When does a TOGAF ADM Cycle start - what initiates it?

Question

I am trying to understand TOGAF and mainly the ADM for a university Project. After reading up on the TOGAF documentation I was left with a quite basic question.

When does a ADM cycle start - what does initiate it? While the first run might by simply triggered by the decision to use TOGAF for EA-Management what is the trigger for executing it again and again?

I hope you understand my Problem.

Answer 1

I could say the Request of Architecture Work is the one that initiate one cycle of the ADM, this document is being created in the preliminary phase. Requests for Architecture Work typically include:

• Organization sponsors
• Organization's mission statement
• Business goals (and changes)
• Strategic plans of the business
• Time limits
• Changes in the business environment
• Organizational constraints
• Budget information
• financial constraints
• External constraints, business

From the book.

This is a document that is sent from the sponsoring organization to the architecture organization to trigger the start of an architecture development cycle. Requests for Architecture Work can be created as an output of the Preliminary Phase, a result of approved architecture Change Requests, or terms of reference for architecture work originating from migration planning.

Here in the preliminary phase we decide which are going to be the frameworks that made us develop and deliver our enterprise capabilities, and here in this phase we could select TOGAF as our architecture framework, this is why the preliminary phase is not in the ADM cycle.

What is the trigger for be executed again and again.?

I consider two triggers, the first one is the needed of the enterprise to develop other capabilities. The second one is a change request, depending on the scope of this change we will require to initiate another ADM cycle.

Answer 2

So the cycle are the phases A through H.

Obviously, the first time through the cycle is triggered by the desire by the organization to have a proper architecture practice.

But part of Phase H is "change monitoring". The architecture governance keeps an eye on changes going on (business changes, new competition, new laws, new technology that comes along, etc) and decides that it's time to start Phase A again.

It's a deliberate decision made while in Phase H, while responding to change, that the change is "big enough" to warrant a fresh ADM cycle. Otherwise, most smaller changes, can just be incorporated into the architecture and work performed without needing to go through the whole process.

For instance, if the company decides to upgrade from Windows 2008 to Windows 2012, that might not trigger a redesign of the architecture. But if the company decides that everyone should be able to work from outside the office (at home, at the client's office, etc), then that might need a lot of re-thinking about the way they do business, where data is stored, security, technology, etc.

Answer 3

Yes, TOGAF ADM typically starts from Preliminary, and then "request for architecture work" from the top management to the unit(s).

However, the ADM is iterative,

1. Over the whole proces
2. Between phases,
3. And within phases

(see Applying Iteration to the ADM).

Thus, it could be "started" or "restarted" iteratively in the above three patterns

This could results inconsistency in documentations and causing a lot of problems. Perhaps, you can use a software to automated this iterative process such as Visual Paradigm (called TOGAF guide-through process)

Hope the information helps, Good Luck!