Thursday, September 25, 2008

Enterprise Architecture for IT

The term Enterprise Architect was coined by John Zachman, who developed the Zachman framework for enterprise architecture. Most enterprise architecture teams have developed from within the IT community due to the framework being developed from an IT perspective. This has lead most enterprise architecture teams to do Enterprise Architecture for IT.

The main purpose of Enterprise Architecture for IT is to enable the IT organization to better deliver services to the business. The focus is on analyzing the business strategy and requirements and enabling IT to deliver on them. This has lead to the development of the term IT Architecture, which is a more accurate description of the focus of the enterprise architecture team. It is very important to understand the difference between the focus of the two architecture efforts. In my previous blog I described what an Enterprise Architect should focus on, and will now contrast that with an IT Architect.

An IT architecture focuses on the IT organization and enabling them to support the business, not focusing on the operations of the business, or projects, but rather enabling the IT organization to be ready for business. This is done by analyzing the strategy, understanding the industry and markets and having a documented reality of the business. The gaps between these elements are translated into IT solutions that must be implemented to enable the strategy of the business. In some instances the EA team is accountable for the development and execution of the IT strategy within the company.

IT architecture is therefore a function that the IT department needs in order to satisfy the long term requirements, or strategy of business. It is the entity within the IT department that grants the CIOs a chair at the board meetings, discussing business strategies. IT architecture is the vehicle through which the IT organization becomes more flexible, predictable and value adding to the organization. It is however not the business enabler, optimizer and thought leader that will truly make it a valued partner.

There are a lot of synergies between both the Enterprise Architects and the IT Architects. Both uses similar methodologies, techniques and tools to do their daily jobs. Both analyze strategy by looking at the business from an IT point of view, document the business in a meta-model and design future states. However, EAs do this to improve the business as a whole, not just the business of IT. Enterprise Architects has a mandate to design organizational structures, assist in business strategy formulation and propose process changes in other departments. IT architects are limited to the IT organization.

There is nothing wrong with being an Enterprise Architect for IT. It reflects on the current reality in most companies, on the reality of EA today. In a few years time the Enterprise Architecture that lives in IT will move to the larger organization in more companies, changing the understanding, and development, of EA to become a value adding partner to the organization.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Enterprise Architecture as the architecture of the enterprise

What is Enterprise Architecture? Is it the collection of the business processes, information, applications and technology captured in the meta-model? Is it the list of best practises and standards that the IT organization uses? Is it the strategy analysis and resulting list of activities that the IT organization needs to execute to enable business strategy?

What I have just described is a few elements that the industry deems EA should do, therefore this is what EA is, isn't it? I believe EA is more, much more that this. In fact I believe EA needs to evolve beyond being Enterprise Architecture for IT to becoming Enterprise Architecture for the Enterprise.

This is unfortunately how most Enterprise Architecture groups are positioned. They were established by the CIO in the IT department, where the core members of the team have previously been either senior developers or system designers. The application of the methodologies of EA is limited to the IT organization, with most of the business improvements occurring on the fringes where IT and the business meet: process automation.

EA for IT is not necessarily incorrect or “bad”. It merely reflects the current sate of understanding of architecture. It adds significant business value to the organization, but from my perspective the true power of EA is the different focus and methods it can bring to the business as a whole. With IT becoming so entrenched into business’s daily operations, a business function with an IT flavour in required, as is a business function with financial, human resources, procurement, etc. experience required. All these business functions plays a part in the organization as a whole. All of these functions have a say in the strategy of the business.

According to The Open Group, Enterprise Architecture is the architecture of the enterprise. The keyword is enterprise, not the different business units, functional departments, or systems running in the organization. The focus is on how the enterprise functions, its operating model, and how to enable this.

When you look at a mining company, there may be various business units that each specializes in their own areas, e.g. the coal mining division, the platinum mining division, various processing divisions, etc. Similarly a financial company, e.g. a bank, has a credit card division, cheque division, home loans, etc. Yet, when you are an enterprise architect, the business units or divisions are not your primary concern or focus. The different divisions may be divided into the way the enterprise operates, but the focus should be one level higher, on how the enterprise functions.

Taking the mining example for instance; the enterprise focus is mine, process, sell. In the banking example could be obtain funds, manage funds, provide funds. This is the highest level of processes in the enterprise, or macro level. It reflects the enterprise, and not the business units or divisions within it necessarily.

In focussing on the enterprise, EA becomes another element in the functioning of the organization. It deals with the strategy, key programs and decisions, and impacts of business decisions within the organization as a whole. It provides another view on the organization from an IT perspective similarly to the financial function providing a financial view and the HR function providing an HR view. Forming an integral part of the organization, EA becomes more than just an enabler to the business; EA becomes a driving force within the business.