Scenario: Rollins Manufacturing
Please read this scenario prior to answering the question
Rollins Manufacturing is a major supplier in the automotive industry, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio with manufacturing plants in Chicago, Sao Paulo, Stuttgart, Yokohama, and Seoul. Each of these plants has been operating its own Manufacturing Requirements Planning (MRPII) system, production scheduling, and custom developed applications that drive the automated production equipment at each plant.
Rollins is implementing lean manufacturing principles to minimize waste and improve the efficiency of all of its production operations. During a recent exercise held for internal quality improvement, it was determined that a significant reduction in process waste could be achieved by replacing the current MRPII and scheduling systems with a common Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system located in the Cleveland data center. This central system would provide support to each of the plants replacing the functionality in the existing systems. It would also eliminate the need for full data centers at each of the plant facilities. A reduced number of IT staff could support the remaining applications. In some cases, a third-party contractor could provide those staff.
The Rollins Enterprise Architecture department has been operating for several years and has mature, well-developed architecture governance and development processes that are strongly based on TOGAF 9. At a recent meeting, the Architecture Review Board approved a Request for Architecture Work from the Chief Engineer of Global Manufacturing Operations who is the project sponsor. The request covered the initial architectural investigations and the development of a comprehensive architecture to plan the transformation.
The Common ERP Deployment architecture project team has now been formed, and the project team has been asked to develop an Architecture Vision that will achieve the desired outcomes and benefits. Some of the plant managers have expressed concern about the security and reliability of driving their MRPII and production scheduling from a central system located in Cleveland. The Chief Engineer wants to know how these concerns can be addressed.
Refer to the Rollins Manufacturing Scenario
You are serving as the Lead Enterprise Architect of the newly-formed Common ERP Deployment architecture project team.
As the Common ERP Deployment architecture project team assembles for its initial meeting, many of the participants have voiced concerns about the sweeping scope of the initiative. Others are confident that they know a solution that will work. During the meeting, a number of alternative recommendations for how to proceed are put forward by members of the team. You have been asked to select the most appropriate recommendation to ensure that the team evaluates different approaches to the problem and clarifies the requirements for the architecture.
Based on TOGAF 9, which of the following is the best answer?
A . The team should hold a series of interviews at each of the manufacturing plants using the business scenario technique. This will then enable them to identify and document the characteristics of the architecture from the business requirements.
B . The team should exercise due diligence and carefully research vendor literature and conduct a series of briefings with vendors that are on the current approved supplier list. Based on the findings from the research, the team should define a preliminary target Architecture Vision. The team should then use that model to build consensus among the key stakeholders.
C . The team should create Baseline and Target Architectures for each of the manufacturing plants. A gap analysis between the architectures will then validate the approach, and determine the Transition Architecture needed to achieve the target state.
D . The team should conduct a pilot project that will enable vendors on the short list to demonstrate potential solutions that will access the concerns of the stakeholders. Based on the findings of that pilot project, a complete set of requirements can be developed that will arrive the evolution of the architecture.
Answer: A