> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://guide.exiqtive.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Architect operations
> How Architects maintain institutional knowledge, certify Coaches, and step in as Coaches for a Responsibility.
An **Architect** is an employee who holds the **Architect badge (150% Readiness)** for a specific Responsibility. Like Coach, Architect is a badge level for one Responsibility, not a job title or organizational role.
## What an Architect does
For each Responsibility you hold the Architect badge for, you have three connected duties:
1. **Create and maintain the institutional knowledge** for the Responsibility
2. **Train and certify Coaches**, issuing the Coach badge (125%), to increase training and inspection capacity
3. **Act as a Coach** when needed, to fill inspection capacity directly
## Institutional knowledge
Institutional knowledge is what an employee needs to perform the Responsibility, and what a Coach uses to evaluate that performance. You capture it in two forms:
* **Short videos**
* **Short knowledge articles**
Two operational tools come from that knowledge:
* **Quizzes**: used by the employee to study and self-assess before requesting inspection
* **Inspection Protocols**: used by the Coach during inspection to evaluate the employee's knowledge, abilities, and behavior
That's why the Architect badge represents 150% Readiness: you don't just do the work, you shape how everyone else learns it and is evaluated on it.
### What "maintain" means
Maintaining institutional knowledge is ongoing, not a one-time task. As an Architect you:
* Write knowledge articles clearly enough that any employee can prepare from them
* Record short videos that show how the work is done well
* Keep Quizzes aligned with the current knowledge
* Keep the Inspection Protocol aligned with the current standard
* Update all of the above when the work, the tools, or the expectations change
* Act on feedback from Coaches and employees about clarity, accuracy, and applicability
## Training and certifying Coaches
When an employee has reached Proficient (100%) for the Responsibility and is ready to learn how to evaluate others, you train them in the institutional knowledge and the Inspection Protocol, then certify them by issuing the **Coach badge (125%)**.
Certifying Coaches **increases training and inspection capacity**. One Architect can support far more employees through a network of Coaches than by inspecting everyone personally.
## Acting as a Coach
The Architect badge sits above the Coach badge on the [Badge Ladder](/user-guide/readiness/badge-ladder), so you also have Coach abilities for the Responsibility. Use them when Certified Coaches can't keep up with inspection demand: step in and inspect employees directly, following the same process described in [Inspecting a Responsibility (as a Coach)](/coaching/inspecting-a-responsibility).
## The dual role at a glance
| Action | Purpose | Badge issued |
| - | - | - |
| Train and certify a Coach | Increase training and inspection capacity | Coach (125%) |
| Act as a Coach (inspect an employee) | Fill inspection capacity directly | Apprentice (50%) or Proficient (100%) |
## Becoming an Architect
Becoming an Architect takes two things:
* Subject matter expertise in the Responsibility
* Willingness to create and maintain the institutional knowledge
The Architect badge is issued by an **administrator**, not earned through inspection. If you'd like to become an Architect for a Responsibility, talk to your exIQtive administrator.
For the first Architect of a Responsibility in a new organization, naming one is often part of the initial rollout, sometimes with outside expertise. See [Keys for success](/get-started/keys-for-success).
## The Architect view
### Maintaining institutional knowledge
### Certifying a Coach
## Multiple Architects per Responsibility
An organization can have more than one Architect for a Responsibility. That's healthy for high-stakes or widely used Responsibilities: it spreads the work of maintaining knowledge and certifying Coaches, and prevents bottlenecks. Multiple Architects usually collaborate on the institutional knowledge, since the Inspection Protocol and Quizzes are the shared definition of what "ready" means.
## If an Architect badge is removed
If an employee loses their Architect badge for a Responsibility:
* They keep their Coach badge (if any), so they can still inspect
* They keep their Proficient badge, so they can still do the work
* They can no longer certify new Coaches for that Responsibility
* Coach badges and other badges they issued stay in place
* An administrator can issue the Architect badge to someone else to maintain the institutional knowledge, if needed
## Rules and constraints
* To act as an Architect for a Responsibility, you must hold the Architect badge (150%) for that Responsibility
* An Architect maintains the institutional knowledge, Quizzes, and Inspection Protocol for the Responsibility
* An Architect cannot certify themselves
* An Architect can issue Apprentice, Proficient, and Coach badges. Architect badges are issued by an administrator, not by another Architect
* Every Architect action is auditable: each knowledge update, Coach certification, and inspection records who did it and when
## Common questions
An administrator issues the Architect badge based on subject matter expertise and willingness to maintain the institutional knowledge. Unlike Apprentice, Proficient, and Coach, the Architect badge isn't earned by passing an inspection.
Not necessarily. Your core role is maintaining institutional knowledge and certifying Coaches. You only need to act as a Coach when there isn't enough Coach capacity to keep up with inspection demand.
Yes. Badges already issued stay in place. When the Protocol changes, you decide whether the change is significant enough to require re-certification for already-certified employees.
Both come from the same institutional knowledge. A **Quiz** is for the employee, to study and self-assess before requesting inspection. An **Inspection Protocol** is for the Coach, to evaluate the employee's knowledge, abilities, and behavior during the inspection.
You can collaborate with other Architects of the same Responsibility, or with subject matter experts who aren't Architects yet. But you remain accountable: the final word and the ongoing maintenance duty rest with you.
The Responsibility can exist, but inspections can't happen until the institutional knowledge and Inspection Protocol have been created. Initial Architects are often established with outside expertise during rollout. See [Keys for success](/get-started/keys-for-success).
## Related
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