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ADR-0012: Platform-First Roadmap for the Ecosystem

  • Status: accepted
  • Deciders: ConnectSoft Architecture Team
  • Date: 2026-06-10

Context and Problem Statement

The ecosystem spans core platform, horizontals, and many verticals. We must decide what to build first. Building verticals before the platform that powers them causes duplication and rework.

Decision Drivers

  • Verticals and horizontals depend on identity, tenancy, config, billing, notifications, and audit.
  • Reusable platform capabilities pay back across many products.
  • Existing decisions (ADR-0004, ADR-0005) already prioritize the core platform.

Considered Options

Option 1: Build the most exciting verticals first

  • Fast demo value but massive duplication and rework. Rejected.

Option 2: Platform first, then factory, then horizontals, then verticals (Selected)

Decision

Sequence investment platform-first, following the implementation waves:

  1. Phase 1 core platform (Tier 0-1): Tenant, Identity, Config, Billing, Notifications, Audit, Infra/SRE.
  2. Phase 2 developer/platform factory, API/integration, data/AI.
  3. Phase 3 horizontal SaaS.
  4. Phase 4+ verticals, marketplace, advanced factory.

This is consistent with the existing Core Platform Wave and the five SaaS cycles (see roadmap alignment).

Rationale

  • Each layer depends on the one below; building bottom-up avoids rework.
  • Maximizes reuse and minimizes duplication.

Consequences

Positive

  • Verticals become fast to assemble once the platform exists.

Negative

  • Slower time-to-first-vertical; mitigated by reusing existing Live platforms (Identity, Config, Audit).