Architecture Board Charter: [Organisation or domain]

Charter and governance framework for an Architecture Board: purpose, authority and decision rights, membership and quorum, cadence, how architecture review requests come in, the compliance review process and its four outcomes, dispensations, Architecture Contracts, escalation, the architecture repository, metrics and the review of this charter. The structure follows the architecture governance and Architecture Board guidance of The TOGAF Standard, 10th Edition (2025 Update), with Phase G (Implementation Governance) and Phase H (Architecture Change Management) of the Architecture Development Method. Replace every [bracketed] value and every row marked Example.

Document control

Approvals

Revision history

Contents

1. Purpose and scope
2. Authority and decision rights
3. Membership, roles and quorum
4. Meetings and cadence
5. Inputs and review tiers
6. Compliance review process
7. Review outcomes
8. Dispensations
9. Architecture Contracts
10. Escalation and appeals
11. Architecture repository and records
12. Metrics and reporting
13. Conduct and conflicts of interest
14. Review of this charter
15. Glossary and references

1. Purpose and scope

1.1 Purpose

The Architecture Board exists to keep change in [Organisation] consistent with the agreed target architecture, principles and standards, so that investments add up to a coherent, secure and affordable landscape rather than a collection of local optimisations. It does this by approving architecture work products, reviewing solutions for compliance, granting or refusing dispensations, and steering changes to the architecture itself.

1.2 Objectives

1.3 Scope

2. Authority and decision rights

2.1 Source of authority

The board acts under the authority delegated by [executive sponsor or committee] on YYYY-MM-DD. Its decisions bind all [business units, programmes, projects and suppliers] within the scope in section 1.3. Funding bodies will not release [stage 2] funding to an initiative that has not passed the review required by its tier in section 5.

2.2 Decision rights

2.3 Standards the board applies

3. Membership, roles and quorum

3.1 Members

3.2 Responsibilities

3.3 Quorum and voting

• Quorum is [the chair or a nominated deputy plus at least four voting members, including the security member].
• Decisions are by consensus; if consensus is not reached, by simple majority of voting members present, with the chair holding a casting vote.
• The security member may block approval on a security ground; a block is resolved by escalation (section 10), not by vote.
• Members may name one standing deputy each; deputies count toward quorum.
• Decisions taken without quorum are provisional and must be confirmed at the next quorate meeting or by written procedure within [5] working days.

4. Meetings and cadence

Standard agenda: declarations of interest, actions from last meeting, reviews in order of tier and urgency, dispensations due for renewal, standards changes, metrics, any other business.

5. Inputs and review tiers

5.1 Triggers

A review is required when an initiative [adds, replaces or retires an application or platform; introduces a new integration with an external party; processes a new category of personal or regulated data; proposes a technology not on the adopted list; or requests a deviation from a principle or standard]. Architecture work products from an ADM cycle are reviewed at the gates set in their Statement of Architecture Work.

5.2 Submission

Submit an architecture review request (architecture/architecture-review-request) with the attachments listed for the tier. Incomplete requests are returned within [2] working days.

5.3 Tiers

Useful attachments include the solution architecture (architecture/solution-architecture), a threat model (security/threat-model) and the cloud architecture review (architecture/cloud-architecture-review).

6. Compliance review process

6.1 Review points in the delivery lifecycle

6.2 What reviewers assess

TOGAF also describes graded levels of conformance for a compliance assessment; if you use them, map them to the four outcomes in section 7.

7. Review outcomes

7.1 Outcome record

7.2 Example outcomes

8. Dispensations

8.1 Rules

• A dispensation names the principle or standard it departs from, the reason, the risk, the mitigation, the business owner who accepts the risk, the expiry date and the plan to reach compliance.
• Maximum term: [12] months; renewal once, with a new risk assessment. Further renewal requires an executive decision (section 2.2).
• The security member must agree any dispensation that raises security risk; the data protection officer is consulted on any that affects personal data.
• Expired dispensations are reported to the executive sponsor at the next quarterly session.
• Accepted architecture debt is also recorded in the tech debt register (architecture/tech-debt-register).

8.2 Dispensation register

The principles catalogue keeps its own waiver register (architecture/architecture-principles); use this register as the single record and link to it from there.

9. Architecture Contracts

9.1 Contract contents

9.2 Contract register

Contracts for engagement work packages are listed in the roadmap (architecture/architecture-roadmap-transition).

10. Escalation and appeals

Escalations and their results are minuted and reported in the quarterly metrics. An appeal does not suspend a non-compliant outcome unless the chair says so in writing.

11. Architecture repository and records

Records are readable by [all staff / all architects and delivery leads] unless classified otherwise. Changes to approved work products follow change management in Phase H: the requester submits a change request, the board assesses its impact and decides whether it is handled within the current architecture or needs a new ADM cycle.

12. Metrics and reporting

Report quarterly to [executive committee] with the trend, the open dispensations and the main architecture risks.

13. Conduct and conflicts of interest

• Members declare any interest in an item (their own team, a supplier relationship, a personal stake) at the start of the meeting; the declaration is minuted and the member does not vote on that item.
• Reviews judge the submission against published criteria. Members give reasons, cite principles or standards, and avoid redesigning the solution in the meeting.
• Submissions may contain confidential commercial or security information; members do not share them outside the board.
• Members who miss [three] consecutive meetings without a deputy are replaced at the request of the chair.

14. Review of this charter

The chair reviews this charter every [12] months, and earlier after a major reorganisation, a change in executive sponsorship, or a quarter in which two or more metrics miss their target. The review considers the tier thresholds, decision rights, membership, dispensation terms and the metrics themselves. Changes to sections 2 and 3 require the executive sponsor's approval; other changes are approved by the board and recorded in the revision history.

15. Glossary and references

15.1 Glossary

15.2 References

Standard and licence note

Structure aligned with The TOGAF Standard, 10th Edition (2025 Update), published by The Open Group: architecture governance, the Architecture Board, Architecture Contracts, compliance review and Compliance Assessment, with Phase G (Implementation Governance) and Phase H (Architecture Change Management) of the Architecture Development Method. The four review outcomes, tiers, metrics and all text are original to this template, which reproduces no definitions, tables or other text from the standard. TOGAF is a registered trademark of The Open Group. Check the current edition at opengroup.org and obtain the standard for its full guidance. Template licence: MIT.