Enterprise architecture provides a structured approach to implement change, applying business, data, application, technology and security perspectives to the enterprise and to solutions to ensure investments are aligned with strategy, and to reduce the risk of change. Approaching a change and examining it from multiple perspectives helps ensure that the impacts of the change are well understood and are comprehensively addressed.
The perspectives used are:
Business – Define business functions, value chains and processes.
Data – Define the business data, systems of record, producers and consumers, and data models.
Application – Define the systems that support the business functions and maintain the business data.
Technology – Define the software, hardware, how they are deployed, and perform build or buy analysis.
Security – Define how data is protected.
We can help define an architecture engagement or governance model that integrates with an existing change management process. Changes are defined using the current state as a baseline, the target state is the desired state, and the gaps between these two states represent the change that is implemented. Deliverables consist of a blueprint for the target state, assumptions, decisions and open issues, and lists, matrices and models for each of the above architecture perspectives. Deliverables can be at the enterprise level, departmental level, or the solution level for a specific project or program.
We can create project, program and system architectures. We can create enterprise architectures to help manage the business, data and systems landscape.