WA Government Architecture Decision Records
Status: Accepted | Date: 2026-07-11 | Review: 2027-07-11
Reusable architecture patterns for WA Government digital services, maintained by the Office of Digital Government (DGOV) Digital Transformation and Technology Unit (DTT).
For WA Public Sector Agencies
These decisions and patterns help agencies design secure digital services without starting from scratch. They support WA Government security outcomes but do not by themselves prove project or agency compliance.
Getting Started
- Review the ADR Design Guardrails - Six guiding principles for all technology decisions
- Use the Decision Finder - Match a project need to the right ADRs and reference architectures
- Choose a Reference Architecture - Accepted architectures are active
project-kickoff guidance. Proposed architectures require project approval and
approval of their Proposed dependencies:
- Proposed: AI-Assisted Digital Services - Low-risk AI assistance for services, staff workflows, CMS, and portals
- Accepted: Content Management - Websites, intranets, and content portals
- Accepted: Data Pipelines - Analytics, reporting, and data processing
- Proposed: Federated Application Portal - Standalone apps using shared account, identity, notification, and SDK services
- Proposed: Identity Federation - OIDC, legacy SAML, and privileged federation
- Accepted: OpenAPI Backends - Agency-controlled HTTP APIs
- Check the Compliance Mapping - Find which ADRs apply to your security and compliance requirements
Find Guidance by Need
| If you need to… | Start with |
|---|---|
| Add AI assistance to a digital service or staff workflow | AI-Assisted Digital Services |
| Launch a public website, intranet, or portal | Content Management |
| Federate multiple standalone apps with shared account, identity, notification, or SDK services | Federated Application Portal |
| Build reports, analytics, or data processing | Data Pipelines |
| Add OIDC or legacy SAML federation | Identity Federation |
| Build an agency-controlled HTTP API | OpenAPI Backends |
| Check controls, standards, and policy coverage | Compliance Mapping |
| Check ADR status, review dates, and dependencies | ADR Catalogue |
| Review proposed guidance before adoption | Proposed Decision Backlog |
| Review whether guidance is current | Annual Review Schedule |
Compliance Alignment
These ADRs align with:
- WA Cyber Security Policy
- ACSC Information Security Manual (ISM)
- WA Government AI Policy and Assurance Framework
Supporting training: DGOV Technical - DevSecOps Induction
Browse online | Printable long view
Contributing
New ADRs document the context (problem), decision (solution), and consequences (trade-offs). See the Contributing Guide for workflow and templates.
For AI-assisted contributions, see the guidance in CONTRIBUTING.md.
All maintained guidance includes a review date. Set review dates one year after the document date unless a shorter review cycle is needed.
Repository Structure
This project uses mdBook to generate documentation:
development/,operations/,security/- ADRs by domainreference-architectures/- Project kickoff templatesSUMMARY.md- Navigation structure
just setup # One-time tool installation
just serve # Preview locally (port 8080)
just build # Build website and print view