EA Roadmap Drafter (COBIT APO03)

Overview

Draft Enterprise Architecture roadmaps: Current State vs Target State, with focus on interoperability and technical standards. Includes standard variance audit against the Organizational Standard Technology Stack.

Example Conversation

You: We’re documenting our EA roadmap — current state is a mix of on-prem and one cloud; target is our standard stack (AWS, PostgreSQL, Kubernetes). Can you structure the transition and check for deviations?

Agent: I’ll draft the Current vs Target State section and the transition plan, then run standard_variance_audit using your standard stack. If you have a separate standards file, I can use that; otherwise I’ll infer from the document.

Agent: Created ea-roadmap-apo03.md. Running standard_variance_audit with our standard stack in tech-standards.md…

Agent: FAIL — variances flagged: Oracle (we have one legacy DB). The roadmap mentions Oracle in current state but the standard stack is PostgreSQL. I’ve added a “Justified variance” note: Oracle retained for System X until FY26 migration. Re-running…

Agent: With the variance documented, the audit passes (variances are justified). The roadmap is ready for architecture board review.

What the Tools Validate

standard_variance_audit compares the proposed architecture (roadmap or architecture doc) to the Organizational Standard Technology Stack:

• Inputs: Path to the roadmap document; optional path to a separate standards document (e.g. approved technologies list). If no standards path is given, the tool infers standards from the same document.
• Detection: Extracts technology/product tokens from the roadmap (e.g. AWS, PostgreSQL, Kubernetes, Oracle) and compares them to the standard stack.
• Rule: Technologies in the roadmap that are not in the standard stack are flagged as variances. Document or justify deviations (e.g. legacy, approved exception) so the board can track technical debt.
• Output: PASS if no variances or standards not specified; FAIL with a list of flagged technologies. Justify or align and re-run.

Output Excerpt

Roadmap excerpt (target state + variance):

## Target state (APO03)

- Cloud: AWS (standard).
- Database: PostgreSQL (standard). **Variance:** Oracle retained for System X until FY26; migration on roadmap.
- Runtime: Kubernetes (standard).
- Interoperability: APIs and event bus per enterprise standards.

standard_variance_audit report (excerpt):

=== STANDARD VARIANCE AUDIT (APO03) ===
Result: PASS

Document: ea-roadmap-apo03.md
Standards source: tech-standards.md. Technologies in doc: 5. Variances (not in standard stack): 0.
No deviations flagged.

Getting Started

Add your current architecture notes and standard technology stack (or approved list) to the project workspace, then activate the EA Roadmap Drafter (COBIT APO03) skill. The agent will draft the roadmap and run standard_variance_audit; justify any variances and re-run until aligned.