Monday, September 19, 2011

EA Challenges - based on EA Excellence winners

This looks at some common challenges identified in: http://m.infoworld.com/d/enterprise-architecture/the-2011-enterprise-architecture-awards-173372?page=0,0

My summary of common challenges:

  • building strong collaboration with business owners and IT to enable change scenarios to be explored – so reports and visualizations (suited to the various audiences) directly generated from the portal are key.
  • adopting approaches – so senior management commitment was required to make the necessary process, role and cultural changes.
  • unifying the architects: into a single, cohesive community using a common repository
  • data quality and management - enabling any authorized user to update information, and as they go about their usual work, without need for training or modelling. So you can avoid collection, and survey exercises or bottlenecks through a modelling function/tool.

General

To be effective change agents, enterprise architects must possess a deep understanding of business process, and grasp both the potential and the practical limits of new technology solutions. Despite their crucial role and unique combination of skills, enterprise architects seldom get the recognition they deserve.

Bayer Healthcare

The biggest challenge was data input and management. In the past, data had been collected using surveys sent to various regions, which were difficult to reconcile and keep current.

Of particular importance was building strong collaboration tools, so business owners and IT could more easily share and discuss change scenarios. To facilitate this, reports and visualizations can be generated directly from the portal.

Singapore Ministry of Education
Because EA is a relatively new discipline, significant senior management commitment was required to make the necessary process, role and cultural changes.

USAA
The most difficult challenge has been helping the organization, particularly its business partners, to recognize the value of the approach. "Few organizations are ready to accept a unified architecture. It's a long road to educate the players and it needs to be done through grassroots efforts, finding champions and showing success through pilot projects that deliver value."

Another challenge has been unifying the architects themselves into a single, cohesive community and creating a metamodel and deliverables that all disciplines can agree to and benefit from. USAA is building a common repository, which will have joint ownership across disciplines and its own governance team made up of representatives from the architecture community.

EA Excellence Awards

I am often asked about examples of best practice. The following is an extract from: http://m.infoworld.com/d/enterprise-architecture/the-2011-enterprise-architecture-awards-173372?page=0,0 . Any comments I have made are in [ ...]

My summary

Each organization will take different path (based on their issues and priorities) - but some common themes emerge e.g.

  • single road map: bringing together people, process, technology, information
  • different perspectives: business, technology, and financial
  • knowledge bridge between business operations and IT: supporting collaboration between enable enterprise transformation.
  • online portal available to all: IT and business managers across the enterprise
  • all architectural disciplines represented: business architecture, information architecture, application architecture, integration architecture, infrastructure architecture, change management, organizational design, etc.
  • promoting standardization, simplication and management: applications, technologies, services, portfolios, transformation programmes
  • visualizations is key: heatmaps, roadmaps, capability maps etc.
  • scope is broad: business (business goals, capabilities), application and integration (application, SOA, interfaces, platforms/products), information (master data management, BI/data warehousen), infrastructure (data center, private cloud, provisioning).

We also note that leading adopters are looking at how to define their projects (requirements and solution elements) in the context provided by a holistic view of the enterprise.

Details follow

EA serves two main purposes: to provide a framework for collaboration between business and IT and to offer a pivot point for transformational change.

General

Each took a different path … [This is very important to realise. That is that each organization's approach to adoption may vary i.e. they may start solving the jigsaw puzzle from a different starting point – knowing that all pieces are there for a complete solution. Sadly some people just on piece of the puzzle and end up create a set of silos – and then repeat that pattern by create a different set of silos – without ever grasping that what is need eventually is a holistic view that runs across the top of all the business transformation areas]

American Express
... undergoing a major transformation. ...complexity of new product and service delivery channels, as well as the need for greater agility and shorter time to market ...

EA practice was charged with helping the company deliver a consistent, global, integrated customer experience based on converged services that run on a common application platform.

The EA practice has [delivers] reference architectures and road maps that promote standardized application architectures, facilitate innovation, and enable rapid product development.

In partnership with portfolio architects, the EA practice manages application architecture across multiple business solution delivery teams and develops business-aligned IT strategies. Each strategy contains a road map of initiatives that translates to measureable action and IT commitments to the business.

Road mapping is a core planning competency for architecture, engineering, service, and operations. It supports such business and IT goals as service management, portfolio simplification, prioritization, and IT-business alignment. Using a common tool, a consistent lifecycle management standard, and a standardized architecture governance process, three types of road maps are created: Technology road map; Reference architecture road map; Utility/capability road map

... business solution delivery teams to bring products and services to market faster by reducing infrastructure procurement and provisioning

... reference architectures [result] in fewer service outages, increased standardization of infrastructure, improved mean time to repair, and a dramatic decrease in support costs.

… extending its road map coverage to encompass: the rationalization of business capabilities and the maturing of SOA. ....

Bayer Healthcare

... history of mergers and acquisitions,

… launched its EA Management program with the creation of a global, Web-based Standards Management Platform ...

… is designed to act as a "knowledge bridge" between business operations and IT. ...

... Application Portfolio Portal [and] all related processes.

… online portal is available to all IT and business managers across the company. [many EA and plans team focus on a narrow audience – creating a silo of use]. Users can log in at any time to find an application and its related process data. The repository builds in application lifecycle management and proposals for specific activities, such as migration, integration, toleration, and elimination.

… includes assessments from business, technology, and financial perspectives and identifies application gaps, overlaps, and improvement opportunities. Applications are inventoried and registered against key metrics, and data integrity is maintained through an ongoing data stewardship program. Of particular importance was the need to build in strong collaboration tools, so business owners and IT could more easily share and discuss change scenarios. To facilitate this, reports and visualizations can be generated directly from the portal...

First Data
...
a provider of transaction-processing solutions with more than $10.4 billion in revenue and 24,500 employees in 35 countries...

... EA function has created a framework for strategic technology programs to coordinate technology adoption and development in a manner that maximizes value. ..Through them, First Data will transform three technology layers: application (SOA, platform rationalization), information (master data management, BI, data warehouse consolidation), and infrastructure (data center consolidation, internal private cloud, provisioning automation).

EA is intertwined with nearly every aspect of [the] business. Its ability to drive product transformation is critical; this project will rationalize and consolidate product offerings, driving efficiency, simplicity, cost effectiveness, and agility.

… effective collaboration with development and vendor partners to ensure the benefits of emerging technologies ... This includes leveraging internal private clouds with provisioning automation, integrating real-time communication services (IM, videoconferencing), deploying consumer technologies (iPads), managing 120TB of enterprise data migrating to a consolidated warehouse.

USAA

… provides a full range of financial services including banking, insurance, retirement planning, investment services...

… membership has expanded significantly, leading to significant change in business models

... formed a cross-discipline, cross-organization team responsible for enabling the business to change processes, methods, and structure to align with broader member needs and newly available technologies.

... a customer-centric approach solely focused on meeting the needs of its members. It provides a single road map, bringing together people, process, technology, and information, rather than stand-alone process design and IT roadmaps. The approach represents all architectural disciplines, including business architecture, information architecture, IT architecture, change management, and organizational design. The focus is on delivering business design processes and methods as opposed to models and standards.

... Another challenge has been unifying the architects themselves into a single, cohesive community and creating a metamodel and deliverables that all disciplines can agree to and benefit from. ...building a common repository, which will have joint ownership across disciplines and its own governance team made up of representatives from the architecture community.