Application Lifecycle

Contoso Application Lifecycle Management

A TOGAF-aligned governance model for applications from discovery through retirement.

Flow

Eight governed stages

This lifecycle is TOGAF-aligned — it borrows the Architecture Development Method's discipline of gated, iterative governance, adapted to a practical application lifecycle rather than presented as an official TOGAF phase sequence.

Discover

Assess

Architect

Approve

Deliver

Operate

Review

Modernise / Retire

Governance gates applied throughout

Business ownership
Enterprise Architecture
Security
Data
Integration
Operations
Financial impact
Risk

Stage detail

Objective, inputs, approvals and outputs

Expand a stage for its full governance detail.

Stage 1

Discover

Capture the business need and confirm it isn't already solved elsewhere in the estate.

Required inputs

·Business case sketch
·Problem statement
·Application portfolio inventory

Architecture activities

·Portfolio overlap check
·Initial stakeholder mapping
·High-level feasibility read

Required approvals

Business sponsor

Outputs / artefacts

·Discovery brief
·Portfolio duplication check result

Stage 2

Assess

Test the business case against cost, risk and strategic fit before design work begins.

Required inputs

·Discovery brief
·Budget indication
·Compliance and data classification

Architecture activities

·Cost-benefit analysis
·Risk register entry
·Build vs. buy vs. SaaS options

Required approvals

Business sponsor
Financial approver

Outputs / artefacts

·Assessment report
·Preliminary risk rating

Stage 3

Architect

Design a solution that fits the landing zone, integration patterns and platform principles.

Required inputs

·Assessment report
·Landing zone target
·Integration requirements

Architecture activities

·Solution architecture
·Security & data design review
·Integration pattern selection

Required approvals

Enterprise Architecture
Security
Data

Outputs / artefacts

·Solution architecture document
·Architecture decision records

Stage 4

Approve

Secure formal sign-off to proceed to delivery, with funding and risk accepted.

Required inputs

·Solution architecture document
·Delivery estimate
·Risk register

Architecture activities

·Architecture review board presentation
·Financial sign-off
·Risk acceptance

Required approvals

Enterprise Architecture
Financial approver
Risk owner

Outputs / artefacts

·Approval record
·Funded delivery mandate

Stage 5

Deliver

Build and deploy the solution through governed, automated pipelines.

Required inputs

·Approved architecture
·Landing zone environment
·CI/CD pipeline templates

Architecture activities

·Infrastructure as Code deployment
·Application build & test
·Security scanning

Required approvals

Operations (go-live readiness)

Outputs / artefacts

·Deployed solution
·Runbook
·Test evidence

Stage 6

Operate

Run the solution against agreed service levels, with full observability.

Required inputs

·Runbook
·Monitoring baseline
·Support model

Architecture activities

·Incident & problem management
·Patch and vulnerability management
·Cost monitoring

Required approvals

Operations

Outputs / artefacts

·Service health reporting
·Incident history

Stage 7

Review

Periodically confirm the solution still fits its purpose, cost and risk profile.

Required inputs

·Service health reporting
·Usage & cost trends
·Architecture standards updates

Architecture activities

·Fit-for-purpose review
·Technical debt assessment
·Compliance re-check

Required approvals

Enterprise Architecture
Business ownership

Outputs / artefacts

·Review outcome
·Modernisation or retirement recommendation

Stage 8

Modernise / Retire

Actively evolve or decommission the solution — it does not sit in indefinite limbo.

Required inputs

·Review outcome
·Data retention requirements
·Dependent system inventory

Architecture activities

·Modernisation roadmap or decommissioning plan
·Data archival/disposal
·Dependency cutover

Required approvals

Business ownership
Enterprise Architecture
Data

Outputs / artefacts

·Modernisation backlog entry, or retirement certificate