Examice

Scenario -

Please read this scenario prior to answering the Question

You are serving as the Lead Architect for an insurance company, which has been formed through the merger of three previously independent companies. The company now consists of three divisions with the same names and division headquarters as their predecessors.

The lack of integration between the three divisions has increasingly caused problems in the handling of customer and financial information. The inability to share information has resulted in lost opportunities to leverage the synergies that should have been possible as a result of the merger. At present, each division maintains its own applications. Despite an earlier initiative to install a common application to manage customer, products, and claims information, each division has different ways of defining these core elements and has customized the common application to the point where the ability to exchange information is difficult, costly, and error-prone.

As a result, the company has made the decision to introduce a common web portal, contact center software suite, and document management system. Also the company has selected a single enterprise-wide customer relationship management (CRM) application to consolidate information from several applications that exist across the divisions. The application will be used by each of the divisions and accessed by third party partners through well defined interfaces.

The Corporate Board is concerned that the new application must be able to manage and safeguard confidential customer information in a secure manner that meets or exceeds the legal requirements of the countries in which the company operates. This will be an increasingly important capability as the company expands its online services in cooperation with its partners.

The CIO has formed an Enterprise Architecture department, and one of the primary goals in its charter is to coordinate efforts between the implementation team and the migration teams in each division. The CIO has also formed a cross-functional Architecture Board to oversee and govern the architecture. The company has an existing team of security architects.

TOGAF 9 has been selected as the core framework for use for the Enterprise Architecture program. The CIO has endorsed this choice with the full support of top management.

Refer to the Scenario -

As part of the process for establishing the Enterprise Architecture department, you are developing a set of architecture principles to guide the activities.

You need to recommend the best approach for this work.

Based on TOGAF, which of the following is the best answer?

You would review the mission statements for the company and its divisions, together with the corporate business goals and business drivers. Based on that review, you would work closely with the key stakeholders and the Architecture Board to define the architecture principles. You would ensure that they actively promote the alignment of IT with the corporate business strategies. You would then hold review meetings with the relevant stakeholders, including senior management, ensuring their support.

You would gather information from credible industry sources in the insurance business. Based on that information, you would assess current trends and apply them to defining a set of principles that embody best practices. You would select architecture principles that do not conflict with each other and that should be stable. You would ensure that all the principles are realistic and avoid including principles that are too obvious.

You would analyze the mission statements for the company and each of its divisions, together with the corporate business goals. Based on that analysis, you would define a set of architecture principles and review them with the CIO. When developing the principles, you would ensure that they actively promote the alignment of IT with the business strategies and initiatives of the company. You would then seek the endorsement of the CIO and senior management.

You would define a set of principles that support the preferred best practices embodied in the Enterprise Architecture department charter. You would publish the principles on the corporate intranet to ensure widespread acceptance and compliance. You would then schedule regular periodic Compliance Assessments with each of the divisions to check that they have made satisfactory progress toward meeting the objectives and conditions embodied in the principles.