Phase F: Migration Planning
Purpose
Phase F converts the draft roadmap into an approved, funded, executable plan. It finalises the Architecture Roadmap and the Implementation and Migration Plan, sequences the Transition Architectures, assigns projects and work packages, and performs the cost, benefit, risk, value and dependency analysis needed for prioritisation.
Steps include: confirm management framework interactions for the Implementation and Migration Plan, assign business value to each work package, estimate resource requirements, timings and availability, prioritise using cost/benefit and risk, identify transitional architectures, finalise the roadmap and plan, then publish and gain approval.
Traps
- Phase F does not architect new solutions. A missing solution should have been discovered in Phase E.
- Do not confuse a Transition Architecture (a target state, Phase E) with the migration plan (a schedule, Phase F).
- Business value, risk and cost ranking are Phase F activities even though Phase E sketched priorities.
- The plan must align with the organization's project and portfolio management methods.
Worked rule of thumb
Use a simple priority rule: high business value, low risk and no open dependencies goes first. Anything with an unresolved dependency is sequenced after that dependency regardless of value, and anything that must land alongside a Transition Architecture is grouped into that transition's work packages.