The Enterprise Architecture is an exhaustive description of the structural and managerial architecture of an Enterprise. Managing and designing an enterprise is a herculean task. For effective and efficient working of an enterprise it is necessary to divide the entire enterprise on the basis of activities to be performed by each module. Each module explicitly performs the tasks assigned to it along with collaborating with other modules in a well-knitted manner so as to have a proper management and efficacious environment for growth of an enterprise.
A fundamental change from traditional approach to architecting solutions is that in traditional approach, IT programs & projects did not share user or system interactions, common business services, or data (the classic stove-piped systems). With enterprise architecture governance, solutions consist of components that leverage common services and data across projects and programs.
One critical success factor for this Enterprise Architecture is that the scope must encompass the enterprise, including the entire family of companies. Second, it must evolve and grow along with the business and market.
The Transition Plan establishes a program of projects to enable enterprise to move towards the goals specified in the architectures.
A top-down approach for defining an enterprise-wide common architecture that is aligned with the business mission and strategies of the organization is represented below.
Enterprise Architecture
IT Process Architecture
The IT Strategy maps IT’s response to the Business Architecture. It outlines what IT’s products and services are, how IT is governed, and what capabilities must be maintained within IT to meet the needs of the business. The IT Strategy drives the application and information strategies. These strategies describe the high-level approach that the enterprise will use in delivering business applications and providing access to information. These strategies are critical to define as they form the basis of nearly all other architectural decisions.
Management Architecture
It specifies the tools, processes, and organization that support the IT infrastructure. The Security Architecture is an additional component of the management architecture that describes a reusable and common infrastructure for supporting security policy. The Communications and Maintenance Plan provides a method for maintaining as well as communicating the content of the architectures.
Data Architecture
It establishes subject area definitions, the future state target, the ownership of data, roles and processes, and mappings of subject areas.
Development Architecture
It specifies the tools, methods, and processes for developing applications
Business Architecture
The Business Architecture drives the entire program and provides the foundation for a clear linkage to the business. The Business Architecture is a compilation of the strategies and goals of the enterprise coupled with a functional decomposition of the business processes that supports the strategy.
Business Architecture describes HOW business is done (what are the processes followed now and what will be done in the future), WHAT is the data used, WHO is involved and WHERE it is to be performed for the Key Business Drivers to be realized.
The inputs to the business architecture are Business Objectives, Current IT Strategy implemented so as to frame an effective architecture for conducting the business.
Major processes involved in drafting the business architecture are-
- Identify Business Components-Set of processes which are related from perspective of business change.
- Identify Business Process- Sequence of activities with a defined input and a measurable output.
- Identify the Target Business Architecture- Linkages to Business Drivers, Current State and the Reference Architecture.
- Identify the Gaps
Application Architecture
The Application Architecture maps the portfolio of enterprise applications to the business, products, and profiles that are specified in the application strategy, and specifies a strategy for how to reconcile the current state and the strategy. It describes the applications to enable integration and grouping of functional and data elements of business processes and achievement of both functional coherence and business homogeneity.
Major processes involved in Application Architecture-
- Description of Application Components
- Application Component map of each application
- Business Processes to Application components Map
- Application Component consolidation drivers
Technique for consolidation of Application Components
- Functionality commonly available within COTS (list Industry wise)
- Functionality available within existing applications
- Transition strategies
- Opportunities for consolidation of applications
- Key application sourcing decisions
- Identify Options and Components covered
- Business Process/Current Applications Matrix
- Process business priority
Cross-Reference Business capabilities realized by the architecture
Application Component: It is a primary data entity and its associated processes which forms an integral part of business. It encapsulates functionality that is related since it is associated with the same information (data entity and associated processes). It must be logical in nature and must be realizable in the software. One software application may comprise more than one application component at a time.
Technical Architecture
The Technical Architecture details the infrastructure strategies, products and standards, and the blueprint for how these strategies and standards work together to enable the business strategies.
The Technical Architecture documents a logically consistent set of principles that:
- are derived from business requirements
- guide the engineering and delivery of information systems and technology infrastructure
- take into account the full (business and technology) context in which the Technical Architecture will be applied, and
- enable rapid change in organization business processes and the applications that enable them.
The Technical Architecture reflects how technology should be employed to enable organizational management of “processes”, “events”, and “information” by IT-driven automation. It should minimize issues related to our technology delivery practices and computing environment (e.g., unnecessary complexity, aging environment, data fragmentation, infrastructure issues, human resources, and total life cycle costs).
Following factors must be considered before designing the Enterprise Architecture
- Cost Effectiveness / Infrastructure Investment
- Technology investments must have a clear business justification and be tied to business strategies
- Funding and implementation issues are not the primary drivers of the target architecture
- Funding of infrastructure initiatives will be cost-justified separately based on the value of new function and the total cost of implementation.
- Implementation timing issues will be driven by business requirements
- Scalability/Flexibility
- The technologies included in the architecture must provide scalability and flexibility to grow and evolve with the business for the architecture horizon
- Technology Risk
- Select proven, tested commercially available technologies for the Core infrastructure
- Newer and riskier technologies/products may be appropriate for special-use or emerging services
- Vendors and Products
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- One should favor products and standards in the market mainstream to enhance supportability and likelihood of package fit
- Market Systems: Longer MTBF and higher reliability values are preferred over lower cost products
- Architecture Homogeneity and Simplification
- Avoid duplicate technologies and standards that provide overlapping functions or services
- Technologies chosen will maximize functionality for the business as a whole, not for the specific user or project
