What is an Architecture Review Board
What is an Architecture Review Board
Architecture Governance Summarized
Benefits of a Dynamic Architecture Review Board
Enterprise Architecture Review Board Structure
This article explains what an an Architecture Review Board is, and how to structure one. Read these articles for the goals of an modern dynamic modern ARB, the basics of architecture governance, how to stand-up an ARB and the key architecture governance processes - target architecture approval and implementation governance.
What is an Enterprise Architecture Review Board?
An Architecture Review Board performs the key role in Enterprise Architecture Governance. It orchestrates the entire enterprise architecture process. This includes approving and publishing the target architecture. Providing direction to more detailed architecture development and implementation efforts. Finally, it ensures timely compliance assessment and determining what action stakeholders will take to recover value from noncompliance.
Enterprise Architecture involves complex systems with an array of moving parts and various stakeholders.
Enterprise architecture is dependent on architecture governance
The Architecture Review Board orchestrates the entire enterprise architecture process
You need a governing body that is dedicated to driving the processes involved. Enterprise architecture's decision-making and compliance require orchestration to succeed.
So, What Is an Enterprise Architecture Review Board, Exactly?
At the top-level your architecture review board is the top-level decision makers in your enterprise.
Day to day, your architecture review board is dynamic. Effective architecture development needs a dynamic architecture review board.
Best practice architecture development says 'the stakeholders' approve the architecture
Given the stakeholders are dynamic, your architecture approval is dynamic!
A dynamic architecture review board is focused on managing the governance process. To succeed it:
- must push decision-making about the current question downwards
- provide direction (performance expectation, constraint and risk appetite) as guidance and guardrails to delegated decision makers
- fearlessly escalate larger question when there is not a sufficient guardrail and guidance
- always focus on value
- obtain the best 'get-well option' when implementation goes astray
Architecture Review Board Misconceptions
The most dangerous misconception is that there is a single centralized decision-making body.
A common misconception is to assume the architecture review board will ensure everything is in-sync and aligned.
The biggest misunderstanding is that the review board will scrutinize every tech choice and implementation detail. This misconception leads to a body staffed by technologists, talking about technology and making technology-oriented decisions.
Architecture Governance Summarized
Conceptually architecture governance is as simple as other governance.
Governance is how an 'an organization is directed, overseen and held accountable'
Breaking this down:
- Direction is what you are told to do
- You will be given Performance Expectations, Constraints and a Risk Appetite
- Overseen are the controls to ensure you did what you were told
When the directions are not followed controls will also correct activity
The pictures below highlight the issue.
On the left is the simple case. Direction from the top leads to a decision and action. Controls test the oversee the decision and the execution.
On the right, we see the complexity as the decision cascaded down the organization. Somehow, the direction to embark digital transformation works down to choices about releasing a digital product. You need controls traceability from the top to the bottom, and back again.
Architecture Governance is often confused with management and operational activity. Or making the right decisions. Remember, governance is about direction and control.
Higher in the organization direction is provided - performance expectations, constraints and the risk appetite. Controls provide evidence that the direction was followed.
Our in-depth article on enterprise architecture governance offers additional details.
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Benefits of a Dynamic Enterprise Architecture Review Board
Establish an enterprise architecture review board and an architecture review board charter. You gain a host of advantages and benefits to your organization. Here are a few of the big ones:
Better Decision-Making
Having an architecture review board means improved decision-making on virtually every level of your organization.
By adhering to a clear process to develop and evaluate enterprise architecture, a dynamic review board makes sure that the decisions are well-informed, strategic, and transparent.
This process helps maintain organizational focus across all pillars and departments. Architecture Alternatives help compare possibilities against common criteria.
Improved Investment Strategies and Budget Management
Architectures can be complex and difficult for teams to have a clear image of how others are using the systems and processes. Hazy scope oversight and confusion often lead to various misalignments, redundancies, and miscommunication, which ultimately results in a lot of unnecessary capital lost because of these inefficiencies.
Architecture review boards take care of these issues by creating standardized processes and overseeing the “big picture.” By having a keen understanding of the architecture, review boards then manage and make well-informed decisions that will ultimately save time, money and resources.
Simplified Processes
There are a lot of moving parts involved with enterprise architecture, and one of the biggest hurdles is wrapping your head around everything. By having an architecture review board, you’re letting the board compartmentalize a lot of these moving parts, and organizing them into manageable, easily digestible bits of information that can be understood without reading the fine print in a long, dry document.
This works even better when departments and teams map out their architecture development process. This allows the review board even better visibility of the solutions and systems, so they can update their standardized processes easily.
Improved Risk Management
An architecture review board typically reviews all proposed initiatives and large-scale projects. This allows them to evaluate plans and see how they stack up and align with the organization’s guiding set of principles, and contextualize the initiatives within the larger architectural vision.
Since they have the big-picture interests in their main objective list, they can see potential pitfalls, risks, and obstacles to that solution, and put processes in places or make various recommendations how to mitigate those issues.
Stronger Security Compliance
It’s probably no surprise to you that security compliance is one of the top concerns for enterprises. It’s the responsive of the review boards to map the architecture, clarifying best practices and policies, and identify gaps in those policies’ implementation, so that all the solutions align each other and are in sync.
We use the SABSA Risk Model, SABSA Business Attributes, and the SABSA Domain Model to support security compliance and security architecture governance. Our SABSA Domain Model webinar shows you how to improve architecture governance with best practices for an enterprise architecture review board.
Focused Enterprise Architecture Teams
When you stand-up your architecture review board ensure these benefits are aligned with the five goals.
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Enterprise Architecture Review Board Structure
The go-to guide for structuring your architecture review board is the industry standard enterprise architecture framework, TOGAF®. The Open Group made the TOGAF Framework up of essential scaffolding and guides that bring it to like. The TOGAF Library's Enterprise Architecture Governance Guide This is essentially a high-level method guide for designing, planning, implementing, and governing enterprise architectures.
Review boards are a vital part of the governing process within TOGAF. As you develop your enterprise architecture team, you should develop your enterprise architecture review board. Start with the best-practices already outlined for you in the TOGAF Standard's Enterprise Architecture Governance Guide. This will help you in your approach.
Of course, how your architecture review board is structured should be based on the needs of your organization.
Pay close attention to your organization’s size and current processes. For example, you might need to create two separate governing bodies that are unique to both global and local governance.
When standing up your architecture review board ensure it meets the five goals of an architecture review board.
Typically, the optimum size of an enterprise architecture review board is about 4-5 members. Never to exceed 10. We should make the board up of people with sufficient judgment to assess the target architecture and compliance assessments following the enterprise architecture governance checklists. Look for a nice range of diversity in mindset, background, and experience. They will need to understand who has decision-making authority and be able to assess whether the decision makers understand risk, benefit and change. We often use the SABSA Domain Framework to test the quality of representation.
To go further you might want to look at Standing-up a Modern Architecture Review Board.
Want Some Help
We'd be happy to discuss helping you stand-up a modern ARB. It will involve work on the ARB and rapidly developing just enough architecture.
Have a look at our packaged Enterprise Architecture Governance Workshop.
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In Closing...
An enterprise architecture outlines the path to improve an organization to overcome shortfalls in its execution. With an architecture review board, companies that are insufficiently agile, or need to expand to a new market, or are making a digital transformation process – all benefit from governance throughout the processes.
Conexiam Enterprise Architecture Consulting are specialists with experience in multiple industry verticals across the US, Canada, Africa and the Middle East.
We do two things
Our approach to developing architecture that guides effective change and developing EA teams is the industry standard practice.
