IT Security Architecture Decision Record (ADR) Change Request

Streamline Security Architecture Changes with Paperform

Managing IT security architecture changes requires clear documentation, structured decision-making, and transparent approval processes. This Security Architecture Decision Record (ADR) Change Request template helps IT teams, security architects, and infrastructure professionals document critical security decisions with proper rationale, technical context, and stakeholder sign-off—all in one professional, easy-to-use form.

Why Use This Security ADR Template?

Security architecture decisions have long-lasting impacts on your organization's risk posture, compliance requirements, and operational capabilities. Without proper documentation and approval workflows, teams face:

• Lost institutional knowledge when architects move on
• Unclear rationale behind past decisions that leads to repeated debates
• Compliance gaps from undocumented security choices
• Delayed approvals due to scattered email chains and missing information
• Implementation risks from insufficient stakeholder review

This template solves these challenges by providing a structured framework for capturing security architecture decisions, technical alternatives considered, risk assessments, and formal approval chains—ensuring every security change is properly documented and appropriately authorized.

Perfect For IT Teams and Security Professionals

This form template is designed for:

• Security Architects documenting authentication, encryption, network segmentation, and access control decisions
• IT Managers seeking approval for infrastructure security changes and architectural modifications
• DevSecOps Teams recording security tooling choices, CI/CD security gates, and deployment architecture decisions
• Compliance Officers ensuring security changes meet regulatory requirements and audit standards
• Cloud Architects documenting security configurations for AWS, Azure, GCP, and hybrid environments
• Infrastructure Teams requesting changes to firewalls, VPNs, identity systems, and security monitoring tools

What's Included in This Template

The Security Architecture Decision Record form captures comprehensive information needed for proper governance:

Change Overview & Context

• Decision title and unique reference number
• Business driver and strategic context
• Current security posture description
• Problem statement requiring architectural change
• Stakeholders and impacted systems

Technical Evaluation

• Detailed description of proposed solution
• Alternative approaches considered with pros/cons analysis
• Technical requirements and dependencies
• Security implications and threat modeling considerations
• Performance, scalability, and operational impact

Risk Assessment

• Security risks introduced or mitigated
• Compliance and regulatory considerations
• Business continuity and disaster recovery impact
• Data privacy implications
• Reversibility and rollback procedures

Approval Workflow

• Primary requestor and technical owner identification
• Architecture review board submission
• CISO/Security leadership approval
• Supporting documentation and diagrams
• Implementation timeline and resource requirements

Automate Your Architecture Review Process

While this form provides the perfect starting point for capturing security ADRs, you can supercharge your change management workflow by connecting it to Stepper, Paperform's AI-native workflow automation platform.

With Stepper, you can automatically:

• Route approvals based on risk level, impacted systems, or budget thresholds
• Notify stakeholders in Slack or Microsoft Teams when reviews are pending
• Create tickets in Jira, ServiceNow, or Linear for implementation tracking
• Update documentation in Confluence, Notion, or SharePoint with approved decisions
• Log changes in your CMDB or configuration management database
• Schedule review meetings when architecture board input is required
• Archive decisions in your knowledge base with proper categorization
• Trigger compliance workflows when regulatory review is needed

This means your security architecture decisions flow seamlessly from submission through approval to implementation—with full audit trails and zero manual handoffs.

Built for Security-First Organizations

This template follows industry best practices for architecture decision records, incorporating elements from:

• ADR methodology popularized by Michael Nygard
• TOGAF architecture governance frameworks
• NIST cybersecurity framework guidance on security controls documentation
• ISO 27001 information security management requirements
• Cloud security alliance architecture review best practices

Whether you're managing a startup's security posture or an enterprise's complex security infrastructure, this template provides the structure you need while remaining flexible enough to adapt to your organization's specific governance requirements.

Ensure Compliance and Auditability

For organizations in regulated industries—financial services, healthcare, government, or any SOC 2/ISO 27001 certified environment—proper documentation of security architecture decisions isn't optional. This template ensures:

• Complete audit trails of who requested changes and who approved them
• Timestamped records of when security decisions were made
• Rationale documentation showing due diligence in security decision-making
• Risk assessment evidence demonstrating proper consideration of security implications
• Approval evidence proving appropriate authorization levels

You can even integrate Papersign to collect formal eSignatures from security leadership, compliance officers, or audit committees when architectural changes require contractual-level approval or have significant risk implications.

Customizable to Your Security Governance Process

Every organization has unique security governance requirements. This template is fully customizable in Paperform's intuitive editor—no coding required. You can:

• Add conditional logic to show different questions based on risk level or change type
• Include dropdown menus with your organization's approved security tools and frameworks
• Attach supporting documents like threat models, architecture diagrams, or security assessments
• Customize approval workflows to match your organizational hierarchy
• Brand the form to match your IT department's visual identity
• Embed directly into your intranet or internal wiki

Get Started with Professional IT Change Management

Transform how your organization documents and approves security architecture decisions. This template provides the foundation for transparent, well-documented, and properly governed security changes that protect your organization while enabling innovation.

With Paperform's powerful automation capabilities, SOC 2 Type II compliance, and enterprise-grade security, you can trust your most sensitive security decisions are captured, approved, and stored with the highest standards of data protection.

Start building better security architecture governance today—because every security decision deserves proper documentation and thoughtful approval.