operating model · version 2026.1
Generic Cloud Infrastructure Operating Model
A vendor-neutral demand-to-operations view with governance, assurance, economics and provider boundaries.
Accessible diagram transcript
Objects
- Product & application teams: Demand and business outcomes (Consumers)
- Cloud Governance / CCoE: Governance routing (Governance)
- Cloud Service Management: Service lifecycle (Service ownership)
- Cloud Architecture: Technical direction (Authorities)
- Platform Engineering: Reusable products (Engineering)
- Cloud Operations: Run and improve (Operations)
- Security & Assurance: Risk and control authority (Authorities)
- FinOps: Economics and action (Governance)
- MSP / technology providers: Delegated execution (Providers)
Directed relationships
- consumer → governance: qualify (handoff)
- governance → service: route (handoff)
- service → architecture: requirements (handoff)
- architecture → engineering: direction (handoff)
- engineering → operations: accept (handoff)
- governance → security: trigger (authority)
- governance → finops: economics (authority)
- provider → operations: execute (handoff)
- operations → service: performance (feedback)
When to use it
Use as the opening architecture for a Cloud TOM workshop or executive design discussion.
What to challenge
- Separate accountable authority from delivery execution.
- Make every important handoff directional and reviewable.
- Treat this reference pattern as a starting point, not a prescription.
Adapt it responsibly
- Rename functions to match the organization vocabulary.
- Remove elements that are genuinely out of scope.
- Validate decision rights and handoffs with accountable stakeholders.
Model contents
9 objects and 9 directed relationships. Every object keeps a stable semantic ID.
One model, multiple representations
The browser view and editable file are generated from the same canonical graph, so labels, roles and relationship direction stay aligned.
Clear visual grammar
Shape, color and connector style distinguish actors, governance, authorities, services, engineering, operations and providers.