Content Comparison

Triggers

Triggers initiate the Strategic Response Model by representing a change in context, observationidentifying changes, observations, or external condition that warrants attention. Each Trigger may lead to one or more Rationales, each providing a specific justification for change. Triggers ensure that organisational decisions are not made opportunities that warrant a strategic or operational response. Each trigger represents a catalyst—whether anticipated or unanticipated—that compels the organisation to act. See: Strategic Response Model

Triggers serve as the evidentiary foundation for change, ensuring that strategic initiatives and responses are not conceived in a vacuum, but are grounded in evidence or obligation.See: https://orthogramic.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/OM/pages/286228485

A trigger is defined as a catalyst event—internal or external—that compels an organisation to adapt. It is not a standalone structural element but a contextual stimulus that prompts changes to strategy, activates capabilities, or demands cross-functional coordination. Triggers may include legislative changes, customer demands, or performance breaches.

A Trigger is not a standalone structural element of an organisation but an external or internal event, condition, or hypothesis that causes the organisation to:

• Mobilise capabilities,

• Evaluate policies,

• Adjust strategies,

• Initiate new initiatives,

• Coordinate across services and information flows.

In the Orthogramic Metamodel:

• Trigger is a supporting artifact, not a domain.

• It is only relevant in the context of a strategicResponseModel.

Trigger Catalogue

Triggers are classified using the Trigger Catalogue, which defines accepted types of triggers.

The trigger catalogue provides a curated and expanding set of predefined triggers that can be used to initiate strategic responses. Each trigger is tagged to relevant business architecture domains, enabling efficient strategic response planning and alignment across organisational activities.

Each strategic response triggered using this catalogue links back to relevant Orthogramic Metamodel domains—such as capabilities, services, initiatives, and stakeholders—to produce a dynamic view of organisational readiness and response.

Common Trigger Catalogue types include:

• Regulatory: New or updated legislation or compliance obligations.

• Performance Insight: Metrics indicating deviation from expected outcomes.

• Risk: Identified operational, financial, or strategic risks.

• Opportunity: Market, partnership, or innovation opportunities.

• Mandate: Governmental or internal directives.

• Stakeholder Need: Explicit demand from a stakeholder or stakeholder group.

Each trigger includes:

• triggerID: Unique identifier

• title: Human-readable label

• description: Detailed summary

• triggerType: From the Trigger Catalogue

• dateDetected: Date the trigger was recognised

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real-world shifts, obligations, or forward-looking insights.

Expanded use: proactive strategic initiatives

Tiggers are not only focused on reactive responses to external or internal conditions—such as regulatory changes, stakeholder demands, or performance shortfalls. However, the Orthogramic Metamodel also supports proactive triggers that signal intentional strategic opportunities rather than external pressures.

These proactive triggers may arise from deliberate internal planning, capability reviews, or innovation roadmaps, and are used to initiate responses even in the absence of external drivers. This positions the trigger taxonomy as a tool for both risk response and opportunity-led transformation.

Examples include:

• Identifying a market expansion initiative in response to positive trend analysis

• Launching a strategic repositioning program based on foresight and scenario modelling

• Enhancing core capabilities to support long-term digital transformation objectives

By supporting anticipatory time horizons and strategic planning origins, the model enables the capture and classification of future-oriented thinking and long-range planning decisions.

Trigger taxonomy

Orthogramic triggers follow a structured taxonomy to ensure clarity, governance, and analytics across strategic responses.

Each trigger includes:

1. Primary category – broad context for the trigger (e.g. Regulatory compliance, Strategic opportunity)

2. Subcategory – specific focus within the category (e.g. Innovation initiative, Market expansion)

3. Origin – where the trigger comes from (Internal, External, Strategic planning, Hybrid)

4. Time horizon – the timeframe of the trigger (Immediate, Short term, Long term, Anticipatory)

5. Impact level – estimated organisational significance

This classification enables:

• Proactive identification of high-value opportunities

• Consistent linkage to rationales and strategic responses

• Improved transparency across strategic planning cycles

• Enhanced auditability and traceability of decisions

Example

The standardized taxonomy also supports governance and auditability by ensuring that triggers are documented according to consistent criteria, making it easier to trace decision-making patterns over time.

Linking to rationales

Triggers can lead to multiple Rationales. Each Rationale references the originating trigger and justifies a different response path. This many-to-one structure allows a single trigger to influence several domains. See: Rationale

Example

See https://orthogramic.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/OM/pages/291242002 for reference cases.

Trigger

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Triggers in the Orthogramic Metamodel follow a standardized classification system that enables consistent categorization, improved searchability, and enhanced analytics. Each trigger is classified according to:

1. Primary Category: The main classification of the trigger (e.g., Regulatory, Technological, Strategic)

2. Subcategory: A more specific classification within the primary category

3. Origin: Whether the trigger is internal or external to the organization

4. Time Horizon: The temporal nature of the trigger (immediate, short-term, long-term)

5. Impact Level: The potential significance of the trigger (low, medium, high, critical)

This taxonomy provides a framework for organizing triggers consistently, allowing organizations to:

• Track patterns in strategic responses across similar trigger types

• Analyze the distribution of triggers by source, timeframe, and impact

• Identify which categories of triggers most frequently drive strategic changes

• Maintain a trigger registry that can be referenced across multiple strategic response models

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and rationale linkage examples

See: https://github.com/Orthogramic/Orthogramic_Metamodel/blob/main/examples/trigger-rationale-links.md

Trigger JSON Schema

See: https://github.com/Orthogramic/Orthogramic_Metamodel

Schema properties

These updated schema properties tables provide a clear overview of the enhanced Trigger and Rationale schemas, including field types, requirement status, descriptions, and example values. The tables reflect the expanded taxonomy features that enable better categorization, analytics, and auditability within the Orthogramic Metamodel.This schema allows organizations to systematically capture and manage triggers that necessitate strategic responses, ensuring traceability and alignment across the enterprise architecture.

Enumeration Values

primaryCategory

• "Regulatory_Compliance" - Changes in laws, regulations, or compliance requirements

• "Strategic_Opportunity" - Forward-looking opportunities to create value

• "Market_Shift" - Changes in customer preferences, competitive landscape, or market dynamics

• "Technological_Change" - Emergence of new technologies or technical disruptions

• "Risk_Management" - Response to identified risks or vulnerabilities

• "Performance_Issue" - Internal operational or business performance challenges

• "Stakeholder_Demand" - Requirements from stakeholders (customers, employees, shareholders)

• "Resource_Constraint" - Limitations in financial, human, or material resources

• "Capability_Enhancement" - Need to develop or improve organizational capabilities

• "Innovation_Initiative" - Internal drive for product, service, or process innovation

origin

• "Internal" - Trigger originates from within the organization

• "External" - Trigger originates from outside the organization

• "Strategic_Planning" - Trigger arises from deliberate strategic planning processes

• "Hybrid" - Trigger has both internal and external components

timeHorizon

• "Immediate" - Requires action within days or weeks

• "Short_Term" - Requires action within months

• "Medium_Term" - Requires action within 1-2 years

• "Long_Term" - Requires action over multiple years

• "Anticipatory" - Proactive planning for future conditions

impactLevel

• "Low" - Limited impact on operations or strategy

• "Medium" - Moderate impact requiring significant adjustment

• "High" - Major impact requiring substantial response

• "Critical" - Existential impact requiring immediate, comprehensive response

status

• "Identified" - Trigger has been recognized but response not yet planned

• "Analyzing" - Trigger is being assessed to determine appropriate response

• "Responding" - Organization is actively responding to the trigger

• "Monitoring" - Response has been implemented and effects are being tracked

• "Resolved" - Trigger has been fully addressed

• "Archived" - Trigger is no longer relevant but retained for reference

• "Ongoing" - Trigger represents a continuing condition requiring sustained response

This schema allows organizations to systematically capture and manage triggers that necessitate strategic responses, ensuring traceability and alignment across the enterprise architecture.

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