This article provides support for users who created Well-Architected Framework Review (WAFR) assessments before April 9, 2025. It includes information on the latest Amazon Web Services (AWS) WAFR lens updates, which impact older assessments. The article details the corresponding effects, outlines a change log, and describes specific updates to best practices.
AWS recently released a new version of the Well-Architected Framework Review lens, which contains the following updates:
New Well-Architected Framework Assessment created on or after April 9th, 2025, automatically uses the latest AWS lens with complete supported findings.
Existing WAFRs created before April 9th, 2025, may display minor mismatches in the Findings, because AWS has updated only specific best practices which are renumbered or merged. .
This article provides information on the following aspects about the AWS Update:
What is Not Impacted
What is Impacted
Upcoming MontyCloud Release
Detailed Change Log
What is Not Impacted
There is no impact to any of the WAFR Assessments that are currently in progress. The scans performed so far also remain intact.
The WAFR data and findings remain intact.
The WAFR reports generated so far remains intact.
What Is Impacted
Minor UI Mismatches: Due to recent updates by AWS, some best practices have been renamed or merged. As a result, you might notice that certain references in your older Well-Architected Framework Review (WAFR) findings now display different titles or risk exposures compared to the current lens versions. Additionally, if you export a new report for these older WAFRs, the report will show these latest lens references and severities instead of the previous version best practice and risk exposure references.
Upcoming MontyCloud Release
MontyCloud will release a WAFR patch in approximately two weeks from 4/15/2025 to completely support the older lens version. This update will unify the references and the earlier WAFRs will not display mismatches in Findings.
Detailed Changelog
The following table lists the detailed Questions, the Best Practices and the Change descriptions, Impact and Resolution that are now available in the updated AWS for the following pillars:
- Security Pillar
- Operational Expenses Pillar
- Sustainability Pillar
- Reliability Pillar
- Cost Optimization Pillar
- Performance Efficiency Pillar
- Operational Expenses Pillar
Security Pillar
| Questions | Best Practices | Change Description | Impact and Resolution |
Risk Exposure Update: Changes from Low to High | Impact: Some findings linked to this best practice were previously flagged as Low are now flagged as High, indicating a higher level of risk. Resolution: Review these findings and the associated resources and perform remediation action to mitigate the High Risk. | ||
Title Modification: Renamed from Manual code reviews to Conduct code reviews | Impact: Findings mapped to old best practice will now be mapped to new best practice.
|
Operational Excellence Pillar
| Question | Best Practice | Change Description | Impact and Resolution |
| Title Update: Renamed from Evaluate customer needs to Evaluate external customer needs | Impact: Findings mapped to old practice will now be mapped to the new best practice. Resolution: No action required. Your existing findings remain intact under the new title. |
Sustainability Pillar
| Question | Best Practice | Change Description | Impact and Resolution |
New Best Practice – Communicate and cascade your sustainability goals | Impact: Findings mapped to old best practice will now be mapped to the new best practice. Resolution: No action is required. Your existing findings remain intact under the new title. | ||
Renumbering: SUS06-BP01 is now SUS06-BP02 | Impact: The best practice ID has changed, but existing findings remain associated under the new ID. Resolution: No action required. The Best Practice will be automatically renumbered without any impact to the assessment or findings. | ||
Renumbering: SUS06-BP02 is now SUS06-BP03 | Impact: The best practice ID has changed, but existing findings remain associated under the new ID. Resolution: No action required. The Best Practice will be automatically renumbered without any impact to the assessment or findings. | ||
Renumbering: SUS06-BP03 is now SUS06-BP04 | Impact: The best practice ID has changed, but existing findings remain associated under the new ID. Resolution: No action required. The Best Practice will be automatically renumbered without any impact to the assessment or findings. | ||
Renumbering: SUS06-BP04 is now SUS06-BP05 | Impact: The best practice ID has changed, but existing findings remain associated under the new ID. Resolution: No action required. The Best Practice will be automatically renumbered without any impact to the assessment or findings. |
Reliability Pillar
| Question | Best Practices | Change Description | Impact and Resolution |
Merged: Content from REL10-BP02 is removed and merged into REL10-BP01. | Impact: Findings belonging to BP02 now appear under BP01 Resolution: No action required. The Best Practice will be automatically removed and merged without any impact to the assessment or findings. | ||
Renumbered: | Impact: No change to underlying findings. Resolution: No action required. The Best Practice will be automatically removed and merged without any impact to the assessment or findings | ||
Merged: REL12-BP03 is removed and merged into REL08-BP02 | Impact: Findings belonging to REL12-BP03 now appear under REL08-BP02. Resolution: No action required. The Best Practice will be automatically renumbered without any impact to the assessment or findings. | ||
Renumbered: REL12-BP05 is now REL12-BP04 REL12-BP06 is now REL12-BP05 | Impact: No change to underlying findings. Resolution: The Best Practice will be automatically renumbered without any impact to the assessment or findings. | ||
Title Modification: Make all responses idempotent to Make mutating operations idempotent | Impact: Findings mapped to old best practice will now be mapped to new best practice.
| ||
Title Modification: Conduct reviews regularly to Regularly review monitoring scope and metric | Impact: Findings mapped to old best practice will now be mapped to new best practice.
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Risk Exposure: | Impact: Some findings that map to this best practice were previously flagged as Medium. Due to this change, they will be flagged as High. Resolution: Review this finding, and corresponding resources that may be impacted, and perform remediation action to mitigate the High Risk. |
Cost Optimization Pillar
This pillar has no changes in the updated version
Performance Efficiency Pillar
This pillar has no changes in the updated version