Assess Stage

The Assess stage is where the organisation can conduct a feasibility study if it so desires as a way of firming up on it’s business transformation options.  Then, armed with the vision and strategy, and supplemented by any findings from the optional feasibility study, the organisation can construct its business architecture.

This work of this stage is normally led by an executive / senior sponsor with the actual construction being done by a combination of key managers and professional staff with business architecting skills.

A typical set of deliverables or products from this stage are:

Feasibility Study (optional):

• Set of Hypotheses
• Stakeholder Interviews
• Raw Data
• Processed & Analysed Data
• Findings Report with Key Conclusions
• Benefits Assessment
• Impact Assessment

Business Architecture Blueprint Layers (as detailed on the Architecture page):

• Segmentation Model
• Process Model
• Performance Model
• Organisation Model
• Information Model
• Application Model
• Data Model
• Technology Model
• Outsourcing Model
• People Model

In the Assess stage the information being assembled into a business architecture is meant to be a somewhat general view of what the ‘To-Be’ future state will look like, but completed to only a certain level of detail (we’ll see why in the Design stage brief).

It should be reflective of  the ‘right’ size and shape for the organisation building it, and be populated to a particular level of decomposition (it varies, but IDEF Level 3 is a good rule of thumb, Level 0 being the level of the ‘Enterprise’ as a single entity) with the ‘right’ top-level processes, metrics, etc defined for each of the blueprint layers.  However, it should not be taken further than that at this point.

Also included in this stage as part of the business architecting work, but not listed separately above, are ancillary activities such as the construction of the overall outline business case. This should define in both tangible and intangible terms roughly what outcomes and benefits are required and expected from the business transformation initiative.  The outline business case work will be sequenced and further refined in subsequent transformation roadmap stages.

Note that the above is just an overview of the topic of business architecture.  Follow this Architecture link or use the navigation tab of the same name at the top of this page to explore further levels of detail on this essential topic!

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