Process Step Guidance Documents

Figure 1: FSAM High-Level Overview

Process Step Guidance Documents

STEP 1: Determine Participants and Launch Project
STEP 2: Define the Segment Scope and Strategic Intent
STEP 3: Define Business and Information Requirements
STEP 4: Define the Conceptual Solution Architecture
STEP 5: Author the Modernization Blueprint

Structure of FSAM Process Step Guidance Documents

The FSAM guidance consists of five process step guidance documents that include detailed descriptions of the associated activities and tasks. The guidance documents follow a uniform structure that includes the elements described below.

Structure of the FSAM Guidance Document

FSAM Guidance Document Element	Description
Step Description and Purpose	This section explains the overall purpose of the process step and provides an overview of the process step.
Step Outcome	The step outcome summarizes the overall expected result when the step is completed.
Step At-A-Glance	The step-at-a-glance is a summary table of the process step and associated activities, including the participants and stakeholders involved in each activity and the inputs and outputs for each activity.  The table also highlights any touch points with other key documents, including National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 800-39, the Federal Transition Framework (FTF), and Practical Guide to Federal Service Oriented Architecture (PGFSOA), as well as any associated Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) Profiles.  The at-a-glance table also has links to key considerations for architects that are developing enterprise and business service segment architectures and an indication of the overall level of complexity of each activity.
Activity Details	Activity details provide a detailed description of each activity in the process step.
Activity Short Description	Each activity is explained in a short summary description.
Activity Flow Chart with Tasks	Each activity also has a task-level diagram that illustrates the relationship of the tasks within the activity.
Activity Inputs	Inputs are defined for each activity and represent information that should be available or collected before starting the activity.  In many cases, inputs to a given activity correspond to the outputs of a preceding activity.
Tasks	A description of each task within the activity is provided.
Communication Considerations	Communication considerations include additional guidance related to key messaging associated with managing stakeholder expectations, gaining buy-in to recommendations, and other items for the architect to consider.
Enterprise Services Considerations	This section contains additional guidance to be applied when architecting an enterprise services segment.
Business Services Considerations	This section contains additional guidance to be applied when architecting a business services segment.
Activity Outputs	Outputs are defined for each activity and represent the resulting architectural information produced by the corresponding activity.
Suggested Analytical Techniques (with examples and templates)	For each output, suggested analytical techniques and corresponding examples and templates are provided based on best practices of contributing agencies.