Scenario
Sollace Manufacturing
Please read this scenario prior to answering the question Sollace 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 planning
and production scheduling systems, as well as custom developed applications that drive the
automated production equipment at each plant. Sollace Manufacturing 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 planning 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 Sollace Manufacturing Enterprise
Architecture department has been operating for several years and has mature, well-developed
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 planning 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
Sollace Manufacturing Scenario You are serving as the Lead Enterprise Architect of the newly-formed
Common ERP Deployment architecture project team. As the Common ERP Deployment architecture
project team assembles for its initial meeting, many of the participants have voiced concerns about
the sweeping scope of the initiative. Others are confident that they know a solution that will work.
During the meeting, a number of alternative recommendations for how to proceed are put forward
by members of the team. You have been asked to select the most appropriate recommendation to
ensure that the team evaluates different approaches to the problem and clarifies the requirements
for the architecture. Based on TOGAF 9, which of the following is the best answer?

A.
The team should hold a series of interviews at each of the manufacturing plants using the
business scenario technique. This will then enable them to identify and document the characteristics
of the architecture from the business requirements.

B.
The team should exercise due diligence and carefully research vendor literature and conduct a
series of briefings with vendors that are on the current approved supplier list. Based on the findings
from the research, the team should define a preliminary target Architecture Vision. The team should
then use that model to build consensus among the key stakeholders.

C.
The team should create Baseline and Target Architectures for each of the manufacturing plants. A
gap analysis between the architectures will then validate the approach, and determine the
Transition Architecture needed to achieve the target state.

D.
The team should conduct a pilot project that will enable vendors on the short list to demonstrate
potential solutions that will address the concerns of the stakeholders. Based on the findings of that
pilot project, a complete set of requirements can be developed that will drive the evolution of the
architecture.