Tooling Adoption Roadmap
Tooling Adoption Roadmap
Section titled “Tooling Adoption Roadmap”Track tool adoption decisions and status across each transformation phase. Update as decisions are made and deployments progress.
Organisation: Last updated: Owner:
Phase 1 — Foundation
Section titled “Phase 1 — Foundation”Target: minimal viable toolchain to support one end-to-end automated workflow.
| Category | Decision | Tool / Approach | Status | Owner | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Source of Truth | YAML in Git (recommended start) | Not started / Evaluating / Decided / Deployed | |||
| Version Control | GitHub / GitLab (follow org standard) | ||||
| Automation Framework | Ansible / Nornir | ||||
| CI/CD Pipeline | GitLab CI / GitHub Actions (follow org standard) | ||||
| Testing — Linting | yamllint, ansible-lint | Deploy from day one | |||
| Testing — SoT Intent | Custom Python (build) | Start simple; extend with each new intent |
Phase 1 toolchain decision date: Phase 1 toolchain approved by:
Phase 2 — Scale
Section titled “Phase 2 — Scale”Target: expanded toolchain supporting broader coverage, compliance evidence, and pilot orchestration.
| Category | Decision | Tool / Approach | Status | Owner | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Testing — Model-based | Batfish | Add as automation coverage expands | |||
| Observability — Telemetry | gNMI/SNMP + collector | ||||
| Observability — Logging | Adopt enterprise standard | ||||
| Drift Detection | Oxidized | ||||
| Compliance Evidence | Pipeline artefacts + log export | ||||
| Workflow Orchestration | Evaluate and pilot | Do not deploy to production in Phase 2 |
Orchestration platform evaluated: Orchestration pilot scope: Orchestration production decision date (target):
Phase 3 — Platform
Section titled “Phase 3 — Platform”Target: production orchestration, potential SoT migration, post-deployment live device testing.
| Category | Decision | Tool / Approach | Status | Owner | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Workflow Orchestration | ServiceNow / Itential / StackStorm / AWX | Production deployment | |||
| Source of Truth | Reassess: remain YAML or migrate to NetBox/Nautobot | ||||
| Testing — Live Device | pyATS | Post-deployment verification for critical changes | |||
| Dashboarding | Adopt enterprise standard | Aligned with Chapter 13 |
Phase 4 — Adaptive
Section titled “Phase 4 — Adaptive”Target: high-fidelity telemetry for AI-assisted operations; evaluate AI/ML tooling.
| Category | Decision | Tool / Approach | Status | Owner | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Telemetry | Streaming telemetry gNMI/gRPC | Replace/augment SNMP polling | |||
| AI/ML — Anomaly Detection | Evaluate | Requires telemetry data foundation | |||
| AI/ML — Intent Assistance | Evaluate | Requires structured intent model | |||
| Event-driven Orchestration | StackStorm or equivalent | If event-driven closed loops are in scope |
Open Decisions
Section titled “Open Decisions”Decisions not yet made that are blocking or time-sensitive.
| Decision | Options | Due | Owner | Blocking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Decision Log
Section titled “Decision Log”Record significant tooling decisions with rationale as they are made.
| Date | Category | Decision | Rationale | ADR Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Buy vs Build Decisions
Section titled “Buy vs Build Decisions”Record explicit build decisions — where the team has decided to build rather than buy/adopt — with justification.
| Capability | Decision | Justification | Owner | Review Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SoT intent checks | Build | Encodes our specific design intents; no commercial product provides this | ||
| Build | ||||
| Build |
Reminder: Every component you build is a product you must support. Review build decisions annually.
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