oci-deal-accelerator/docs/define-phase.md

DEFINE Phase — Detailed Guide

The DEFINE phase identifies the customer's business problem and builds commitment to solve it. Output: a scoped Value Story and a Joint Engagement Plan.

Steps

1. Ideate

Create a value hypothesis expressed in the customer's business terms — not Oracle features.

Inputs:

• Discovery notes (unstructured)
• Customer's public filings, strategy docs, press releases
• Industry patterns from kb/patterns/business-patterns.yaml
• Business Drivers Framework from kb/patterns/business-drivers.yaml

Activities:

• Build Customer Profile (templates/customer-profile.yaml) — strategic goals, Oracle footprint, industry analysis
• Build Strategy Map (templates/strategy-map.yaml) — goals → strategies → capabilities → enablers
• Parse discovery notes into structured Workload Profile
• Identify 1-3 business drivers using the four pillars (Strategic, Financial, Business Ops, IT Ops)
• Formulate 1+ Points of View, evaluate each against SMART criteria
• Select the strongest PoV as the value hypothesis
• Cross-reference with kb/patterns/application-patterns.yaml for proven solutions
• Map to hypothesis family from kb/patterns/business-drivers.yaml

Output: Customer Profile + Strategy Map + Draft Value Story (templates/value-story.yaml)

ECAL Artefacts: See kb/patterns/ecal-artefacts-catalog.yaml DEF-01 through DEF-06 Engagement RACI: See kb/patterns/engagement-raci.yaml define.ideate

2. Validate

Test the hypothesis against the customer's reality.

Activities:

• Review value story for SMART criteria (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-based)
• Identify gaps in discovery data — list what we assumed vs. what we confirmed
• Check: Is the hypothesis bold enough? Is there enough urgency?
• Validate technical feasibility against kb/services/ and kb/compatibility/

Validation checklist:

- [ ] Business driver clearly identified and quantifiable
- [ ] Desired outcome is SMART
- [ ] Technical feasibility confirmed (no blockers in feature matrix)
- [ ] Customer sponsor identified
- [ ] Urgency driver exists (EOL, contract, compliance deadline, competitive threat)

Output: Validated Value Story with confidence flags

3. Plan

If the hypothesis is compelling, create a Joint Engagement Plan for the DESIGN phase.

Activities:

• Define engagement tier (small/standard/complex) — see engagement-tiers.md
• Timebox the DESIGN phase (typically 2-6 weeks)
• Identify resources needed (SA, specialists, customer stakeholders)
• Define success criteria for the DESIGN phase itself

Output: Joint Engagement Plan (templates/joint-engagement-plan.yaml)

Engagement Tier Selection

The tier determines artifact depth. Select based on:

Signal	Small	Standard	Complex
# Applications	1-2	3-10	10+
Compliance	None	1 framework	Multiple
Regions	1	1-2	3+
Integration points	0-2	3-5	5+
Budget sensitivity	Low	Medium	High
Timeline	< 4 weeks	4-12 weeks	12+ weeks

See engagement-tiers.md for full tier definitions and artifact mapping.

Iterative Checkpoint

Before moving to DESIGN, verify:

- [ ] Value Story approved by architect (and ideally customer sponsor)
- [ ] Workload Profile has < 3 critical gaps
- [ ] Engagement tier selected
- [ ] Joint Engagement Plan agreed (timebox, resources, success criteria)

If the value story isn't compelling, iterate: refine the hypothesis or pick another one.