TL;DR
The Preliminary Phase answers where, what, why, who, and how architecture work will operate in the enterprise. In practice, teams use six structured steps: scope impact, confirm governance, establish team/organization, define principles, tailor frameworks, and implement tools/techniques.
For exam prep
This page is a detailed companion to Overview.
- Foundation-level study usually focuses more on phase purpose/objectives
- detailed step-level execution is usually Practitioner-level depth
The six practical steps
A practical TOGAF-aligned step sequence for establishing architecture capability:
flowchart TD S1["Scope impacted orgs"] --> S2["Confirm governance"] S2 --> S3["Establish EA team"] S3 --> S4["Define principles"] S4 --> S5["Tailor TOGAF"] S5 --> S6["Implement tools"] S6 -.->|"iterate as needed"| S1 S6 --> OUT["Launch pad for Phase A"]
1) Scope the enterprise organizations impacted
Identify where architecture capability will have direct and indirect effect.
Focus on:
- core enterprise units that gain immediate architecture value
- supporting units that will be influenced by architecture decisions
- affected stakeholders and governance bodies
Question to ask:
- “If EA capability starts tomorrow, who is affected first and who is influenced later?“
2) Confirm governance and support frameworks
Clarify how architecture outputs will be governed.
Define:
- ownership for standards, models, guidelines, and compliance outputs
- who approves what
- how implementation conformance is checked
- how architecture changes are controlled
If governance is weak or missing, start by establishing minimum viable governance for EA.
3) Define and establish the EA team and organization
Set up the people model for running architecture.
Typical decisions:
- required roles and responsibilities
- skills profile and hiring/enablement needs
- team structure and partition ownership
- budget and operating model
4) Identify and establish architecture principles
Define enterprise principles that guide architecture and decision-making.
Principles should be:
- clear and actionable
- testable in governance reviews
- applicable across architecture projects
Without principles, decisions end up inconsistent across teams.
For full detail, see Architecture Principles.
5) Tailor TOGAF (and other frameworks)
Adapt terminology, process, and content to enterprise context.
Tailoring usually addresses:
- language and conventions
- process integration with existing delivery methods
- artifacts/deliverables actually needed by stakeholders
Goal: keep the method usable, not theoretical.
6) Implement tools and techniques strategy
Select the tooling and methods needed for current capability maturity.
Tooling can range from:
- structured document repositories
- modeling platforms
- enterprise architecture management suites
Techniques may include:
- facilitation/workshop techniques
- decision and governance techniques
- business/data/application/technology modeling methods
Practical sequence note
These steps are guidance, not a rigid choreography.
Teams often iterate:
- governance decisions may reshape team design
- tooling choices may influence process detail
- principle definition may refine scoping
Output of these steps
By the end of Preliminary setup, you should have:
- clear scope and impacted organizational landscape
- governance model and decision rights
- defined EA organization and operating model
- approved architecture principles
- tailored method and selected framework integration
- pragmatic tools/techniques plan
This is the launch pad for Phase A.
Common implementation advice
- build only the capability maturity you need now
- avoid over-engineering process before architecture demand exists
- treat capability as evolving, not one-time setup
Exam note
- Preliminary step detail is useful for practice and Practitioner-level application.
- At Foundation level, prioritize understanding purpose, objectives, and expected outcomes of Preliminary.
- The six steps provide a practical model for establishing architecture capability in real organizations.