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# Terms of Reference – System Design Work Order Book (DWOB)

### 1. Purpose
Centralize all system design requests in a transparent **Design Work Order Book (DWOB)** to ensure visibility, fair prioritization, alignment with strategy/capacity, and full traceability.

### 2. Scope
Applies to all formal system design activities (new architectures, major enhancements, PoCs, feasibility studies, regulatory/security designs, cross-team efforts).  
Excludes routine maintenance, bug fixes, minor configs.

### 3. Key Roles
| Role                        | Main Responsibilities                                      |
|-----------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Requestor / Sponsor         | Submits request, provides business case & priority, delivers prerequisites |
| Design Authority            | Owns DWOB, chairs prioritization/gating, final go/no-go           |
| DWOB Coordinator (SPOC)     | Registers requests, maintains live book, schedules meetings, tracks prerequisites |
| Design Review Board (optional) | Reviews high-impact items                                      |
| Resource Managers           | Commit capacity, name designers                                    |
| Lead Designer               | Delivers the design package after kickoff                          |

### 4. DWOB Minimum Fields
WO ID | Date | Requestor/Sponsor | Project | Title | Priority | ROM Effort | Need-by Date | Status (New → … → Completed) | Scoping Date | Lead Designer | Prerequisites (list + RAG) | Risks | Go/No-Go Date

### 5. Process Flow
1. **Registration**  
   Requestor submits via template → Coordinator acknowledges (≤2 days), assigns WO ID, enters in live DWOB.
2. **Scope Clarification** (mandatory, ≤5 days after registration)  
   30-60 min workshop (Requestor, Design Authority, Coordinator, prospective Lead). Produces: agreed scope, deliverables, ROM effort, prerequisite list, risks. Minutes attached ≤2 days.
3. **Prioritization & Resourcing** (weekly standing meeting)  
   Design Authority ranks using business priority, strategy, risk, ROI, deadlines, capacity. Resource Managers confirm/nominate staff → resources assigned.
4. **Prerequisite Gate & Kickoff**  
   Requestor delivers prerequisites (tracked RAG). When all green + resources confirmed → Design Authority authorizes kickoff → Lead Designer starts work.
5. **Execution & Closure**  
   Standard design process → sign-off → status = Completed + actual effort recorded.

### 6. Typical Prerequisites (confirmed in scoping)
- Approved requirements/spec  
- Funding/budget code  
- Reference architecture & interfaces  
- Test environment access  
- SME availability  
- Initial security/compliance artefacts  
- Resolved dependencies  
- Tools/licenses

### 7. Governance & Reporting
- Live DWOB (SharePoint/Jira/dashboard) = single source of truth, read-access for all stakeholders.  
- Weekly dashboard (Mon): top 10, aging, resource load, blockers.  
- Monthly summary to leadership: throughput, bottlenecks, utilization.

### 8. Escalation
Design Authority → Program Steering Committee → CTO/VP Engineering.

### 9. Review
Annual or after major org changes.

**Approved by:** Chief System Architect / Design Authority  
**Date:** ____________________  
Effective immediately upon approval.