Maximizing EA Impact:
Using Business Architecture
to Achieve Alignment
David Baker
Chief Architect,
Diamond Management & Technology Consultants
david.baker@diamondconsultants.com
October 25, 2006

Business / IT Alignment occurs when IT delivers the right solution,
at the right time, for the right cost
IT
Business
Managers
wants to know
want to know
Enterprise
How can I innovate? Have we done this before?
Architecture
How quickly can I get it? How do we get it done?
How much does it cost / save? How do I make sure it’s done
What are the risks? correctly?
What’s possible? What’s possible?
Technical
Staff
wants to know
What do I build?
What do I build it with?
When do I build it?

Alignment has traditionally been hard to achieve, one cause being
the siloed approach to Business and IT Strategies
External Business
IT Strategy
Strategy
Organizational IT
Internal
infrastructure infrastructure
and processes and processes
Business Information Technology
Old Model
(Henderson and Venkatraman 1993)

Additional roadblocks often thwart alignment
 IT does not engage the Business
 Technology driven solutions “offered” to the Business
 Solutions looking for problems to solve
 Organizational anomalies
 Business strategy is too vague
 Mission, vision, goals exist
 Then what?
 Complexity of the business
 Do we plan for the whole enterprise?
 Enterprise Architecture considered “too complex”, “too
costly”

What you can do to achieve alignment
 IT should engage the Business
 Eat the elephant one bite at a time
 Measure the result (Business metrics, not IT metrics)
 Change the organization

Alignment can be achieved through collaboration on a business-
driven plan
 Business owns
Business Architecture  Leadership
(strategy & operations)
 Business SMEs
 IT Facilitates
Solution Architecture  IT owns
(platform independent)  Business approves
Technical Architecture
 IT owns
(infrastructure & processes)  Governed by Business and
Solution Architecture
Suggested Approach

The result is a business-capability driven blueprint that integrates
business strategy, business operations and IT solution support
Business Architecture
Business Business
Strategy Operations
Desired Business Capabilities
Blueprint &
Solution Architecture
Roadmap
Information Application Interface
Model Model Model
Infrastructure Model
Technology Architecture
Data App Development Execution Operations Network Security
Models Models Models Models Models Models Models

Business architecture and blueprinting must be integrated into the
IT operating model
As-Built Architecture
Approved Projects
Business Enterprise Release Project
Planning Business
Strategic Architecture Execution
(Portfolio
(SDLC) Operations
Planning Blueprinting Mgmt)
IT Governance (incl. EA)
Objectives & Measurement Indicators
Business
Architecture Benefit Results Metrics
Business Benefit Results

Engage the Business through development of Business Guiding
Principles
 A collection of position statements used to assist decision
making
 Positions unlikely to change over the next two to three
years
 Filters for decision-making . . . guidelines, not hard and fast
rules
 Eliminate blueprint solutions that are not consistent with the
organization’s goals and objectives
 Defined jointly by Business and IT leadership

There are two ways to engage the Business in development of
Guiding Principles
To what extent should common1 business processes across business units
be standardized?
None All
Business Units are A sub-set of common Business processes are
free to use their own processes are standardized across all
standards for standardized across business units
common processes business units
Current Position
1Common
Desired Position
is defined as being shared by two or more business units
Workbook Method Workshop Method
 Create workbooks  Create workbooks
 Distribute to business SMEs  Hold consensus building workshop
 Collect results  document results
 Hold feedback / consensus meeting

Engage the Business by documenting, and driving additional detail
into, the business strategy
Strategic Business Architecture  A comprehensive statement covering
MISSION the major functions and operations
that the program addresses
KEY DRIVERS & GUIDING
 An inspirational, forward-thinking
VISION view of what the program wants to
achieve
PRINCIPLES
 The top priorities that would achieve
GOAL GOAL GOAL GOAL the vision
 A set of realistic outcomes tracked by
PERFORMANCE performance indicators that
OBJECTIVE INDICATORS collectively support goal attainment
CAPABILITIES  A description of how the business
plans to achieve the objectives
REQUIREMENTS  A description of what should be
implemented

Strategic Business Architecture deliverables from a Federal
Agency EA
SBA Doc What it is What was done Working Documents
• Guiding principles provide • Used a Guiding Principles
Guiding filters and guidelines to ensure workbook to gather individual
Principles that solutions are consistent SME opinions, held feedback
with DOJ’s strategic goals and meetings to reconcile • Word doc & PowerPoint
objectives.
• Identifies forces for change • Research and document
Key Drivers that affect how DOJ conducts legislation, directives, and
its business and approaches department level strategic
the UFMS program. documents • Excel spreadsheet
Mission, • The mission, vision, goals, and • Utilized existing mission,
Vision, objectives articulate the vision and goals. Leveraged
Goals, program’s strategy in a SMEs to verify and drive out
Objectives structured manner. objectives (per goal) • PowerPoint
• Identifies metrics to measure IT • Utilized existing performance
Performance performance. Establishes a indicators, linked indicators to
Indicators clear line of sight from the their appropriate objectives
strategy to the measures. • Excel spreadsheet
• These statements describe, in • Worked with SMEs to develop
Business business terms, how the goals detailed enterprise-level
Capabilities and objectives are realized and capabilities, linked those
prioritize their individual capabilities to appropriate
importance to the business. objectives • Excel spreadsheet

Excerpted capabilities (4 of 55 total)
Capability Linked Goal
 Maintain common processes centrally  Improve financial performance
across the Department to support
centralized administration and
standardization
 Support ad hoc data access across all  Improve operating efficiency of financial
LOBs. This will provide a simplified, management and procurement functions
single source for report information in a
timely fashion
 Generate performance and  Consistently comply with federal,
accountability reports, within OMB accounting, and system standards
specified timeline
 Capability for drill-down to transaction  Improve financial performance
level information

Engage the Business by documenting, and avoiding excessive
detail in, the business operations
Operational Business Architecture
BUSINESS CONTEXT
Business Architecture
Functional Diagrams
Domain Level
LEVEL 0 FUNCTION ORGANIZATION
Business
LEVEL 1 FUNCTION STAKEHOLDER LOCATION
Process Diagrams
 Process design usually
Process Design
PROCESS / SUB-PROCESS
Project Level
done AFTER a blueprint
Business
exists, as part of a funded
project.
TASK

Operational Business Architecture deliverables from a Federal
Agency EA
Deliverables & Working
What it is How to do it Documents
• Describes the functional • Work with LOB to define high-
Operational concept for the LOB, level organization and
Business comprising process, responsibilities, create
Architecture organization, and data classes business context diagram,
document that are foundational to identify business locations • Visio diagrams & Word
business operations document
• Top-down description of level• Defined best-in-class, end-to-
High-Level 0 and level 1 LOB func. Each end IDEF-0 maps and
Functional level has 5-10 steps. Used to definitions for relevant
Descriptions assess any gap with detailed financial management and
processes. procurement functions • Visio diagrams
Capabilities • Detailed mapping of SBA • Examined the level 1
Mapped to business capabilities to their processes and identify the
Level 1 supporting level 1 functions characteristics that enable
Functions the business capabilities
(from the SBA) • Excel spreadsheet
• Observations, risks, • Compare the high-level
implications and planned processes with the current
resolutions for observed state detailed processes
Gap Analysis
gaps between high-level • Identify new capabilities and
processes and current state the process required to
(detailed processes) support them • PowerPoint presentation, Word
document, & Visio diagrams

Use the Business and Solution Architectures to derive a roadmap
of business capabilities
Operational Business Architecture Strategic Business Architecture Solution Architecture
Presentation Services
Internet Services Platform Third-Party
Applications
WAP Web S / MMS Proxy and Traffic
Server Server Centre Server W-LAN Streaming
Service Services
Personliza Rules Community Location
Personal Information
Management
Email
Attachment Self Care Q-Space Services Based App. RIM
-tion Engine Unified
Corporate
Messaging
Content Search
Messaging
M Commerce Engine
Management
Customer Facing Applications Consumer Remote
Messaging Monitoring
Operations Support Systems Business Application Systems
Common Application Services
EAI ORB/ Common System Single Location Data
Media Services Profiling GIS Information (ETL)
Services SRB API Services Sign-On Services
Services
Persistence Framework
Data Services
For Launch
Application Enterprise File Mgt User Profile Location/
Geographic Data
Future Offerings
Data Stores Data Stores Services Data
1H06 2H06 1H07 2H07
Capability 01
Theme 1
Capability 12
Capability 04
Roadmap of
Capability 07
Theme 2 Theme 3
when each
Capability 09 capability is
Capability 02 delivered
Capability 03
Capability 05
Capability 08
Business Capabilities
Requiring IT Support

Tackle the enterprise, one Line of Business (LOB) at a time
Enterprise Business Domains / LOBs Project / Release
Domain 1 models Project / Release Architecture
Project / Release Architecture
Project / Release Architecture
Domain 2 models Project / Release Architecture
Enterprise level models
Project / Release Architecture
... Project / Release Architecture
Domain n models Project / Release Architecture
Project / Release Architecture
Project / Release Architecture
EA Repository

The Business Architecture generates metrics by which IT progress
can be measured and governed
 Performance Indicators
 Business specific metrics linked to objectives and goals
 Alignment Metrics
 Number of projects involved with each goal
 Exception and deferral impact on goals
 IT spend per goal
 IT spend per objective
 Quantitative view of blueprint delivery progress
 Blueprint value management

Example: Value Creation Report
 Purpose: To provide visibility into the alignment of the actual release state with original target
release goals
 Description: The Value Creation Report illustrates the current status of each function in
accordance with its alignment with functional and technical business capabilities. This report
takes into account the impact of exceptions and deferrals on the intended release state of each
domain and exposes any gaps that have formed between target and actual end-states
 Empty circle - Not addressed in release
 Half circle - Core functionality met, high exception score
 3/2 circle - Core functionality met, low exception score
 Full Circle - On target with goal

Consider organizational changes that increase the likelihood of
achieving Business/IT alignment
 Consider dedicated Enterprise Architects
 Assigned to specific Business domains
 Oversee Business and Solution Architecture
 Consider combining Business and IT strategy functions
 Single “Strategy” organization
 Consider a dedicated EA Governance organization
 Lightweight, few resources
 Tiered governance, focusing on high dollar, high risk projects

Avoid some common pitfalls when building a Blueprint
 Do not start with requirements, start with capabilities
 Requirements are good for implementation but bog down the
planning process
 Capabilities provide a manageable level of detail for
prioritization and release planning
 Do not start with processes, start with functions
 Process engineering requires a tremendous amount of detail
 Functions allow coarse-grained prioritization and justification for
follow-on detailed process work
 Hold off on reference architectures until a couple blueprints exist
 Ensure you are working on the highest priority common
services

You do NOT need an EA tool to get started
 All work was accomplished with MS Office
 Excel (linking), and PowerPoint (models), and Word (reports)
 Major drawbacks are that the work is static and difficult to update
 EA tools are necessary to scale beyond one or two domains
 The experience gained hand-crafting the architecture is invaluable to
appropriately evaluate and select an EA tool
 Assess standard meta-model
 Assess ability to link from Strategic to Operational to Solution
models
 Assess ability to track and report progress
 Visualization is different from modeling

Key Takeaways
 IT must engage the Business
 Develop Guiding Principles
 Document the Strategic Business Architecture
 Document the Operational Business Architecture
 Eat the elephant one bite at a time
 Divide the enterprise into manageable domains
 Blueprint each one in succession
 Measure the result
 Use Business Architecture metrics to manage and govern
 Change the organization if needed
 Create “renaissance” roles for Enterprise Architects, Business
Architecture, and Governance

Thank You
Questions?