Work Product 01v1.1
Engagement brief and decision-framing workbook
Turn a request for a map, solution, or transformation into a bounded business-architecture engagement with a named decision, evidence threshold, scope, options, and stop condition.
Purpose
Frame the decision before selecting architecture artifacts or beginning modeling.
Included
- Read me and governance notes
- Engagement brief
- Decision frame
- Evidence and question log
- Completed Northstar example
BoundaryDoes not replace a project charter, investment approval, requirements package, or the accountable executive’s decision.
Download Excel workbookWork Product 02v1.1
Capability definition, decomposition, and validation workbook
Create stable capability definitions, test decomposition depth, expose orphaned or weak records, and structure a validation workshop without reproducing the organization chart.
Purpose
Build a governable capability baseline that is sufficiently detailed for a stated decision.
Included
- Read me and modeling rules
- Capability register
- Formula-driven decomposition QA
- Validation workshop record
- Completed Northstar example
BoundaryDoes not provide an authoritative industry reference model or prove that a capability belongs at a particular level without enterprise context and governance.
Download Excel workbookWork Product 03v1.1
Value-stream stage card and capability cross-map
Define outcome-oriented value-stream stages, entry and exit criteria, measures, and enabling capabilities while keeping process activity out of the strategic view.
Purpose
Connect stakeholder value progression to the stable abilities that enable each stage.
Included
- Read me and distinction tests
- Stage cards
- Capability-stage cross-map
- Coverage checks
- Completed Northstar example
BoundaryDoes not replace a process, journey, operating procedure, service blueprint, or control design when activity and handoff detail is required.
Download Excel workbookWork Product 04v1.1
Initiative impact and smallest-useful-release workbook
Trace initiative scope to value-stream stages, capabilities, information, policy, organization, measures, and dependencies, then compare bounded release options.
Purpose
Define the smallest release that can produce measurable business value or decision-quality learning.
Included
- Read me and scope rules
- Initiative frame
- Architecture impact grid
- Release option comparison
- Measure sheet
- Completed Northstar example
BoundaryDoes not replace funding approval, delivery estimation, solution design, backlog management, or benefits-realization ownership.
Download Excel workbookWork Product 05v1.1
Strategy-to-capability linkage worksheet
Translate strategy into explicit outcomes, affected value propositions, required capability changes, initiatives, measures, assumptions, and unsupported objectives.
Purpose
Make the logic from strategic intent to capability change and investment testable.
Included
- Read me and linkage rules
- Strategy element register
- Objective-capability linkage
- Coverage and gap checks
- Completed Northstar example
BoundaryDoes not create strategy, authorize investment, or establish causation between an initiative and a business outcome merely because they are linked.
Download Excel workbookWork Product 06v1.1
Business-object register, alias crosswalk, and lifecycle matrix
Normalize business-object identities, definitions, aliases, ownership, authoritative sources, lifecycle states, transitions, and capability use without turning the model into a physical data schema.
Purpose
Create a shared business vocabulary and lifecycle view that can support architecture, policy, process, and automation work.
Included
- Read me and object-model rules
- Business-object register
- Alias crosswalk
- Lifecycle matrix
- Completed Northstar examples
BoundaryDoes not replace a logical or physical data model, master-data design, records-retention schedule, API contract, or legal definition.
Download Excel workbookWork Product 07v1.1
Evidence-based capability assessment and heat-map workbook
First select capabilities that warrant attention using strategic importance, observed performance, evidence strength, and confidence; then diagnose the specific people, process, information, technology, policy, governance, capacity, performance, and dependency conditions that limit a selected capability.
Purpose
Support two distinct decisions: Recipe 19 prioritizes capability attention, while Recipe 41 diagnoses what prevents a selected capability from producing the required outcome.
Included
- Read me and assessment scales
- Evidence register
- Formula-driven selection assessment
- Heat-map summary
- Limiting-condition diagnosis
- Completed Northstar examples
BoundaryA heat-map color prioritizes attention; it does not diagnose cause. The improvement assessment structures a diagnosis; it does not prove causation or authorize investment.
Download Excel workbookWork Product 08v1.1
Initiative decomposition and capability-roadmap workbook
Break a broad change into outcome-oriented packages, expose true dependencies, distinguish prerequisites from preferred sequencing, and build a capability transition roadmap rather than a disguised project plan.
Purpose
Create manageable investment and transition decisions while preserving end-to-end business intent.
Included
- Read me and decomposition rules
- Change-package register
- Dependency register
- Decision-oriented roadmap
- Completed Northstar example
BoundaryDoes not replace a project schedule, resource plan, delivery backlog, committed date, or portfolio authority.
Download Excel workbookWork Product 09v1.1
Architecture decision, ownership, and open-item record
Keep decisions, rationale, conditions, decision rights, accountable owners, evidence gaps, assumptions, conflicts, review triggers, and closure dispositions in one governed record.
Purpose
Preserve the institutional memory required to govern architecture through review, dispute, handoff, and completion.
Included
- Read me and governance rules
- Decision record
- Ownership and decision-right register
- Open-item log with due-status formulas
- Completed Northstar example
BoundaryDoes not replace formal corporate minutes, legal approvals, records-management policy, delegated-authority schedules, or delivery issue systems.
Download Excel workbook