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Enterprise Architecture Management

EAM

The Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM) capability is the ability to plan, design, manage, and control the conceptualization of systems, processes, and/or organizations, and the relationships between them. The conceptualization may be layered to represent specific types of relationships – for example, those between applications, business services, internal IT services, security, networking, data storage, and so on. The Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM) capability covers:

  • Establishing principles to guide the design and evolution of systems, processes, and/or organizations.
  • Providing a framework, including models or templates, that articulates the business, the technical architecture, and the relationships between them.
  • Providing the architecture vision, roadmap, and governance, together with the approaches required for managing their life cycle.
  • Managing the architectural skills and architecture resourcing.
  • Communicating the impact of enterprise architecture activities.

Structure

EAM is made up of the following Categories and CBBs. Maturity and Planning are described at both the CC and the CBB level.

APractices

Framework, processes, governance, and value relating to enterprise architecture.

A1Architecture Framework

Provide the overarching framework of standards, templates, and specifications for organizing and presenting a description of the business and technical architectures.

A2Architecture Processes

Provide the methodology to define, develop, and maintain the architecture components, and their interrelationships.

A3Architecture Governance

Determine the principles, decision rights, rules, and methods that are used to give direction to and monitor the development of enterprise architecture and its alignment with wider organizational governance.

A4Architecture Value

Define, measure, and communicate the business value of enterprise architecture.

BPlanning

Defines the architectural strategy and funding model, the architectural roadmap, and the underlying technical direction required to meet current and new business requirements.

B1Architecture Funding

Develop approaches to funding enterprise architecture management and architecture improvement initiatives.

B2Architecture Planning

Define the enterprise architecture vision and the implementation roadmap and anticipate business needs and trends.

B3Architecture Alignment

Use architecture principles and blueprints to align business needs and IT capabilities. Define the strategy guidelines for selecting IT investments.

CPeople

Develops leadership and enterprise architecture engagement across the business.

C1Organization Structure and Skills

Define the roles, responsibilities, and skills required for enterprise architecture management.

C2Communication and Stakeholder Management

Manage communication with stakeholders who are interested in, or are influenced by, enterprise architecture management, and manage their expectations of what it can deliver.

Overview

Goal

The Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM) capability aims to deliver an overarching approach within which the IT function can design, deploy, and execute the organization’s business strategy.

Objectives

  • Enable the IT function to align its strategy with the needs of the business strategy.
  • Define the technical standards and operating principles for guiding business solution design and technology choices.
  • Ensure consistency and integration across process, information, application, and infrastructure for optimal business performance.
  • Reduce business complexity through the reuse and sharing of functional components, and through standardization of technologies and infrastructure.
  • Improve business processes and enhance productivity across the organization by unifying and integrating data linkages.
  • Promote sound architecture management practices and governance.
  • Minimize and manage business, IT, and project-level risks through more informed portfolio and solutions planning.

Value

The Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM) capability helps determine how the organization can most effectively plan the use of technology to achieve its current and future objectives.

Relevance

The IT function adds value to the organization by enabling it to perform more cost-effectively and efficiently1. This requires the continual adoption of new technologies while evolving the existing IT portfolio.

By developing an effective Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM) capability, an organization can ensure that its IT systems can respond to the organization’s changing business needs in a coherent and planned manner2.

Scope

Definition

The Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM) capability is the ability to plan, design, manage, and control the conceptualization of systems, processes, and/or organizations, and the relationships between them. The conceptualization may be layered to represent specific types of relationships – for example, those between applications, business services, internal IT services, security, networking, data storage, and so on. The Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM) capability covers:

  • Establishing principles to guide the design and evolution of systems, processes, and/or organizations.
  • Providing a framework, including models or templates, that articulates the business, the technical architecture, and the relationships between them.
  • Providing the architecture vision, roadmap, and governance, together with the approaches required for managing their life cycle.
  • Managing the architectural skills and architecture resourcing.
  • Communicating the impact of enterprise architecture activities.

Improvement Planning

Practices-Outcomes-Metrics (POM)

Representative POMs are described for EAM at each level of maturity.

2Basic
  • Practice
    Define the architecture framework for use in prioritized areas of IT.
    Outcome
    A consistent architecture framework will guide IT developments, promoting complexity reduction and greater reuse of the resultant architectures.
    Metric
    Percentage of the project portfolio adhering to the architecture framework.
  • Practice
    Using common technical architecture standards, carry out architecture reviews of key IT projects and services.
    Outcome
    Improved architectural governance starts to deliver a more standardized IT infrastructure, with a reduction in the total cost of ownership.
    Metric
    Percentage of projects that are compliant with the defined technical architecture.
  • Practice
    Include subject matter experts and key stakeholders in architecture workshops to establish enterprise architecture goals and technology roadmaps.
    Outcome
    There is joint ownership of the resultant architecture plan.
    Metric
    Number of architectural goals and roadmaps that are defined and jointly agreed.
  • Practice
    Define and establish the architecture roles required for specific projects and domains.
    Outcome
    A formalized enterprise architecture structure is emerging with defined roles and responsibilities. Across the IT function, architects attempt to use a broad perspective that incorporates industry best-known practices and approaches.
    Metric
    Percentage of IT domains with architects in place in defined roles.
3Intermediate
  • Practice
    Put processes in place to monitor compliance with the agreed target architecture (as designed), and report on any conflicts or design exceptions. This could be achieved, for example, by the establishment of an Architecture Governance Board.
    Outcome
    Projects consistently deliver quality solutions and the linkage from business requirements to design decisions is clearly traceable.
    Metric
    Percentage of projects approved that are compliant with the target architecture.
  • Practice
    Map key business processes to specific IT applications that support those processes.
    Outcome
    There is improved visibility of the business risks associated with using unsupported or outdated technology.
    Metric
    Percentage of key business processes mapped to the applications that support them.
  • Practice
    Map business processes to the costs of IT services required to support them for each technology domain.
    Outcome
    There is improved visibility of the costs of IT services and what business processes they enable. These insights can help justify investment and retirement strategies for IT services.
    Metric
    Percentage of business processes whose underlying IT services have been costed.
  • Practice
    Formalize roles and responsibilities for enterprise architecture across the IT function.
    Outcome
    A formal enterprise architecture structure is in place, promoting economies of scale through a concentration of skills and expertise.
    Metric
    Percentage of projects with staffed architecture roles.
4Advanced
  • Practice
    Extend the architecture framework to facilitate increased use of common or shared patterns for enterprise system architecting. Within this framework, define process model templates for all key business areas.
    Outcome
    There is greater consistency and reusability of IT/systems artefacts across the organization.
    Metric
    Number of shared, reusable components or services. Percentage of artefacts failing certification against the architecture framework.
  • Practice
    Promote projects that deliver cross-functional or cross-domain benefits, and encourage the development of shared services across all business areas where it makes sense.
    Outcome
    The architecture approach is integrated across the IT function and the rest of the business so that it increases both the agility and adaptability of the business operating model.
    Metric
    Number of shared services and their degree of adoption.
  • Practice
    Involve a broader collection of business stakeholders in architecture planning and in the definition of an enterprise capability model. Describe architecture roadmaps for each business unit in terms of the business capabilities delivered.
    Outcome
    Architecture planning becomes even more business-oriented and business- driven, and maximizes the return on IT investment.
    Metric
    Number of business stakeholders who participate in architecture planning.
  • Practice
    Ensure that there is a clearly defined career path for enterprise architects, and that this is fully supported by Human Resources. This path should include career progression, formal evaluations, appropriate training, and certification programmes.
    Outcome
    Enterprise architecture is viewed favourably as a career choice. Continuing professional development is available to architects to ensure that they can continue to meet the organization’s requirements.
    Metric
    Percentage of architects with formal career development plans.
5Optimized
  • Practice
    Establish a common planning cycle within which relevant enterprise architects can influence each other.
    Outcome
    There is an open and robust planning cycle that has enterprise architecture at its core, and that can deliver an increased return on investment (ROI) for all technology investments.
    Metric
    Business value contribution from enterprise architecture.
  • Practice
    Require the architecture team to participate actively in external architecture bodies. Challenge the architecture team to match and exceed the achievements of their peers in external organizations.
    Outcome
    Enterprise architecture is considered a thought leader within the organization, and a source of competitive advantage.
    Metric
    Number of enterprise architecture papers published. Number of enterprise architecture recognition awards.

Reference

History

This capability was introduced in Revision 16 as a new critical capability.

It was deprecated in Revision 18.07, being updated by Enterprise Architecture Management (18.07).