Architecture services · Perth · ASX: STH

Every system is somebody’s decision, made years ago.

Enterprise, solution, data, integration, security and cloud architecture — from Perth, by resident architects.

StepChange, with BroadReach Consulting, runs a dedicated Business and ICT architecture practice — one of the largest specialist architect groups in Perth. Every consultant is a WA resident. We do not offshore. Our mid-to-late career architects average more than fifteen years of demonstrable experience, and most are certified across more than one architecture domain.

How we work Case studies

Providing architecture services

Specialist architects

Average experience per architect

WA-based resident consultants

How we practise

A dedicated architecture practice, resident in WA.

StepChange, with BroadReach Consulting — a wholly owned part of the group — runs a dedicated Business and ICT architecture practice, and one of the largest specialist architect groups in Perth. We architect the answer, and we are not paid on implementing it. That independence is the point.

Resident

Resident, not offshored

All of our architects live and work in Western Australia and can legally work in Australia. We do not offshore any part of the service. For government clients with sovereignty, security-clearance and accountability obligations, that is not a preference — it is a precondition.

Standards

TOGAF ADM and SABSA

Our enterprise architecture practice is underpinned by the TOGAF standard and its Architecture Development Method, adapted to each client’s organisational needs rather than imposed whole. Where security is the driver we apply SABSA.

Depth

Multi-domain by design

Most of our architects hold TOGAF, ArchiMate, Azure or AWS certification and work across more than one architecture domain. That matters because the expensive problems sit at the joins — between solution and integration, between data and security.

The Architecture Development Method

Nine phases, and a cycle that actually closes.

Our practice is underpinned by the TOGAF standard and its Architecture Development Method — adapted to each organisation rather than administered to it.

Preliminary

Set up the architecture capability — framework, principles, governance and repository.

A · Architecture vision

Establish scope, stakeholders, constraints and the business case — before modelling begins.

B · Business architecture

Capability, process, value stream and operating model — the layer most organisations skip.

C · Information systems

Application and data layers together — so a data strategy is an architecture, not a document.

D · Technology architecture

Application and data layers together — so a data strategy is an architecture, not a document.

E · Opportunities & solutions

Solution options, trade-offs and costed choices — the phase where an architecture either becomes a programme or stays a slide pack.

F · Migration planning

Transition architectures and roadmaps that deliver value in coherent increments.

G · Implementation governance

Technical assurance while there is still time to correct course.

H · Architecture change

Keep the architecture a living asset — Phase H feeds the next Architecture Vision.

Where we work

Depth on an account, not breadth across a brochure.

Selected engagements. Further work across local government, resources, health, emergency services and the not-for-profit sector is described on request.

Continuous since 2008

WA Police Force

Sixteen years across every architecture discipline — enterprise blueprints and IT strategy, solution and application architecture, integration platform requirements and Azure API gateway assurance, data reference models, and digital policing design oversight.

Continuous since 2019

Department of Communities

Six years of enterprise and solution architecture — strategic direction and standards, child protection platform future-state blueprint and implementation support, and data and integration roadmap for access, security and analytics.

Current engagement

Synergy

Enterprise, solution and data architecture at organisational level — data strategy, architecture across generation transition and renewable platforms, and review of the architecture function operating model.

Architecture domains

Eight domains, and architects who cross between them.

Organised by the problem an organisation brings us. Three commitments run through all of them.

Vendor-independent

We architect the answer and are not paid on the implementation of it, so the recommendation is not shaped by what we would prefer to build afterwards.

Standards-based

TOGAF and the ADM, ArchiMate for modelling, SABSA where security drives, DMBOK for data — recognised by your auditors as well as by us.

Resident and accountable

WA-based residents on every engagement, no offshoring, and named architects who are still there when the design is being built.

Eight domains — select any one to see the detail.

“We have an ICT strategy, a portfolio of projects, and no way to tell whether the projects add up to the strategy.”

We establish the enterprise-wide picture — business, information, application and technology dimensions together — then produce blueprints and roadmaps that connect investment decisions to strategic intent. Where an architecture function does not yet exist, we establish it, including the repository and the governance around it.

Services
Multi-year ICT strategic plans and future-state blueprints Enterprise architecture blueprints across business, information, application and technology dimensions Architecture requirements specifications and definition documents IT operating model definition, including IT4IT-framed value chains Architecture practice establishment and repository implementation Information management strategic plans Architecture function operating-model review and improvement
Key artefacts
Architecture Requirements Specification Architecture Definition Document Enterprise Architecture Blueprints Technology and architecture roadmaps IT strategic plan
Delivery Model

Embedded enterprise architects, strategic blueprint engagements, and architecture practice establishment.

“Every business unit describes what it does differently, so we cannot tell where capability is duplicated or where it is missing entirely.”

We map capability, business services, value streams and processes so the organisation has one description of itself. On programmes, we hold the architecture across workstreams — managing design and dependency so the programme lands within its cost, risk and time constraints rather than discovering the architecture at integration.

Services
Level 1 and 2 business capability mapping Business services catalogue and business architecture principles Value stream mapping and high-level process architecture Business capability models shaping whole-of-enterprise organisational redesign Programme architecture design and delivery assurance End-to-end service mapping across process, KPIs, capability, systems and data Business architecture playbooks and mentoring for internal practitioners
Key artefacts
Business capability model Business services catalogue Value stream maps Operating model Programme architecture and roadmap
Delivery Model

Business architecture engagements, programme architecture leadership, and capability uplift for an internal practice.

“We are about to commit to a solution, and the only comparison we have is what each vendor says about themselves.”

We translate business requirements into solution designs, model the options against cost, benefit and risk, and then produce the architecture the build actually follows. The work is deliberately vendor-independent: our advice is not shaped by what we would prefer to implement afterwards.

Services
High-level solution architecture and detailed solution design Solution options and trade-off analysis with costs, benefits and risks modelled Current, transition and future state architecture aligned to the EA framework Application domain principles, registers, reference models and heat maps Technical feasibility assessment of off-the-shelf and custom options Procurement support, vendor proposal review and market scans Design authority engagement and solution design approval
Key artefacts
High Level Solution Architecture Detailed Solution Design Solution options evaluation Application register and heat map Non-functional requirements specification
Delivery Model

Project and programme solution architecture, procurement and options advisory, and multi-vendor team participation.

“We are being asked to improve data access and analytics, and we cannot say with confidence what data we hold, where it lives or who owns it.”

We build the information models, data reference models and classification frameworks that make data governable, then map entities and flows across the systems that matter. The output is a roadmap from a real current state — including its risks — rather than a target state with no route to it.

Services
Enterprise and common information models Data reference models and classification frameworks Data governance policy, stewardship and custodianship frameworks Data classification, lifecycle management and metadata documentation standards Data entity and entity-flow mapping across class 1 and 2 information systems Master, copy and reference-copy data asset identification Business intelligence and analytics architecture, and data strategy development
Key artefacts
Enterprise Information Model Data governance policy framework Data classification tools and reports Current-state data risk assessment Future state, operating model and delivery roadmap
Delivery Model

Data architecture engagements, data strategy development, and embedded data and integration architecture.

“Every project builds its own point-to-point connection, and nobody can tell us what the total integration estate now looks like.”

We establish integration architecture governance — patterns, standards and processes — then hold it as the estate changes. That includes the platform decisions themselves: requirements, procurement and assurance for enterprise service buses and API gateway services, and the transition between them.

Services
Enterprise integration architecture governance, patterns and standards Integration platform requirements, procurement and assurance API gateway service architecture and transition from legacy integration platforms Integration and SOA governance models Interface catalogues and end-to-end flow validation Project-based API development, including public APIs for external integrators Strategic roadmaps and statements of direction for integration
Key artefacts
Integration architecture and interface catalogue Integration / SOA governance model Integration patterns and standards API platform roadmap
Delivery Model

Integration architecture leadership, platform procurement advisory, and ongoing integration governance.

“Our security investment is a list of products. We cannot explain to the board which business risk each one addresses.”

We apply the SABSA framework so security architecture starts from business objectives and risk appetite and works down to controls — which is what makes it defensible to a board and auditable afterwards. The work spans network, application, data, endpoint, cloud and identity, with governance and policy aligned behind it.

Services
SABSA-based security architecture aligned to business risk Network and application security design Information and data security architecture Endpoint, cloud and cyber security architecture Identity and access management architecture Security governance and policy alignment Security risk assessment of project and solution designs
Key artefacts
Security architecture and control mapping Security risk assessment InfoSec policy and controls audit report IAM architecture
Delivery Model

Security architecture engagements, independent security risk assessment of a design, and IAM architecture leadership.

“We have been told to move to cloud. What we need is an assessment of which workloads should move, which should not, and what each option actually commits us to.”

We define technology principles and reference models, map capability to expose gaps, and set the statements of direction for major platforms. On cloud specifically we work across lift-and-shift and transformation paths, co-location, private and public cloud — and we are explicit about the workloads where the answer is to stay.

Services
Technology domain principles and governance Technology reference models and capability mapping Cloud architecture and tenancy frameworks across Azure and AWS Workload analysis for co-location, private cloud and public cloud transition Support model development for new transformation services Statements of direction for major technology capabilities Network and communications assurance for scale and new data-flow requirements
Key artefacts
Technology architecture Technology reference model Cloud tenancy framework Workload transition analysis Digital capability framework
Delivery Model

Technical architecture engagements, cloud transition advisory, and platform assurance.

“We have an architecture team and an architecture standard, and projects still go live having ignored both.”

We establish governance that actually intersects delivery: patterns and standards, terms of reference and decision rights, and technical assurance applied while a design can still be changed. On greenfield practices we stand the whole function up, including governance over the incoming demand pipeline.

Services
Architecture governance models and terms of reference for governance bodies Greenfield architecture governance processes and practices for an IT demand pipeline Technical assurance that delivery adheres to the approved architecture design Gateway reviews and architecture assessment reports Architecture standards, guidelines, patterns and templates InfoSec policy and controls audit reporting Independent architecture review and delivery assurance
Key artefacts
Architecture governance model Terms of reference and decision rights Gateway review Architecture assessment report
Delivery Model

Governance framework establishment, standing design-authority participation, and independent assurance of an architecture already in flight.

Start a conversation

Get the design right before it becomes expensive.

Whether it is a target state you need defined, a solution decision you need tested independently, an architecture practice to establish, or a programme that needs design authority with actual authority — talk to the architects who would do the work.

Email us +61 8 9324 1020