Maintaining end-to-end traceability between user requirements, data specifications, solution designs, test plans and other deliverables is a major challenge for transformation initiatives.

Without clear traceability, organisations struggle to:

• Understand how business objectives translate into system implementations, impacting delivery timelines and customer satisfaction.

• Manage dependencies across teams, leading to misalignment, delays and unexpected costs.

• Assess the impact of changes to avoid unnecessary rework and waste.

• Ensure compliance with regulations, mitigating financial and legal risks.

Lack of traceability can also impact the quality of deliverables, resulting in costly delays, rework and customer dissatisfaction.

Solution

Unlike traditional document-based EA, 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹-𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗘𝗔 (𝗠𝗕𝗘𝗔) meaningfully links model elements, creating a 𝗚𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆.  This allows dependencies and changes to be tracked effectively throughout the transformation journey.

Why it matters

Ensuring traceability throughout the transformation journey is a key enabler for:

• ⚡ Accelerating time-to-value by improving decision-making—this could mean leveraging traceability to align delivery teams with enterprise priorities, minimising wasted effort.
• 🔄 Increasing operational effectiveness by enabling teams to identify and resolve dependencies earlier in the development cycle, preventing downstream issues. For example, modelling applications, data flows and infrastructure for a cloud migration provides immediate visibility of dependencies across the system landscape and between different teams, ensuring alignment.
• ⚠️ Reducing risk, especially related to regulatory non-compliance, by providing a clear audit trail of decisions and changes. This approach works well with the use of light-weight Architecture Decision Records.

An 𝘂𝗻𝗯𝗿𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 is not only a prerequisite for effective governance, it is essential for ensuring the consistent delivery of scalable and integrated digital products and services that satisfy the requirements of both the business and its customers.

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