Drift Dashboard and Analytics

Monitor how far your architecture has drifted from a governance-approved baseline. Visual gauges, hotspot detection, change frequency heatmaps, and a chronological change feed give architects full visibility into architectural evolution.

February 23, 2026

Architecture drifts from its approved state over time. The Drift Dashboard provides a real-time view of how far the current architecture has moved from any baseline, enabling governance teams to catch unplanned changes early and maintain architectural integrity.

Drift Metric

Drift is measured as a percentage of change from the baseline:

Drift % = (modified + added + removed) / totalAtBaseline x 100

Visual Gauge Thresholds

The drift gauge uses colour-coded thresholds to communicate urgency:

Drift Range	Colour	Meaning
< 15%	Green	Normal evolution, within expected bounds
15% to 30%	Amber	Moderate drift, review recommended
30% to 50%	Red	Significant drift, governance review required
>= 50%	Pulsing Red	Major drift, baseline may need to be re-established

Dashboard Features

Drift Gauge

Visual gauge showing current drift percentage from the selected baseline. Colour-coded from green (low) to pulsing red (high).

Hotspot Detection

Identifies the top 10 most frequently modified files since the baseline. Highlights areas of concentrated change that may need architectural review.

Change Frequency Heatmap

Calendar-style heatmap showing when changes occurred. Reveals patterns such as change bursts before deadlines or quiet periods during stabilisation.

Change Feed

Chronological list of all checkpoints since the baseline. Each entry shows a colour-coded category badge, architectural change summary, and resource type breakdown.

Change Feed Detail

Each entry in the change feed includes:

When to Use the Drift Dashboard

Scenario	What to Look For
Pre-ARB review	Overall drift percentage and hotspots to include in governance reports
Sprint planning	Which areas have changed most, indicating potential instability
Post-incident	Whether the change that caused the incident shows in the feed
Compliance audit	Drift from the last approved baseline, with integrity hash verification
New team member	Change feed provides context on recent architectural decisions

Baselines and Architectural Governance

File-based baselines provide defence-grade reproducibility with SHA-256 integrity hashing. Unlike Git tags, baselines survive squash merges and rebases, go through PR review, and work in air-gapped environments.

Deep Git Integration

NeoArc wraps Git with architecture-first concepts: checkpoints instead of commits, tracks instead of branches, baselines instead of tags. Semantic diff, conflict resolution, drift analytics, and shelving provide a complete governance workflow.