You are serving as the Lead Architect in a multi-national company that operates production facilities in 24 countries and sells its products in over 100 countries. It has three sectors: Transportation, Energy Systems, and Automation. Each sector has several business units that operate independently. 

An Executive Vice President heads each of the business units. Traditionally, each business unit has acted independently with few shared customers or suppliers. They were expected to share financial and human resource information from the corporate headquarters.

A consultancy firm has recommended a realignment that will enhance sharing of product information across business units. The implementation of this strategic realignment will require the development of integrated customer information systems and product information systems.

The company has a mature enterprise architecture practice and uses TOGAF 9 for the basis for its method and deliverables. An architecture development program has been created to address the development of these capabilities and is about to commence. The enterprise architecture program is sponsored by the CIO.

You recommend that a Risk Aversion Assessment be conducted in the Implementation Governance phase to determine the implementation organization’s degree of risk aversion with regard to the proposed business transformation. Based on that, if the Corporate Board is not willing to accept a reasonable amount of risk, then you recommend they put in place a set of parallel systems to mitigate the risks.

You recommend that techniques be used throughout the program to manage risk including risk monitoring. This will enable you to identify, classify, and mitigate the risks associated with the proposed transformation and ensure suitable business continuity plans are in place. In the Implementation Governance phase, you ensure a residual risk assessment is conducted to determine the best way to manage risks that cannot be mitigated.

You recommend classifying the risks in terms of time, cost, and scope during the Architecture Vision phase. This will enable you to ensure that certain risks with certain types of impact are managed by the right individuals. You would then ensure that the Architecture Contracts issued in the Implementation Governance phase address those initial risks and include adequate risk monitoring actions to confirm that they have been addressed.

You recommend that a risk management framework is used in Phase G, the Implementation Governance phase. This would include a risk classification scheme and completion of worksheets for risk assessment. This will enable you to assess the risks associated with the proposed business transformation. You then ensure that the initial level of risk is well understood before issuing the Architecture Contracts.