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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.

• 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

The following CCs cover topics that are related to EAM in some way:

BPMBusiness Process Management

Identifying or selecting a specific business process management methodology and framework

BPMBusiness Process Management

Information on the design of current business processes which can help shape cross-function mapping

DSMDemand and Supply Management

Details of long-term demand that needs to be catered for by future architectures

EIMEnterprise Information Management

Identifying or selecting a specific information architecture management methodology and framework

ITGIT Leadership and Governance

The governance model that is reflected in architecture governance

PPMProgramme and Project Management

Defining a project delivery approach

RMRisk Management

Items to be considered in future architecture decisions in order to mitigate risk

SDSolutions Delivery

Designing and building IT services and solutions

SPStrategic Planning

Input on the IT strategy to help design the enterprise architecture framework

TCOTotal Cost of Ownership

Cost data on IT services, which can help prioritize enterprise architecture initiatives

TIMTechnical Infrastructure Management

Defining the infrastructure operations and management methodology