Phase E: Opportunities and Solutions
From gaps to work packages
Phase E consolidates the gaps and candidate roadmap components from Phases B, C and D into a first complete Architecture Roadmap. It groups change activity into work packages, identifies Transition Architectures, and performs an initial prioritisation and dependency analysis. Key outputs include the Architecture Roadmap, the Transition Architectures, and the Consolidated Gaps, Solutions and Dependencies Matrix.
Typical steps: confirm key corporate change attributes (business, technology and regulatory drivers), determine business constraints on the solution, review and consolidate gap analysis results, consolidate requirements, refactor the Architecture Definition Document and Requirements Specification, formulate the implementation and migration strategy, and identify work packages.
Traps
- Phase E does not produce the final Implementation and Migration Plan; that is Phase F. It produces the roadmap draft and transition architectures.
- Transition Architectures are formal, governed states of the architecture, not project milestones.
- Work packages are not projects; work packages are grouped into projects during Phase F.
- Prioritisation begins here but cost, benefit, risk and value ranking are completed in Phase F.
Rule of thumb
Ask whether the option describes a state of the enterprise or a schedule of work. A state with defined building blocks is a Transition Architecture (Phase E). A schedule with projects, phases and dates is the Implementation and Migration Plan (Phase F).