EA Book – Coherency Management

Coherency Management: Architecting the Enterprise for Alignment, Agility and Assurance - Editors: Gary Doucet, John Gotze, Pallab Saha, and Scott Bernard. The book introduces the idea of Coherency Management, and asserts that this is the primary outcome goal of an enterprise’s architecture. 

Look for our chapter on Enterprise Architecture for Chief Executive Officers.

Availability is scheduled for July, 2009.  See our News page for up to date information.

Business Architecture vs. IT Architecture

We are finding Business Architecture (BA) to be one of the most misunderstood but high-profile interests of business executives, CIOs and enterprise architects alike. They are asking questions like:

• Is BA the key to enabling business transformation through an enterprise (EA) effort?
• Does everyone have a business architecture?
• Is it owned and driven by the IT organization or the executive leadership of an organization?
• Can you truly enable business transformation with an IT-centric view of Enterprise Architecture?

For decades what IT professionals have called Enterprise Architecture is actually IT architecture. What we see most of the time is an EA effort mostly, if not solely, conducted within the IT function. There are certainly benefits to be achieved from IT architecture – improved adaptability, standardization, cost reduction, reduced integration complexity, and quicker time of delivery tend to be the chief objectives of most IT-led EA efforts. However, the lack of business participation, especially from those with strategic leadership, and the lack of distinction between BA and ITA will keep EA efforts from truly supporting or even contributing to an organization’s transformation efforts.

EAdirections is exploring three perspectives of the structure of EA from traditional to transitional to a truly transformational view. They will demonstrate how you must evolve the view of enterprise architecture as you go through different stages of maturity:

• How the Traditional View of EA supports the establishment of a strong IT foundation for the enterprise
• How the Transitional View of EA enables a more adaptive and agile foundation for quicker solutions delivery
• How the Transformational View of EA leads to true business transformation

Some EA efforts evolve to become more transformational based on the need and request of senior leadership seeking help with major business transformation. However, most EA efforts are going to have to develop the models, language and value proposition in order to get business leadership interested in architecting enterprise business transformation.

EA Book – The SIM Guide to Enterprise Architecture

Cover Photo

The SIM Guide to Enterprise Architecture  – Edited by: Leon A. Kappelman. This book is a project of the Society for Information Management’s Enterprise Architecture Working Group.  EAdirections has been a member of this important group since its inception.  The book reflects the research, analysis and thought leadership of a rich and diverse set of contributors. 

Look for the EAdirections chapter on A Pragmatic Approach to a Highly Effective Enterprise Architecture Program.

Publication date is October, 2009.  See our News page for up to date information.

EA Doctrine Echoes Cornerstone

The Center for the Advancement of the Enterprise Architecture Profession (CAEAP) is presenting a document entitled “Enterprise Architecture Doctrine” at their Summit event in late June. As members of CAEAP, we have received a preview version.  This represents CAEAP’s position on the values and principles of the practice and profession of EA. 

We are happy to see that many of the values and principles that we advocate in our approach to EA, as published in Cornerstone, are a part of CAEAP’s doctrine.  Long believers in principles-based EA, the notion of providing a set of foundation values and principles for all EA’s to follow is very encouraging. 

We believe that the efforts of organizations like CAEAP in standardizing and formalizing aspects of the practice and profession of EA can only help increase the value that EA can contribute to an organization. We see countless organizations that struggle with the basic notions of EA due to a lack of common understanding, definitions, methods, models and activities associated with EA. Hopefully the values, principles and approach to EA from Cornerstone and CAEAP’s Doctrine can become the foundation for EA in most organizations.