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Policy portfolios are captured in Alfabet via policy groups that bundle opolicies. A policy group may have multiple subordinate policy groups. Each policy can be assigned to multiple policy groups that are relevant to the goals for the portfolio assessment process.

Add policy groups to the repository

Go to Investment Architecture > Policies:

Try to capture as much information as possible about the policy because complete data considerably improves the results of business questions and other analytics.

Specify the policy group's basic data

Once a policy group is in the repository, you can define more details about the policy groups in the Policy Groups data workbench . Or you can select an individual policy group and navigate to its content area and specify and analyze the policy in detail. All mandatory fields must be defined to create the policy group and save it.

Per default, the data workbench displays only a set of basic attributes. You can add more columns to capture other attributes directly in the data workbench via the Structure column or you can navigate to an policy group's content area and define it in more detail there. Click to learn about how to use data workbenches.

  • Name: (Mandatory) Enter a name for the policy group. You can add an abbreviation (3-4 letters) of the name in the Short Name field to use in diagrams and other visualizations
  • Description: If necessary, enter a meaningful description that will clarify the purpose of the policy group.
  • Authorized Access tab: The user who creates the policy group is the authorized user per default. This can be changed. Select one or more authorized user groups that shall have write permissions to the policy group. All users in the authorized user group can edit the policy group.

Assign policies to policy groups for analysis

Projects must already be in the repository in order to assign policies to a policy group. Some business questions in Alfabet can only be answered if the relationships between projects and project groups are defined. Click to find out how to capture project data.

Policy groups logically structure and bundle the policies and allow you to assess the policy portfolio. You can assign policies to multiple policy groups in order to analyze your policies from various perspectives.

Create a new policy. Click the navigate  Navigate button of the policy group to open the content area. Go to Overview > Policies and click  New plus sign button > Create Policy. Specify the policy's basic attributes. All mandatory fields must be defined to create the policy and save it. In the Policies view, click the Navigate  Navigate button next to the policy to open its content area and specify all relevant attributes:

  • Name: (Mandatory) Enter a unique name for the policy. The name should help others easily understand the purpose of the policy.
  • Object State: The implementation status of the policy in the enterprise.
  • Status: This indicates the current status of the policy from initiation to execution.
  • Strategy: The vision , objective , goal , or strategic theme that the policy supports.
  • Principle: The principle that the policy is derived from.
  • Next Review Date: Specify when the policy should be reviewed. Click the calendar icon to select the date or enter the date in the date format Month/Day/Year. For example: 4/30/2023
  • Description: Enter a meaningful description that will clarify the purpose of the policy.
  • Authorized Access tab: The user who creates the policy is the authorized user per default. This can be changed. Select one or more authorized user groups that shall have write permissions to the policy. All users in the authorized user group can edit the policy.
  • Policy Groups: Select the policy groups you want to assign the policy to.

Add an existing policy to a policy group. Click the navigate  Navigate button of the policy group to open the content area. Go to Overview > Asset Grouping. In the Policies field, enter the name of the policy you want to assign to the policy group. Or click in the field to open the selector and select each policy that you want to assign to the policy group. Click outside of the selector to close it and update the Asset Grouping field.

Specify the architecture scope of the policy

The assets that are impacted by a policy make up the architectural scope of the policy. You can add any application, business capability, business process, component, information flow, or organization to the policy's architecture.

Information flows specified for applications that have been added to the policy's architecture scope will not be automatically added to the demand. You must explicitly add the relevant information flows to the policy in the Affected Architecture view.

  1. Go to the policy's content area > Overview > Affected Architecture.
  2. Select the cell below a class header to add an asset to the architectural scope of the policy and click New > Add Existing Architecture Element.
  3. Select one or more assets and click OK.
  4. To document the planned changes to one or more architecture elements assigned to the policy's scope, click the ThreeDots_Black 3-dots button >  EditSingle  Edit. Provide a comment about the architecture element and set the Change Category to describe how the asset will be changed by the policy:
    • New: The asset will be introduced in the scope of the policy.
    • Updating: The asset will be significantly updated in the scope of the policy.
    • Changing: The asset will be changed to some degree in the scope of the policy.
    • Retiring: The asset will be retired in the scope of the policy.