In the Preliminary Phase of TOGAF ADM, one of the most important early activities is to perform an Enterprise Architecture Maturity Assessment. This helps you understand how mature your organization’s current EA practice is, identify strengths and weaknesses, and determine the right level of governance, processes, and resources needed for the upcoming architecture work.
Traditionally, maturity assessments involve:
- Collecting data through surveys, interviews, and document reviews
- Scoring multiple dimensions (e.g., architecture process, governance, communication, tools, skills)
- Manually calculating averages and creating visualizations
- Interpreting results to recommend next steps
While valuable, this process can be lengthy, subjective, and difficult to repeat consistently — especially when time is limited or stakeholders are spread across departments.
Visual Paradigm’s AI-powered TOGAF Guide-Through changes this completely. It makes maturity assessment quick, objective, visual, and actionable — giving you professional insights in minutes instead of days.
Why Maturity Assessment Is Critical in the Preliminary Phase
A clear maturity baseline helps you:
- Set realistic expectations for the architecture project
- Prioritize improvements in governance, skills, or tooling
- Determine the appropriate level of formality and detail for the ADM cycle
- Communicate current state effectively to sponsors and stakeholders
TOGAF recommends using a structured maturity model (often based on frameworks like CMMI or custom dimensions) and visualizing results — typically with radar (spider) charts to show performance across key areas.
How AI Performs the Maturity Assessment in Visual Paradigm
In the TOGAF Guide-Through, go to the Preliminary Phase activity: Perform Enterprise Architecture Maturity Assessment. The AI-assisted flow is simple and intuitive:
- Describe Your Current State
Provide a natural language summary of your organization’s EA practice — for example: “We have a small central EA team, basic ArchiMate modeling in place, but limited stakeholder involvement, no formal governance board, and tools are used inconsistently across departments.” - AI Analyzes and Scores
The AI evaluates your description against standard maturity dimensions (process, organization, governance, communication, tools & methods, skills & training, etc.). It assigns realistic scores based on TOGAF best practices and common EA maturity models. - Instant Radar Chart Generation
AI creates a professional, easy-to-read radar chart that visualizes your maturity levels across each dimension. Higher scores extend further from the center, making strengths and gaps immediately obvious at a glance.
The radar chart opens directly in Visual Paradigm’s editor. You can:
- Adjust individual scores if needed
- Add notes or evidence for each dimension
- Change colors or labels for stakeholder presentations
- Compare against target maturity levels later in the project
Benefits of AI-Assisted Maturity Assessment
- Speed: From description to visual result in seconds — no spreadsheets or manual graphing required.
- Objectivity & Consistency: AI applies consistent criteria based on TOGAF principles, reducing bias.
- Clear Communication: The radar chart is intuitive for non-technical stakeholders — perfect for executive briefings.
- Actionable Insights: Low-scoring areas are highlighted, helping you prioritize Preliminary Phase recommendations (e.g., establish governance first).
- Reusability: Re-run the assessment later to track progress as your EA capability improves.
This AI feature removes the intimidation factor of maturity assessments, making it accessible even for organizations just beginning their EA journey.
Ready to Assess Your Maturity the Smart Way?
See how quickly and clearly you can understand your organization’s EA maturity level with AI assistance.
Download Visual Paradigm today and start your free trial — enter a short description in the Guide-Through and let AI generate your Enterprise Architecture Maturity radar chart in moments.
Turn one of the most insightful — but often time-consuming — Preliminary Phase steps into a fast, visual, and valuable deliverable.