What is Enterprise Architecture?

Being a practising Enterprise Architect I am often asked what my role is. This comes from the fact that the role is a recent addition to the workplace and there is much misunderstanding and confusion about what it does. Drawing on my experience from running enterprise architecture practices and delivering designs to businesses, I would like to provide some clarity on the role and its origins.

The origins of enterprise architecture can be traced back to the 1970s and the development of the Business System Planning (BSP) methodology by IBM. The early definitions of the enterprise architect described someone who was focused on documenting and planning information systems. This need arose as technology started to be adopted to run and support business functions. Prior to the microprocessor, technology mainly impacted manual and manufacturing activities and so the office processes were hardly affected. But as businesses adopted technology for their functions, and new channels opened up for businesses to interact with their customers, it was found that the way businesses operated could be radically changed. This needed a new approach to systems design and enterprise architecture was born.

Since those first days of enterprise architecture there has been growing recognition of its importance and value to businesses. By bringing discipline to the design process of business systems, enterprise architecture has provided a way to successfully manage the development of large complex systems where process and technology meet.

The modern enterprise architect serves three main duties.

Firstly that of the enterprise planner. In this duty you will find the architecture function mapping out the enterprise and using this to evaluate change. This could either be in a proactive form — development plans and roadmaps — or reactive — evaluating programmes and projects.

Secondly that of the designer. In this duty the architect will carry out planning, design, and supporting design implementation where change will have a significant impact on the enterprise. This aligns closely with the broader definition of who an architect is and what they do.

Thirdly that of a governor. In this duty they govern the system design within an organisation and provide assurance that it is carried out consistently and that proposed designs are suitable for an organisation. This often involves producing guidance and regulations in the form of principles, standards, specifications, and the running of a design governance function.

Enterprise Architecture practices will provide services to fulfil the above to a greater or lesser extent depending on the businesses needs. Ultimately though the purpose of this is to ensure systems are design to fit into the enterprise and meet the businesses needs.

These duties fit neatly into most business frameworks and a strong alignment with portfolio management has emerged. By aligning enterprise architecture with portfolio management organisations have found a mechanism to ensure change programmes are investing in things which will benefit the business (Portfolio) and that the impact to the business is known (Architecture).

As enterprise architecture has matured, the role has also gained seniority in organisations. Where once it may have been seen as another part of the Information Technology (IT) department, enterprise architects are now seen as senior managers within many organisations having enterprise architecture teams reporting directly into board members such as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) or Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Even when this is not the case, enterprise architects often have a large area of influence especially within the technology space.

Despite the evolution of enterprise architecture, practitioners struggle to find consistent good advice and guidance. The introduction of frameworks has helped — notably TOGAF from the Open Group — although these are seen more of a necessity for the role rather than a means of doing architecture. In addition, the career path to becoming an enterprise architect is still unclear. Many current enterprise architects have fallen into the role rather than planning a career path. This is partly caused by an expectation that any enterprise architect will have broad experience before starting the role and that there is no such thing as an architect in training. If there is one area that requires further maturity it is that of career paths, education and development.

So in conclusion, since the mid 1970s enterprise architecture has been on a path of growth and maturity. Since those early days it has become a key role in aligning technology with business functions and carrying out good systems design. By also carrying out design governance, and aligning itself with other governance structures, enterprise architecture has been able to extend its influence to cover all design activities within an organisation. Despite now being an established role, further development of the enterprise architecture career path is required to encourage the next generation of architects.

Related posts:

The endless battle of the best CPU has always gone to the blue team. It has always been superior in all aspects like gaming, workstation, and just overall desktop experience. Then it happened, Ryzen…

Head spinning from the global crisis we are facing? Me too. I wrote this in an effort to appeal to our humanity while recognizing the severity of this pandemic. I’m a community professional…

Es una herramienta de código bajo que permite construir de manera escalable y segura aplicaciones empresariales con clase mundial características que se pueden implementar en cualquier sitio, por ese…