A changed assumption
A recovery exercise restores the database but takes longer than people can manage without the service. The finding may require a different backup process, more capacity or a revised continuity procedure. It should return to the people who own the affected service requirement and design.
Process areas
Visioning, Transforming, Operating and Governing are the continuing process areas in A Simple Architectural Framework (ASAF). They can overlap within a service review or delivery increment. A cycle may revisit one question or connect several areas; its scope and trigger determine who needs to take part.
| ASAF process area | Work and decision | What can reopen it? | Retained information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visioning | Agree service needs, workload and intended platform qualities; compare arrangements. | A changed location, capacity or recovery need challenges the direction. | Requirements, assumptions, alternatives and responsibilities. |
| Transforming | Provision environments, apply reviewed configuration and check release readiness. | Compatibility, migration or recovery checks expose a problem. | Package and configuration versions, checks and transition plans. |
| Operating | Run and support the environment, observe cost and capacity, and exercise recovery. | Incidents, growth, restoration findings or supplier changes need attention. | Measurements, incidents, configuration history and improvement proposals. |
| Governing | Agree platform policies, change authority, service acceptance and exceptions. | A change exceeds an agreed service constraint or accepted risk. | Accepted requirements, policy decisions, exceptions and review triggers. |
A configuration fault may need a local correction. A new data-location requirement or a supplier ending support can reopen the platform choice. Changes to acceptable interruption or lost work return to the business and process decisions as well.
Retaining the environment
Keep the accepted configuration, deployed versions, operating responsibilities and change reasons together. Record differences between test and service environments. An infrastructure template is part of the baseline; so are the protected management state, external settings and operational procedures needed to use it.
For a model dependency, retain the selected model and configuration where the provider permits it. Plan for supplier changes and recheck the step contract. For mobile clients, include versions still in use when checking a release.
Returning a finding
The worked example asks whether case records, operation receipts and pending notifications can be restored together. If an older copy omits an accepted transfer, technical restoration alone cannot establish who now owns the case. The service owner must accept the reconciled position before writes resume.
Methodology configuration
Map these concerns to environment design, release approval, service reviews, incident management and supplier reviews. Several may occur in one delivery cycle. Methodology configuration explains the mapping; the records retain the decisions between cycles.
Dials
The concerns below help apply the six shared dials. For example, limited exposure sets batch size, release authority sets who may proceed, and operating observations determine what needs reconsideration.
A staged programme may establish environments and service arrangements before application releases begin. Incremental delivery can introduce only the capacity and dependencies needed for the next useful change. Repeated small releases still need compatible versions, retained configuration and a clear recovery path.
| Concern | Question |
|---|---|
| Preparation | Which dependencies or lead times require an earlier decision? |
| Exposure | Can a change be introduced to a limited group or instance set first? |
| Automation | Which steps are repeatable, and who accepts their proposed effects? |
| Recovery | Can the previous version still use the records after this change? |
| Feedback | Which service signals stop a rollout or reopen a design assumption? |
An artificial intelligence (AI) assistant may prepare configuration or investigate an incident. Its output follows the same review of permissions, effects and recovery as another proposed change. Increased generation speed does not shorten an observation period or prove a restore works.