Your methodology may describe the people using a service as actors where an example here says users. It may organise architecture work into stages, iterations or reviews. Mapping those terms and steps makes it easier to apply the advice to your work.
ASAF (A Simple Architectural Framework) is a framework to tailor. Its aspects, process areas and levels of abstraction provide a starting structure for comparison. Use the categories and records that suit your methodology.
Terms and relationships
Start with what each term means in your method. An actor may include a person, organisation or another system, so the mapping should show which role is involved and what information passes between roles. Categories can be combined, split or renamed, with any differences in meaning kept clear.
Steps and cycles
Map Visioning, Transforming, Operating and Governing to the work in your method. These process areas can share an iteration or service review; their scope and timing need not be the same. Keep the level of detail separate: a Logical description can be used in any of the four areas.
Relate the cycles to your activities, stages and reviews. One service review may cover business decisions, delivery acceptance and learning from use. Record who decides, what information is retained and what brings a decision back for review.
Dials
Once the terms and responsibilities are clear, record the settings that affect how the work runs. A setting may differ between a local change and a wider architecture decision.
| Dial | Question for your method |
|---|---|
| Cadence | What event or review date brings the question back? |
| Batch size | How much scope or change is considered together? |
| Coordination | Who must contribute and how is their work accepted? |
| Decision authority | What may each role or tool decide, and when must it refer a decision? |
| Automation and checking | What may be automated and what checks or judgement support acceptance? |
| Learning reach | How far may a finding change the current design or shared guidance? |
The architecture cycles compare possible arrangements. The aspect guides supply settings for their own decisions.
Applying the advice
Use the mapping to express relationships, interactions and trade-offs in your own terminology. Adapt template headings to the records your team already uses. In the business architecture example, purpose and responsibilities share a service brief; decisions and observations are brought to a service review.
The information and data example develops the same case through definitions, record states and field rules. Those can map to your glossary, entity model or data dictionary.
Worked mappings for particular methodologies are planned. Record what fits, what needs a different interpretation and what remains outside the chosen scope.
Explore the thirteen aspects to consider how the concerns fit your method. Use the assessment guide to judge what the mapping helps you decide.