# Northstar materials guide

Northstar Equipment Services is a fictional enterprise used to teach and learn business architecture. Start with the kind of work you want to do; you do not need to choose between competing case versions.

| Your purpose | Use this | What it contains |
|---|---|---|
| Learn through the case | [Business architecture learning path](https://stephenklahr.com/learn/) | Guided decisions using the Northstar case, with the evidence available at each point. No AI is required. |
| Explore the enterprise | [Northstar Atlas](https://stephenklahr.com/cookbook/northstar/atlas/) | Connected views of capabilities, value streams, organization, and information, with strategic and change context. |
| Build your own work products | [Blank business architecture templates](https://stephenklahr.com/downloads/business-architecture-templates.zip) | Nine blank Excel workbooks, a reusable end-to-end delivery structure, and a blank decision worksheet. No completed case answers. |
| Read the completed case | [Current Northstar worked examples](https://stephenklahr.com/downloads/northstar-worked-examples.zip) | All episodes and answers: evidence, reference decision briefs, complete case guide, completed workspaces, and calculation data. No AI is required. |
| Try the optional AI workflow | [SCALE exercise](https://stephenklahr.com/scale/try/) | Separate episode packets and instructions for working with an assistant. |

## One current case, two kinds of artifact

**The current Northstar learning case is v1.2.** Its reference decisions and added customer-outcome evidence are the current teaching path. The worked-examples download brings those materials together without requiring an AI session or a particular architecture tool.

**Blank templates are reusable structures.** They do not contain Northstar's old completed workbook examples or an assumed answer. Use your own organization, evidence, decision authority, and review triggers.

The two downloads above have stable names. Use the current links rather than selecting the highest-looking version number from an old filename.

## How to read the completed examples

The worked-examples download **contains all answers and later evidence**. For an independent attempt, start on the learning path and open the reference only after completing each decision.

1. **Episode A — Authorize:** read the January 9 evidence, then the Episode A decision brief. Later episode findings were not known at this decision.
2. **Episode B — Prepare:** retain Episode A's history, add the January 30 readiness evidence, then read the Episode B brief. Dated addenda stay dated; they must not be treated as available before their date.
3. **Episode C — Realize:** read the day-30 and day-90 observations, calculation definitions, and Episode C brief. Examine both the reported operating measures and the customer-outcome counterchecks before drawing a conclusion.

The reference presents a defensible authored path, not the only acceptable recommendation. A different answer can be sound when it respects the evidence cutoff, uncertainty, scope, and accountable authority.

The completed JSON, Markdown, and CSV workspaces are optional records of the same case. They are not extra assignments. Their episode labels identify when the recorded knowledge is available. Calculation CSVs are aggregate, fictional teaching data; they do not establish causation or reproduce individual service histories.

## Why older files mention v1.1

Earlier workbooks and the earlier case narrative remain available for historical reference. Their completed examples illustrate an earlier teaching edition. **They are not the current v1.2 answers.** In particular, the newer edition adds customer-outcome evidence that can change the interpretation of improved headline adherence. Do not combine an older completed recommendation with newer evidence and present it as a single contemporaneous decision.

The blank templates remove those older completed examples. For current completed work, use the worked-examples download above. Retained historical files are not prerequisites for learning the case.

## Tool versions are separate

SCALE v0.6.1 identifies an optional tool package; v0.6 identifies its workspace format. Neither is a competing Northstar case version. An episode ZIP ending in v1.2.1 is a packaging revision of the v1.2 learning case, not a different set of case outcomes.

The current worked-examples archive includes a source manifest and SHA256 checksums so its contents can be traced to the published source files. These establish file provenance and integrity, not validation of a real enterprise outcome.