What an Azure Architecture Decision Record Should Include

Quick Answer

An Azure Architecture Decision Record should capture the decision, context, options considered, owner, tradeoffs, implementation actions, and revisit trigger.

Use ADRs for choices that affect cost, security, identity, hosting, AI, operations, or future delivery. Do not create ADRs for every small preference.

When This Matters

Use an ADR when a meeting decision needs to survive beyond the meeting.

Good ADR candidates:

• Static Web Apps versus Container Apps
• public endpoint versus private endpoint
• hub and spoke versus simpler network structure
• Azure AI Search data boundary
• model deployment and region choice
• logging retention and cost ownership
• subscription and landing zone structure

If changing the decision later would cost money, create a record.

What To Decide

An Azure ADR should include:

1. Decision title.
2. Status: proposed, accepted, superseded, or rejected.
3. Business context.
4. Azure context.
5. Options considered.
6. Accepted decision.
7. Consequences and tradeoffs.
8. Owner and approver.
9. Implementation actions.
10. Revisit trigger.

Keep the ADR short enough for a future engineer to read.

Azure Components

ADRs often reference:

• subscriptions and management groups
• Entra ID, RBAC, PIM, and managed identities
• networking, private endpoints, firewall, and DNS
• Azure Policy and Defender for Cloud
• Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, and Application Insights
• Container Apps, Static Web Apps, Functions, or App Service
• Azure AI Foundry, AI Search, and model deployments
• Bicep, Terraform, and GitHub Actions

Name the components affected by the decision. Avoid vague platform language.

Microsoft Alignment

Tie the ADR to the guidance that informed the choice:

• Cloud Adoption Framework for operating model and governance
• Azure Landing Zone guidance for environment structure
• Well Architected Framework for workload tradeoffs
• Azure AI Foundry guidance for AI production design

The framework reference should explain the decision. It should not pad the document.

Common Mistakes

• Writing a long essay instead of a decision record.
• Recording only the accepted choice and not the rejected options.
• Leaving out the owner.
• Skipping the cost and operations consequences.
• Creating ADRs after implementation instead of before approval.
• Publishing client ADRs as public content.

An ADR without an owner becomes old documentation fast.

RedDogSME Recommendation

Use ADRs when the choice needs a durable record. In Azure Architecture Assessment, ADRs help structure the decisions that should be approved before Pilot to Production Build. In Architecture Office or Managed Governance, ADRs help recurring architecture work stay consistent.

Client ADRs should stay in protected delivery records. Public guides can explain the approach with sanitized examples only.

What To Bring

Bring the Azure choice, options considered, owner, cost implication, security implication, and implementation timing to the first call.