AWS Cloud Adoption Framework (AWS CAF)

Six core perspectives of the Cloud Adoption Framework

At the highest level, the AWS Cloud Adoption Framework (AWS CAF) organizes guidance into six areas of focus, called Perspectives. Each Perspective addresses distinct responsibilities. The planning process helps the right people across the organization prepare for the changes ahead.

In general, the Business, People, and Governance Perspectives focus on business capabilities, whereas the Platform, Security, and Operations Perspectives focus on technical capabilities.

To learn more, select the + symbol next to each category.

 

Business Perspective

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The Business Perspective ensures that IT aligns with business needs and that IT investments link to key business results.

 

Use the Business Perspective to create a strong business case for cloud adoption and prioritize cloud adoption initiatives. Ensure that your business strategies and goals align with your IT strategies and goals.

 

Common roles in the Business Perspective include: 

• Business managers
• Finance managers
• Budget owners
• Strategy stakeholders

 

 

People Perspective

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The People Perspective supports development of an organization-wide change management strategy for successful cloud adoption.

 

Use the People Perspective to evaluate organizational structures and roles, new skill and process requirements, and identify gaps. This helps prioritize training, staffing, and organizational changes.

 

Common roles in the People Perspective include: 

• Human resources
• Staffing
• People managers

 

Governance Perspective

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The Governance Perspective focuses on the skills and processes to align IT strategy with business strategy. This ensures that you maximize the business value and minimize risks.

 

Use the Governance Perspective to understand how to update the staff skills and processes necessary to ensure business governance in the cloud. Manage and measure cloud investments to evaluate business outcomes.

 

Common roles in the Governance Perspective include: 

• Chief Information Officer (CIO)
• Program managers
• Enterprise architects
• Business analysts
• Portfolio managers

 

Platform Perspective

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The Platform Perspective includes principles and patterns for implementing new solutions on the cloud, and migrating on-premises workloads to the cloud.

 

Use a variety of architectural models to understand and communicate the structure of IT systems and their relationships. Describe the architecture of the target state environment in detail.

 

Common roles in the Platform Perspective include: 

• Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
• IT managers
• Solutions architects

 

Security Perspective

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The Security Perspective ensures that the organization meets security objectives for visibility, auditability, control, and agility. 

 

Use the AWS CAF to structure the selection and implementation of security controls that meet the organization’s needs.

 

Common roles in the Security Perspective include: 

• Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)
• IT security managers
• IT security analysts

 

Operations Perspective

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The Operations Perspective helps you to enable, run, use, operate, and recover IT workloads to the level agreed upon with your business stakeholders.

 

Define how day-to-day, quarter-to-quarter, and year-to-year business is conducted. Align with and support the operations of the business. The AWS CAF helps these stakeholders define current operating procedures and identify the process changes and training needed to implement successful cloud adoption.

 

Common roles in the Operations Perspective include: 

• IT operations managers
• IT support managers