Architecture Portal

Management approaches

Architecture, delivery and service decisions.

Adrian Sutherland · Version 1.0 · · © 2005–2026

Choosing the scope

A portfolio review asks whether two changes belong together. An architecture review checks their shared design. A service review asks whether the result can be sustained. Compare methods against those different decisions.

Approach Contribution Connection to examine
ASAF A Simple Architectural Framework connects the roadmap, programme and portfolio management, and service management across four process areas. Keep track of who owns each decision as work moves between teams, programmes and services.
TOGAF The Open Group’s enterprise architecture method covers migration planning, oversight of implementation and management of architecture changes. Connect architecture decisions to the people who direct delivery and operation. The Open Group’s historical guide to service-oriented architecture illustrates this relationship. Official guide.
ITIL Addresses management of digital products and services through their lifecycle. Connect project decisions to sustained service ownership and improvement. PeopleCert overview.
Delivery value-stream mapping Examines how a change moves through work, queues and handovers. Find delays requiring a shared decision rather than optimising one team’s activity. DORA guide.

These rows compare selected concerns from the linked public descriptions. TOGAF and ITIL cover wider practices; understanding how an organisation uses either requires more than its process diagram.

Useful arrangements

A small service team may keep its roadmap, decisions and operating review in one regular meeting. Several services sharing data and suppliers may need a wider forum for the common decisions. Compare the coordination effort with the conflicts, waiting and rework that the arrangement resolves.

Methodology configuration

Combine reviews where the participants have the necessary authority. Identify where they refer decisions beyond that authority. Use Methodology configuration to map terms, records and reviews to your own approach.

Use the management example, then adapt the direction and decision record to retain delegated authority and the trigger for a wider review.

About this edition

Refreshed for the September 2026 website update. This edition develops the earlier Architecture Portal and ASAF material; the fictional worked example was added in 2026.

Scope, limitations and next checks

Status and accountability

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Status

In development

Last reviewed

Intended users

  • Architects comparing and adapting their existing approach

Non-goals

  • Prescribing a mandatory method or claiming measured benefits

Limitations

  • Guidance illustrated by a fictional example; proposed designs and checks have not been implemented or run.

Next evidence sought

  • Review the guidance and try its records with a practising architect.