Architecture Framework
Provide the overarching framework of standards, templates, and specifications for organizing and presenting a description of the business and technical architectures.
Improvement Planning
Practices-Outcomes-Metrics (POM)
Representative POMs are described for Architecture Framework at each level of maturity.
- 2Basic
- Practice
- Evaluate, rate, and rank frameworks for their suitability.
- Outcome
- Better framework selection decisions are reached.
- Metrics
- Survey results that identify where organization support and resistance to architecture projects lie.
- Satisfaction ratings for the architecture function.
- Basic counters and trends for architecture artefacts creation and usage.
- Budgets, costs, and resource usage.
- Aggregated project portfolio, programme, and project metrics for dash boards, and project phase and task metrics for diagnosis.
- Practice
- Evaluate frameworks across the full life cycle of conceptualization, create, modify, utility, and retire.
- Outcome
- Better framework selection decisions are reached.
- Metrics
- Survey results that identify where organization support and resistance to architecture projects lie.
- Satisfaction ratings for the architecture function.
- Basic counters and trends for architecture artefacts creation and usage.
- Budgets, costs, and resource usage.
- Aggregated project portfolio, programme, and project metrics for dash boards, and project phase and task metrics for diagnosis.
- Practice
- Evaluate both start-up features and advanced functions (with external advice if necessary).
- Outcome
- Technical debt in the management of architecture frameworks is avoided.
- Metrics
- Survey results that identify where organization support and resistance to architecture projects lie.
- Satisfaction ratings for the architecture function.
- Basic counters and trends for architecture artefacts creation and usage.
- Budgets, costs, and resource usage.
- Aggregated project portfolio, programme, and project metrics for dash boards, and project phase and task metrics for diagnosis.
- Practice
- Choose, acquire, and implement the organization's enterprise architecture framework.
- Outcome
- Understanding the available choices helps focus stakeholders on what is crucial for the organization's enterprise architecture function.
- Metrics
- Survey results that identify where organization support and resistance to architecture projects lie.
- Satisfaction ratings for the architecture function.
- Basic counters and trends for architecture artefacts creation and usage.
- Budgets, costs, and resource usage.
- Aggregated project portfolio, programme, and project metrics for dash boards, and project phase and task metrics for diagnosis.
- 3Intermediate
- Practice
- Design, develop, and advocate the use of architecture templates for descriptions of organization structure, process, and technology architecture artefacts.
- Outcome
- Reduced variance and reduced training and education costs are evident.
- Metrics
- Counts, averages, variances, and associated trends of errors and rework.
- Variance from targets and mean.
- Issue counts and trends (by severity and urgency).
- Open to close metrics (e.g. time, total cost of fix).
- Metadata enabled aggregate metrics by department, function, business unit, geospatial region, product, service, and so forth.
- Surveys on awareness of, usability, and use of architecture artefacts and guidance.
- Project portfolio, programme, and project life-cycle metrics.
- Ratio of technology debt reduction budget to technology debt size.
- Practice
- Develop framework usage to encompass planning of future states that achieve business and technical objects (e.g. business or technology transformation or smaller objectives like lean or job size agility).
- Outcome
- The framework is expanded from a modelled or conceptualized set of supported features to include ‘what-if’ analysis and ‘to-be’ state designing and modelling.
- Metrics
- Counts, averages, variances, and associated trends of errors and rework.
- Variance from targets and mean.
- Issue counts and trends (by severity and urgency).
- Open to close metrics (e.g. time, total cost of fix).
- Metadata enabled aggregate metrics by department, function, business unit, geospatial region, product, service, and so forth.
- Surveys on awareness of, usability, and use of architecture artefacts and guidance.
- Project portfolio, programme, and project life-cycle metrics.
- Ratio of technology debt reduction budget to technology debt size.
- Practice
- Build domain knowledge and expertise that are familiar with business and technology options, processes, and tools, and with the competency levels available to the organization to enable better planning.
- Outcome
- Enhanced domain knowledge and expertise improve the quality and utility of enterprise architecture artefacts.
- Metrics
- Counts, averages, variances, and associated trends of errors and rework.
- Variance from targets and mean.
- Issue counts and trends (by severity and urgency).
- Open to close metrics (e.g. time, total cost of fix).
- Metadata enabled aggregate metrics by department, function, business unit, geospatial region, product, service, and so forth.
- Surveys on awareness of, usability, and use of architecture artefacts and guidance.
- Project portfolio, programme, and project life-cycle metrics.
- Ratio of technology debt reduction budget to technology debt size.
- 4Advanced
- Practice
- Use advanced features of the framework to enable the organization to realize its vision and strategic objectives.
- Outcome
- The enterprise architecture capability is enhanced and is better at dealing with adaptability and complexity.
- Metrics
- Counts and trends of governance compliance and governance exceptions.
- Elapsed time and trends for governance steps such as approvals cycles.
- Counts and trends for first time fixed and count issues re-opened.
- Pareto of missing information types that cause delays in decision-making.
- Frequency and time in use of tool features.
- Cost, cycle-time, and resource utilization impact of automation and architecture driven process changes.
- Baseline measurements of business (unit) operations before an architecturally significant change implementation so that its impact can subsequently be determined more accurately.
- Comprehensive project portfolio, programme, and project metrics.
- Stakeholder surveys on communications, architecture engagement, and architecture artefact utility.
- Practice
- Develop end-to-end views and a set of holistic approaches to problem-solving.
- Outcome
- The development of end-to-end views enables better analysis of the organization and its activities.
- Metrics
- Counts and trends of governance compliance and governance exceptions.
- Elapsed time and trends for governance steps such as approvals cycles.
- Counts and trends for first time fixed and count issues re-opened.
- Pareto of missing information types that cause delays in decision-making.
- Frequency and time in use of tool features.
- Cost, cycle-time, and resource utilization impact of automation and architecture driven process changes.
- Baseline measurements of business (unit) operations before an architecturally significant change implementation so that its impact can subsequently be determined more accurately.
- Comprehensive project portfolio, programme, and project metrics.
- Stakeholder surveys on communications, architecture engagement, and architecture artefact utility.
- Practice
- Develop a set of optimization approaches to value-stream management, process management, tool utilization, and so forth.
- Outcome
- Optimization and automation improve efficiencies and reduce any enterprise architecture errors.
- Metrics
- Counts and trends of governance compliance and governance exceptions.
- Elapsed time and trends for governance steps such as approvals cycles.
- Counts and trends for first time fixed and count issues re-opened.
- Pareto of missing information types that cause delays in decision-making.
- Frequency and time in use of tool features.
- Cost, cycle-time, and resource utilization impact of automation and architecture driven process changes.
- Baseline measurements of business (unit) operations before an architecturally significant change implementation so that its impact can subsequently be determined more accurately.
- Comprehensive project portfolio, programme, and project metrics.
- Stakeholder surveys on communications, architecture engagement, and architecture artefact utility.
- 5Optimized
- Practice
- Leverage the latest research and industry best practice to ensure the organization is using the best available framework for its enterprise architecture needs.
- Outcome
- The organization uses a framework in which it has confidence and is achieving its enterprise architecture objectives consistently.
- Metrics
- Pareto of architecture guidance principles explicitly used in decision-making.
- Count of decisions adjusted by enterprise architecture governance committee.
- % of decisions getting enterprise architecture approval without modification.
- Cost to projects of technology debt.
- Complexity metrics (e.g. # of decisions in process, divergent process path counts, count of tasks requiring experts/consultant level staff).
- Satisfaction rating surveys that are value focused (i.e. how valuable is the enterprise architecture function to the stakeholders).
- Benefits realization metrics from project portfolios, programmes, and the benefits realization function.