Principles
What are principles ?
Principles are fundamental statements, which express a belief about the future and / or future direction.
They articulate the organisation’s vision and are the cornerstone for managing change.
Principles provide an agreed reference or policy to be used for evaluation of alternatives and decisions.
The principles are equal in a sense that they all have to be taken into account for any decision, but their importance may vary on the particular decision to be taken.
Structure of principles
Principle name | short succinct name for the principle |
Description | A description of the principle |
Motivation | The motivation explains why the organisation should have this principle |
Implication | The Implications explains what will have to happen or change in order to move from today’s situation to that described by the principle |
Impact of Non-Compliance | The Impact of Non-compliance explains what the issues and problems will be, if the principle is not approved and/or followed |
Business Principles
Business Principles are the most important EA deliverable that drives, shapes and governs the Enterprise Architecture and Solutions built by delivery projects.
Business Principles will be translated into actionable guidelines and rules for project teams.
For some Business Principles this will require further refinements with the consulted business stakeholders.
The resulting guidelines will be put into practice through active involvement of architects in the project work.
If projects deviate from those guidelines and breach some Business Principle, the gap will be formally documented with all the trade-offs that it entails.
Gaps that cannot be resolved directly will be reviewed by IT Management and submitted to the Architecture Review Board for approval.
This will ensure that business judgment will be applied in the realisation of the business principles.
Architecture Principles
The Architecture Principles are derived from the Business Principles and specifically concern the Enterprise Architecture Domains.
There will be separate architecture principles for each Architecture Domain (e.g. Business Services, Process Architecture, Information Architecture, Application Architecture and Technology Architecture).
The Architecture Review Board owns the Architecture Principles and approves them prior to their usage.
For an example of Architecture Principles, see TOGAF: Architecture Principles.