Version 8.6 of the SARM spreadsheet has now been released. It contains the following changes:

• Introduction of a new ‘Hybrid’ approach to benefit allocation. This blends the ‘Derived’ and ‘Assigned’ approaches, allowing you to assign a benefit amount to some scenarios while leaving the system to allocate the balance to the remaining scenarios using the same weighted method applied in the ‘Derived’ approach.
• The Solution – Scenario Risks worksheet now contains the Characteristic and Sub-characteristic associated with each Scenario as well as an index number. The index number was found to be useful when exporting this data (for example, to create a simple scoring sheet for evaluators) as it facilitates reconciliation between those sheets and the original list of scenarios.
• A formula error in the ‘Overall Average’ column of the Stakeholder Views worksheet was corrected.

You can now download a populated copy of the spreadsheet tool containing the simple ‘Journey to Work’ example that is used in the SARM training workshops.  Go to the download page and select your choice of spreadsheet file from the dropdown list.

IRM invited me to publish a short article about architecture reviews in their official blog, IRM Connects.  You can see the result here.

I’m delighted to be running a half-day workshop on SARM at the IRM Enterprise Architecture Conference Europe in London on 22nd October.  If you want to learn more about SARM and how to make it work for you, then please join me for this hands-on walk through SARM.

http://ow.ly/S7UE30kKDLh