning. This will ensure that the current
inefficiencies of the baseline architecture are not carried forward, and that the proposed solution
addresses the requirements identified in the initial architecture engagement.
C.
You recommend that this engagement define the 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.
D.
You recommend 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 help forecast future impacts.
Question 25 and 31 are identical. But they point to different answers? Does anyone can explain me why is so?
1
0
As per my understanding, Answer to this question should be ‘B’.
Reason being:
a. Since the vision is well understood and the strategic architecture agreed –> An initial study has been conducted to identify the strategic changes needed to implement the CEO’s vision.
b. followed by transition planning –> He has also stated that he expects results by the end of the current fiscal year.
What do you guys think?
2
0
How i worked it out:
There’s two top-down approaches here. One is quick and the other slow.
Yes, many of the answers are wrong.
1
0
My answer is “A”.
Defining target architecture should be followed by defining baseline architecture not transition planning thus eliminating A.
Reference:
TOGAF Doc – 9.1; Chapter – 19.5.2 Iteration within an ADM Cycle –
Architecture Iteration 1
Development (Target First) Define the Target Architecture.
This iteration comprises a pass through the Business Architecture, Information systems Architecture and Technology Architecture phases of the ADM, focusing on definition of the target. Opportunities, solutions, and migration plans are also considered to drive out the focus for change and test feasibility.
Iteration 2 Define the Baseline Architecture and gaps.
This iteration comprises a pass through the Business Architecture, Information Systems Architecture and Technology Architecture phases of the ADM, focusing on definition of the baseline and analyzing gaps against the target. Opportunities, solutions, and migration plans are also considered to test viability.
3
0
I agree with this . Correct answer is Option A.
1
0
Same as 19 and 53
0
1
i would say A
1
0
C
0
2
Can you please explain the reason for same.
0
0
It should be ‘D’
Followed by A (3), B (1), C (0)
‘D’ (5) => Because it talks about constraints & Strategic Change
‘A’ (3) => Doesn’t talk about Strategic change parameters & constraints
‘B’ (1) => Because units have high degree of autonomy and Baseline first is preferred approach
4
1
Agree with “A”, for the following reasons:
1) CEO wants it done quickly
2) TOGAF section 19.3 Classes of Architecture Engagement has a table of the different types of engagements, where “different classes of architecture engagement at different levels of the enterprise will require focus in specific areas”. Reviewing this table leads to the “architectural definition of bounded change initiatives”, i.e.
*****
Architecture Development
(Target First)
Transition Planning
Focus on elaborating the target to meet a previously defined and agreed vision, scope, or set of constraints. Use the target as a basis for analysis to avoid perpetuation of baseline, sub-optimal architectures.
*****
The key here is that the focus is on elaborating the target to meet previously defined and agreed vision/scope/set of constraints. In this question, the strategic architecture firm has already defined all of this.
0
1