The 7-step process outlined in the document provides a method for organizations to implement business architecture. The steps include:
1. Creating buy-in and understanding business objectives and culture.
2. Capturing existing business information and using a framework to classify and store it centrally.
3. Connecting different business units and functions by linking related information to improve alignment.
4. Enabling collaboration by making information accessible and usable for employees.
5. Coordinating processes, people and technology to better serve customers.
6. Leveraging the centralized information for governance, risk and compliance activities to reduce costs.
7. Using the business architecture to enable smarter decision making and compete
Defining the business value proposition of EA and PPM
Eliminating project risks
Accelerating project execution
Managing project and architecture inter-dependencies
Delivering realized value
Improving collaboration of Architecture and PMO
Practical Enterprise Architecture in Medium-size Corporation using TOGAFMichael Sukachev
Overview on the Practical Enterprise Architecture approach using TOGAF ADM for architectures development, Zachman Framework as artifacts repository and Sparx EA as a modelling tool.
A Brief Introduction to Enterprise Architecture Daljit Banger
Presentation to Metropolitan University (London) on the 16th Feb 2017.
The purpose of the session was to introduce core basic concepts around Enterprise Architecture and discuss the role of the Enterprise Architect .
Defining the business value proposition of EA and PPM
Eliminating project risks
Accelerating project execution
Managing project and architecture inter-dependencies
Delivering realized value
Improving collaboration of Architecture and PMO
Practical Enterprise Architecture in Medium-size Corporation using TOGAFMichael Sukachev
Overview on the Practical Enterprise Architecture approach using TOGAF ADM for architectures development, Zachman Framework as artifacts repository and Sparx EA as a modelling tool.
A Brief Introduction to Enterprise Architecture Daljit Banger
Presentation to Metropolitan University (London) on the 16th Feb 2017.
The purpose of the session was to introduce core basic concepts around Enterprise Architecture and discuss the role of the Enterprise Architect .
In this session we are going to consider some lessons that Business Architecture practitioners might learn from Lean. Business Architecture has traditionally delivered ivory tower models which are slow to generate, hard to understand, and require heavy maintenance.
We'll start with a '101' level introduction to Business Architecture, discussing both the process of defining a Business Architecture and also some of the models that Business Architecture produces. We'll also try to understand the value of Business Architecture.
We'll then start to map some Lean Principles to Business Architecture and try and understand how we could potentially optimise the value stream. We'll consider where Business Architecture can be wasteful, discussing the diminishing value of information and the concept of analysis paralysis.
Finally I'll introduce you to a leaner approach to Business Architecture that focusses on rapid techniques for model generation and heavier engagement of system actors in both the development and the maintenance of models. I'll also share my technique for rapid enterprise modelling which can help you to build a capability model in hours rather than weeks/months.
In April 2016, one of EA Learning’s experienced Business Architecture instructors, Judith Oja-Gillam, delivered a webinar to a community of Architects and IT professionals within the IASA network. Judith discussed the discipline of business architecture, its potential value to the business and some of the challenges it looks to address. The approaches discussed are linked closely to the content delivered in EA Learning’s Applied Business Architecture.
Target architecture: Overcoming barriers to effective Enterprise ArchitectureDave Hornford
Target architecture, and the resulting roadmap, is the fast path to effective business engagement. Change leaders are looking for help in effecting transformation. Dave will explore the real and self-imposed barriers to developing Target Architecture. Why most ‘Targets’ look more like a first Transition Architecture?
This presentation is on leveraging Enterprise Architecture Governance and Project Portfolio Management Best Practices to:
Accelerate project execution
Manage project and architecture inter-dependencies
Deliver realised value
Improve Enterprise and PMO collaboration
Introduction to Enterprise architecture and the steps to perform an Enterpris...Prashanth Panduranga
This presentation was used to introduce Enterprise Architecture, Introduction to how to perform an Enterprise Architecture Assessment followed by TechSharp introduction.
Deliverables in the presentation is not clear, the slides represent what was shown as part of the demo.
List of deliverables:
Application Rationalization framework
Portfolio Analysis framework
Road Map
Current state analysis
Target State establishing process
System Context
System Landscape
Modeling Big Data with the ArchiMate 3.0 LanguageIver Band
Health care enterprises use big data methods and technologies to gain insights for improving the efficacy, efficiency, and accessibility of their services. Effective big data initiatives require shared understanding among diverse stakeholders of business challenges and the often complex architectures required to address them. Enterprise and solution architects can use the ArchiMate language to build this understanding with compelling visual models.
This presentation introduces the ArchiMate 3.0 language, and uses it to explore the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Big Data Reference Architecture (NBDRA), and to present a health care case study based on the NBDRA. Participants will learn how to use the ArchiMate 3.0 language, in alignment with the TOGAF framework, to propose, justify and plan big data initiatives, and to guide their successful implementation.
Business Architecture as an Approach to Connect Strategy & ProjectsEnterprise Architects
Helen Palmer @helenmpal hosted interactive sessions at the October 2015 IIBA professional development days in Melbourne and Brisbane.
The presentation titled "Business Architecture as an Approach to Connect Strategy & Projects" covers a high level introduction to the discipline of Business Architecture and the platform it provides for effectively executing Business Strategy. Helen provided insights into how Business Architecture is positioned within the wider context of Enterprise Architecture and how the value it delivers can improve greatly with an increase in the mandate from the business. The presentation also gives an overview of some of the key artifacts and models used in defining a Business Architecture.
Enterprise Architects offers IIBA members an exclusive discount on our (IIBA endorsed) Applied Business Architecture: 4 Day Course
http://enterprisearchitects.com/courses/business-architecture/applied-business-architecture/
You can reach out to one of our learning services consultants at training@enterprisearchitects.com to find out more.
Real business architecture transforms businessGraham McLeod
Presented at the Open Group EA Conference in Cannes, April 2012. Introduces an expanded scope for Business Architecture incorporating Design Thinking. Provides an integrated meta model for business architecture compatible with Archimate and TOGAF 9. Techniques are from Inspired and Promis.
How to Articulate the Value of Enterprise Architecturecccamericas
Ever struggled with the question, What is the Value of Enterprise Architecture? In this facilitated conversation, Michael Fulton will share his perspective on Enterprise Architecture and the value it provides to the CIO, to IT, and to the business.
Come ready to engage, because in the conversation we will discuss:
•The EA 7-year itch
•Several External Perspectives on EA Value
•The CC&C perspective on a simplified approach to EA Value
•Ensuring your perspective on EA Value is relevant for your stakeholders
At the end of this conversation, you should walk away with:
•A new perspective on the value of EA
•Tips and tricks on how to articulate and quantify EA Value for your key stakeholders.
CAST Highlight is a SaaS platform for fast & code-level
Application Portfolio Analytics. Track software value &
risks to align IT decisions with your business strategy.
In this session we are going to consider some lessons that Business Architecture practitioners might learn from Lean. Business Architecture has traditionally delivered ivory tower models which are slow to generate, hard to understand, and require heavy maintenance.
We'll start with a '101' level introduction to Business Architecture, discussing both the process of defining a Business Architecture and also some of the models that Business Architecture produces. We'll also try to understand the value of Business Architecture.
We'll then start to map some Lean Principles to Business Architecture and try and understand how we could potentially optimise the value stream. We'll consider where Business Architecture can be wasteful, discussing the diminishing value of information and the concept of analysis paralysis.
Finally I'll introduce you to a leaner approach to Business Architecture that focusses on rapid techniques for model generation and heavier engagement of system actors in both the development and the maintenance of models. I'll also share my technique for rapid enterprise modelling which can help you to build a capability model in hours rather than weeks/months.
In April 2016, one of EA Learning’s experienced Business Architecture instructors, Judith Oja-Gillam, delivered a webinar to a community of Architects and IT professionals within the IASA network. Judith discussed the discipline of business architecture, its potential value to the business and some of the challenges it looks to address. The approaches discussed are linked closely to the content delivered in EA Learning’s Applied Business Architecture.
Target architecture: Overcoming barriers to effective Enterprise ArchitectureDave Hornford
Target architecture, and the resulting roadmap, is the fast path to effective business engagement. Change leaders are looking for help in effecting transformation. Dave will explore the real and self-imposed barriers to developing Target Architecture. Why most ‘Targets’ look more like a first Transition Architecture?
This presentation is on leveraging Enterprise Architecture Governance and Project Portfolio Management Best Practices to:
Accelerate project execution
Manage project and architecture inter-dependencies
Deliver realised value
Improve Enterprise and PMO collaboration
Introduction to Enterprise architecture and the steps to perform an Enterpris...Prashanth Panduranga
This presentation was used to introduce Enterprise Architecture, Introduction to how to perform an Enterprise Architecture Assessment followed by TechSharp introduction.
Deliverables in the presentation is not clear, the slides represent what was shown as part of the demo.
List of deliverables:
Application Rationalization framework
Portfolio Analysis framework
Road Map
Current state analysis
Target State establishing process
System Context
System Landscape
Modeling Big Data with the ArchiMate 3.0 LanguageIver Band
Health care enterprises use big data methods and technologies to gain insights for improving the efficacy, efficiency, and accessibility of their services. Effective big data initiatives require shared understanding among diverse stakeholders of business challenges and the often complex architectures required to address them. Enterprise and solution architects can use the ArchiMate language to build this understanding with compelling visual models.
This presentation introduces the ArchiMate 3.0 language, and uses it to explore the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Big Data Reference Architecture (NBDRA), and to present a health care case study based on the NBDRA. Participants will learn how to use the ArchiMate 3.0 language, in alignment with the TOGAF framework, to propose, justify and plan big data initiatives, and to guide their successful implementation.
Business Architecture as an Approach to Connect Strategy & ProjectsEnterprise Architects
Helen Palmer @helenmpal hosted interactive sessions at the October 2015 IIBA professional development days in Melbourne and Brisbane.
The presentation titled "Business Architecture as an Approach to Connect Strategy & Projects" covers a high level introduction to the discipline of Business Architecture and the platform it provides for effectively executing Business Strategy. Helen provided insights into how Business Architecture is positioned within the wider context of Enterprise Architecture and how the value it delivers can improve greatly with an increase in the mandate from the business. The presentation also gives an overview of some of the key artifacts and models used in defining a Business Architecture.
Enterprise Architects offers IIBA members an exclusive discount on our (IIBA endorsed) Applied Business Architecture: 4 Day Course
http://enterprisearchitects.com/courses/business-architecture/applied-business-architecture/
You can reach out to one of our learning services consultants at training@enterprisearchitects.com to find out more.
Real business architecture transforms businessGraham McLeod
Presented at the Open Group EA Conference in Cannes, April 2012. Introduces an expanded scope for Business Architecture incorporating Design Thinking. Provides an integrated meta model for business architecture compatible with Archimate and TOGAF 9. Techniques are from Inspired and Promis.
How to Articulate the Value of Enterprise Architecturecccamericas
Ever struggled with the question, What is the Value of Enterprise Architecture? In this facilitated conversation, Michael Fulton will share his perspective on Enterprise Architecture and the value it provides to the CIO, to IT, and to the business.
Come ready to engage, because in the conversation we will discuss:
•The EA 7-year itch
•Several External Perspectives on EA Value
•The CC&C perspective on a simplified approach to EA Value
•Ensuring your perspective on EA Value is relevant for your stakeholders
At the end of this conversation, you should walk away with:
•A new perspective on the value of EA
•Tips and tricks on how to articulate and quantify EA Value for your key stakeholders.
CAST Highlight is a SaaS platform for fast & code-level
Application Portfolio Analytics. Track software value &
risks to align IT decisions with your business strategy.
I am specialized in PreSale/PostSale and, Solution Architecture in various fields as Homeland Security and intelligence solutions, wired and wireless IP and RF communication, IT, CCTV, PLC (SCADA systems), video encoding, telephony SS7 ISUP , telemetry, CYBER systems and storage systems . I have Very wide technology background, dynamic, independent, self-driven, detail focused multidisciplinary knowledge and interests.
Architecture Series 5-4 Solution Architecture DraftFrankie Hsiang
Use Solution Architecture as a tool to produce solid solutions that fully meet business needs, within budget, deploy on schedule, easy to maintain, and use fewer resources.
Solution architecture for big data projects
solution architecture,big data,hadoop,hive,hbase,impala,spark,apache,cassandra,SAP HANA,Cognos big insights
This article outlines how I’ve tackled the strategic alignment between the business and IT through capability mapping, governance and Agile delivery. It looks at the overall process from a strategic business objective, goal or idea through governance to achieving business value.
We’ve worked with Executives and IT leaders for over 30 years, and the single most common complaint we hear from them is their profound frustration with the lack of results and transparency from their never-ending IT investments.
To add further complexity, the demand for digital products and services has made it increasingly difficult for organizations to make ongoing investments and balance the need for innovation with optimization.
The latest data, combined from global enterprises, big consulting and research firms, makes the case that companies need to urgently act to address the digital disruption of their business and their related skills gaps. The data shows that 70% of digital business initiatives are likely to fail to deliver business growth, due to lack of business process and product innovation, as well as poor organizational adaptability.
Poor governance and legacy product management processes to align business and IT initiatives, coupled with insufficient leadership engagement across the organization, are the main reason most companies are wasting money on IT.
This thought paper speaks to these challenges and how optimizing both technology innovation and cross-organizational engagement will accelerate the positive business outcomes that organizations are looking to achieve especially in lieu of increasing digital disruption.
Authors - Alex Adamopoulos and Bob Kantor
How to successfully implement Business Intelligence into your organisation.
A completely agnostic and independent view from a market leader in delivering technology transformation.
Details on how to build a strategy to successfully execute on and more importantly how to get the business to adopt Business Intelligence into their day to day role.
Essential tool kit for any organisation looking to invest in Business Intelligence.
How to Reach Peak Performance With the Product Management Organizational Heal...Aggregage
The degree of maturity of your product management organization can directly drive your ability to satisfy customers and become more profitable. Our Product Management Organizational Health Checklist and on-demand webinar can help.
Worried that you have too few applications? Convinced your run rate is as efficient as it could be? Congratulations: you are almost certainly unique.
According to Forrester Research1, "for IT operating budgets, enterprises spend two-thirds or more on ongoing operations and maintenance."
In order to deliver significant benefits, technology leaders need to do more than ‘tinker at the edges’ of the application portfolio.
In our direct experience there are significant benefits to be had from a strategic approach to application rationalisation: typically a 30% reduction in applications and 40% savings on annual costs (potentially tens of £ millions a year) are achievable through a considered analysis of your application portfolio.
Planning your Digital Workplace: A Systems-Based Planning ApproachChristian Buckley
When deploying a “Digital Workplace,” where do you begin? What is needed is an iterative, strategic, and systems-based approach of identifying core challenges at the team and company level, working with key stakeholders to identify appropriate strategies, building a solution using a scalable, repeatable, and sustainable change model. This approach drives stakeholder engagement, and ensures a more holistic solution that aligns with the needs of the business at every level. In this presentation, we walk through a systems-based planning approach for Enterprise Collaboration. Topics will include:
--Engaging leaders in a systems analysis, identifying high-priority needs and challenges
--Outlining a set of targeted and strategic actions based on common customer scenarios
--Developing an implementation plan to support successful operational and improvement strategies
The intent of this presentation is to help organizations incorporate systems-based planning into their Digital Workplace planning processes, using real-world customer examples, and to receive tips on how to fold these best practices into their own strategies.
Enterprise Information Management Strategy - a proven approachSam Thomsett
Access a proven approach to Enterprise Information Management Strategy - providing a framework for Digital Transformation - by a leader in Information Management Consulting - Entity Group
Original article from the Flevy business blog can be found here:
http://flevy.com/blog/sap-and-change-management/
As a “seasoned” Change Manager, I have been involved in many diverse projects focusing on managing the business aspect of technology implementations; e.g. ERP (SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics), Core Banking Systems, Business Intelligence, Case Working and Knowledge Management solutions, and the like.
To this day, I continue to be asked why is there a need to have involvement from a Change Manager, because a technology implementation “is what it is” and once implemented, the business should just be able to “get on and work with it.” But, it’s not quite as simple as that, because if you break down the impact of a technology implementation on a business, it would go something like this:
• It will change the way a business operates.
• Key stakeholders will want and need to be involved and communicated with.
• Processes will change.
• Organisation structures will change.
• The readiness of the business will need to be measured to ensure a smooth go-live.
• There will be a need to train and educate people in new ways of working.
• Business benefits as set out in the business case will need to be tracked.
• Once people gain competence with the new technology they should be encouraged to continuously improve ways of working into the future.
That sounds very simple, but actually it’s not, because all of these things involve people and they will need to have their expectations and perceptions managed.
Technology implementations aimed at making an organisation more efficient have become larger and more critical in recent years and now represent a major challenge for organisations. Despite improved technical functionality and reliability there are still project overruns, delays and sometimes downright failure. Research continues to show that between 30% and 70% of technology implementations either fail to meet their targeted benefits or stall and/or overrun. Problems are typically not related to the system or to technical issues surrounding the software but instead are often due to business related issues. One of the main reasons cited for this failure rate is that projects are usually managed from a technical perspective by Project Managers who are driven by milestones and deliverables but lack the necessary “soft skills” to deal effectively with the people side of change.
EA Foundation est une solution Casewise qui intègre plusieurs dimensions complémentaires pour accélérer vos démarches d'architecture d'entreprise tout en tirant le meilleur parti des produits Casewise. www.casewise.fr
EA Foundation is a Casewise solution that encompasses many complementary dimensions to accelerate your EA initiatives by leveraging the Casewise Products. www.casewise.com
EA Foundation est une solution Casewise qui intègre plusieurs dimensions complémentaires pour accélérer vos démarches d'architecture d'entreprise tout en tirant le meilleur parti des produits Casewise. www.casewise.fr
EA Foundation is a Casewise solution that encompasses many complementary dimensions to accelerate your EA initiatives by leveraging the Casewise Products. www.casewise.com
EA Foundation is a Casewise solution that encompasses many complementary dimensions to accelerate your EA initiatives by leveraging the Casewise Products. www.casewise.com
EA Foundation est une solution Casewise qui intègre plusieurs dimensions complémentaires pour accélérer vos démarches d'architecture d'entreprise tout en tirant le meilleur parti des produits Casewise. www.casewise.fr
Episode I : https://youtu.be/vNRouPdhCzw
Lien vers la démonstration vidéo: http://youtu.be/Qm6BKxCSBg0
Cet article et sa vidéo de démonstration recensent certaines règles et bonnes pratiques pour tirer le meilleur parti des productions réalisées avec MS Visio. Contournez ses limites tout en conservant les bénéfices de sa souplesse et de sa large utilisation.
Bonne consultation et excellente journée
Neuro-symbolic is not enough, we need neuro-*semantic*Frank van Harmelen
Neuro-symbolic (NeSy) AI is on the rise. However, simply machine learning on just any symbolic structure is not sufficient to really harvest the gains of NeSy. These will only be gained when the symbolic structures have an actual semantics. I give an operational definition of semantics as “predictable inference”.
All of this illustrated with link prediction over knowledge graphs, but the argument is general.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 4DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 4. In this session, we will cover Test Manager overview along with SAP heatmap.
The UiPath Test Manager overview with SAP heatmap webinar offers a concise yet comprehensive exploration of the role of a Test Manager within SAP environments, coupled with the utilization of heatmaps for effective testing strategies.
Participants will gain insights into the responsibilities, challenges, and best practices associated with test management in SAP projects. Additionally, the webinar delves into the significance of heatmaps as a visual aid for identifying testing priorities, areas of risk, and resource allocation within SAP landscapes. Through this session, attendees can expect to enhance their understanding of test management principles while learning practical approaches to optimize testing processes in SAP environments using heatmap visualization techniques
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into SAP testing best practices
2. Heatmap utilization for testing
3. Optimization of testing processes
4. Demo
Topics covered:
Execution from the test manager
Orchestrator execution result
Defect reporting
SAP heatmap example with demo
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
Accelerate your Kubernetes clusters with Varnish CachingThijs Feryn
A presentation about the usage and availability of Varnish on Kubernetes. This talk explores the capabilities of Varnish caching and shows how to use the Varnish Helm chart to deploy it to Kubernetes.
This presentation was delivered at K8SUG Singapore. See https://feryn.eu/presentations/accelerate-your-kubernetes-clusters-with-varnish-caching-k8sug-singapore-28-2024 for more details.
Let's dive deeper into the world of ODC! Ricardo Alves (OutSystems) will join us to tell all about the new Data Fabric. After that, Sezen de Bruijn (OutSystems) will get into the details on how to best design a sturdy architecture within ODC.
Key Trends Shaping the Future of Infrastructure.pdfCheryl Hung
Keynote at DIGIT West Expo, Glasgow on 29 May 2024.
Cheryl Hung, ochery.com
Sr Director, Infrastructure Ecosystem, Arm.
The key trends across hardware, cloud and open-source; exploring how these areas are likely to mature and develop over the short and long-term, and then considering how organisations can position themselves to adapt and thrive.
Slack (or Teams) Automation for Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Soluti...Jeffrey Haguewood
Sidekick Solutions uses Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Solutions Apricot) and automation solutions to integrate data for business workflows.
We believe integration and automation are essential to user experience and the promise of efficient work through technology. Automation is the critical ingredient to realizing that full vision. We develop integration products and services for Bonterra Case Management software to support the deployment of automations for a variety of use cases.
This video focuses on the notifications, alerts, and approval requests using Slack for Bonterra Impact Management. The solutions covered in this webinar can also be deployed for Microsoft Teams.
Interested in deploying notification automations for Bonterra Impact Management? Contact us at sales@sidekicksolutionsllc.com to discuss next steps.
Connector Corner: Automate dynamic content and events by pushing a buttonDianaGray10
Here is something new! In our next Connector Corner webinar, we will demonstrate how you can use a single workflow to:
Create a campaign using Mailchimp with merge tags/fields
Send an interactive Slack channel message (using buttons)
Have the message received by managers and peers along with a test email for review
But there’s more:
In a second workflow supporting the same use case, you’ll see:
Your campaign sent to target colleagues for approval
If the “Approve” button is clicked, a Jira/Zendesk ticket is created for the marketing design team
But—if the “Reject” button is pushed, colleagues will be alerted via Slack message
Join us to learn more about this new, human-in-the-loop capability, brought to you by Integration Service connectors.
And...
Speakers:
Akshay Agnihotri, Product Manager
Charlie Greenberg, Host
Builder.ai Founder Sachin Dev Duggal's Strategic Approach to Create an Innova...Ramesh Iyer
In today's fast-changing business world, Companies that adapt and embrace new ideas often need help to keep up with the competition. However, fostering a culture of innovation takes much work. It takes vision, leadership and willingness to take risks in the right proportion. Sachin Dev Duggal, co-founder of Builder.ai, has perfected the art of this balance, creating a company culture where creativity and growth are nurtured at each stage.
Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey 2024 by 91mobiles.pdf91mobiles
91mobiles recently conducted a Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey in which we asked over 3,000 respondents about the TV they own, aspects they look at on a new TV, and their TV buying preferences.
The Art of the Pitch: WordPress Relationships and SalesLaura Byrne
Clients don’t know what they don’t know. What web solutions are right for them? How does WordPress come into the picture? How do you make sure you understand scope and timeline? What do you do if sometime changes?
All these questions and more will be explored as we talk about matching clients’ needs with what your agency offers without pulling teeth or pulling your hair out. Practical tips, and strategies for successful relationship building that leads to closing the deal.
DevOps and Testing slides at DASA ConnectKari Kakkonen
My and Rik Marselis slides at 30.5.2024 DASA Connect conference. We discuss about what is testing, then what is agile testing and finally what is Testing in DevOps. Finally we had lovely workshop with the participants trying to find out different ways to think about quality and testing in different parts of the DevOps infinity loop.
GraphRAG is All You need? LLM & Knowledge GraphGuy Korland
Guy Korland, CEO and Co-founder of FalkorDB, will review two articles on the integration of language models with knowledge graphs.
1. Unifying Large Language Models and Knowledge Graphs: A Roadmap.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.08302
2. Microsoft Research's GraphRAG paper and a review paper on various uses of knowledge graphs:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/graphrag-unlocking-llm-discovery-on-narrative-private-data/
"Impact of front-end architecture on development cost", Viktor TurskyiFwdays
I have heard many times that architecture is not important for the front-end. Also, many times I have seen how developers implement features on the front-end just following the standard rules for a framework and think that this is enough to successfully launch the project, and then the project fails. How to prevent this and what approach to choose? I have launched dozens of complex projects and during the talk we will analyze which approaches have worked for me and which have not.
2. Executive Summary
For some, the term “Business Architecture” (BA) is seen as a play on words,
often interchanged with the more general term of “Enterprise Architecture”
(EA). Traditionally, EA has been viewed as an IT-centric view of the business.
This is not the right way to view or define Business Architecture - it is far more
powerful than that. Progressive organizations now realize that the true value
lies when business takes a lead role in such initiatives. Organizations whose
business users collaborate closely with the IT organization to blueprint their
environment in support of the business objectives - and understand the impact
on the company’s bottom line - will be poised to deliver meaningful value to
the organization.
Business Architecture is a key decision tool for organizations and could be
thought of in a similar way as GPS systems - being a “Navigation System for
Business”. It allows static blueprints to be transformed into dynamic models
for greater insight than ever before. With business managers in the driver’s
seat, different questions will be asked from the traditionally technical ones
normally associated with EA. In order to support these questions a different
approach to tools and solutions will be required.
The need for Business Architecture is obvious: the growing complexity of
organizations (both large and small) through various activities such as mergers
and acquisitions; “rightsizing” efforts; adherence to regulatory actions etc.
This results in enterprises trying to find meaningful opportunities to become
stronger, more efficient, more effective and more agile. This is the value that
Business Architecture brings to the table.
Business Architecture will help you answer questions like: “What processes
are not supporting my corporate objectives?”, “Am I paying too much support
on systems I don’t need?”, “What will be the impact of relocating or closing
an office”? These and potentially thousands of questions like these become
possible, with answers, with a good Business Architecture in place.
In addition, Business Architecture is becoming increasingly important to assist
in dealing with issues around governance, risk and compliance. From a
management perspective, the ability to be able to trace and audit what is going
on in your organization is crucial.
Ultimately having a good Business Architecture in place allows for smart
decision making. It enables your organization to use knowledge effectively in
order to react to business needs (revenue generating, cost cutting, enhancing
customer experience, etc.) and will allow you to respond to emerging
opportunities thus allowing you to compete more effectively.
3. Introducing the 7 Steps
The purpose of the 7 Step approach presented here is to ensure that visible value
is driven out of the process at every stage. This will help to ensure the survivability
of your Business Architecture initiative. It is not suggested that these are “the”
steps, just that they are a logical set of steps that when executed together will
enable you to deliver on the value and promise of Business Architecture.
By focusing on the values, rather than tools and technology, it will be easier to get
engagement with business managers. Each of the steps are designed to address
a particular general business need. It may be that while looking at each stage you
choose to customize and add your own focus. If you do, then please ensure you
talk to the problem/opportunity agenda of your line of business managers.
Although the project may be carried out by staff from the IT department, it is
vital that they stay focused and engaged on business needs and avoid being
sidetracked into technology. From step 2 onwards, you will see that technology
will be required to store and report on the information, but the emphasis is on
storage and reporting, not on applications or technology (e.g., BPMS).
By demonstrating value across the early stages of your project, you may find that
the project moves from a “push” into the business to a “pull” from the business -
we all like to be associated with success!
Going through the steps, be wary of allowing the team to be pulled too wide too
quickly. By “shouting” about successes at every step, you will be providing people
with something they are not used to - timely and appropriate information - the key
to any organizations’ continued success.
As you will discover, each step leads you in an easy and logical manner, toward
achieving a usable Business Architecture that can evolve and grow with your
operational needs.
7 Steps to
Business
Architecture
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Create & Culture
Capture & Collate
Connect & Communicate
Collaborate & Consume
Customers & Coordination
Control & Comply
Change & Complete
4. Step 1
Create & Culture
Many architecture initiatives have failed to
deliver on the grandiose benefits promised by
some. These less successful projects come
from looking at things from a pure technology
perspective, or in some cases teams appear
to have tried to “boil the ocean”. Step 1 of
this process seeks to ensure that your initiative
becomes one of the success stories, by
providing the right grounding.
Successful projects understand and focus
their efforts on solving the business problems
that their organizations face. You can achieve
this by identifying and studying annual reports,
CXO strategy documents and management
objectives as well as listening to line managers
and executives. This allows you to stay
focused on solving the real problems that the
business has - as opposed to the problems
you may think they have!
Additionally, success depends on understanding your organization’s appetite for
change. Once you understand this you can select the appropriate change strategy.
All too often when reading books or taking advice we forget to understand the culture
of our own organization. What is the point in planning for a 2-year project in a culture
that demands “quick wins”, or simply aiming at quick wins at the expense of long term
benefit? It is crucial to understand how to balance these two objectives in a way that
gives maximum benefit at both levels, in a coordinated fashion.
With the inputs and understanding gained, we can now start to create the deliverables
for this step. Perhaps the most important will be the benefits realization plan. This will
illustrate to the business how we will deliver, measure and track the promised value
of our initiative. Then we need a communication plan that will help us to promote
the benefits across the organization and talks to the various agendas. Finally, we will
deliver our project plan.
Business Value: Agreed consensus on why we are undertaking the project and the
benefits that will be derived from the initiative, along with clear costs and time frames.
AGREED
Corporate
Strategy
Change
Culture
Business
Objectives
Project
Plan
Communication
Plan
FUTURE
STATE
Chooseyour
Strategy
High High High
High High Low
High Low High
Low High High
Benefit
Realization Plan
ROI
INPUTS
OUTPUTS
5. Step 2
Capture & Collate
With our objectives agreed, we can start collecting information that already exists.
This is very important as all too often architecture projects start with some sort of
analysis phase, completely ignoring the fact that much of what we might require
already exists in the organization.
In order to make the most use of such data, you should ensure that your project
makes use of a good repository, helping create a single source of truth for the
organization. Billions of dollars are wasted globally every year as a result of people
doing the same work over and over again as a result of the inability to see or access
information that already exists in organizations.
If you are like most organizations, the
chances are much of your business data
will be held in a combination of Excel®
,
Visio®
and PowerPoint®
. Effective BA tools
will allow you to easily bring in and store
that information (as well as information
from other operational systems). Data you
seek should include information about:
the processes and procedures you use;
the structure of the organization; the
information or data that is important; details
of the locations where you do business or
geographies of your customers, and some
details on the applications and technology
you use. We do not require detailed
technical information, just the high level
business information.
With such a large amount of collected information, you will need a classification
system to sort the information into a more usable form. Depending on your
organization or preference, it might make sense for you to use one of the existing
frameworks for this. If you require something that is industry agnostic, then the
recommendation would be the Zachman Framework - a great classification scheme.
If you prefer industry centric, then something equivalent to the eTOM model for
Telecom companies could make sense. At this level we only use the frameworks as
a guide for classification and collation.
Business Value: A single source of truth will promote common understanding and
save repetition and waste in the future.
Framework
forClassification
Horizontal Vertical
CAPTURE
COLLATE
Excel®
Visio®
PowerPoint®
HR Systems
CRM ERP
SINGLE
SOURCE
OFTRUTH
6. Step 3
Connect & Communicate
This step addresses a significant issue in
business - how to link different functional
groups within the business. It connects
different initiatives within those areas and
enables greater reuse. People often talk about
Business/IT alignment - we suggest this is
flawed. Instead we need to integrate them!
There is no such thing as IT projects, just
business projects enabled by IT, so this step
is all about helping to connect people together
and building communication between them.
Capturing and managing key business
documents, such as Value Chain Maps,
Balanced Scorecards and Strategy Maps,
helps to identify how projects, processes and
systems address or impact the business.
Connecting these with the key IT processes
and frameworks we might have such as ITIL
for Service Management or TOGAF for Systems Development ensures that IT
is always connected and using information that is important to the business.
This connection greatly increases the acceptance of IT proposals by the
business - they can understand the reasons for a system and allows IT to
ensure that the systems they create deliver to the real needs of the business.
Connectivity works at two levels. Firstly, it involves linking information about
our processes, organization, data, locations, applications and technologies
together. This linkage is missing in many of the tools people use to support
their architecture initiatives. Secondly, it is also about connecting things within
functional areas. For example we need to connect scorecards with strategy
from a business perspective, while within IT we need to connect service
delivery with systems development. Historically these latter two have used
their own standards and frameworks and duplicated each other’s work.
Once we have all the information centrally stored and located then it is available
to all who need access. Our role is then to communicate that information to all
those who need it in order to aid their understanding of how what they work on
connects to what others work on.
Business Value: Having everyone in the business and IT groups singing using
the same language avoids misunderstanding and reduces potential failures.
Singing from
the same
Hymn Sheet
ValueChain
Strategy Map
Balanced Scorecard
Software
Development
Service
Management
There is no
divide!
BUSINESS IT
ACCURATE
TIMELY
INFORMATION
7. Step 4
Collaborate & Consume
Having stored, connected and communicated information in our data store
for sharing, we now go further and use the information in ways that enables
people within the organization to collaborate. Organizations around the globe
are seeking smarter ways of enabling people within and across departments,
functions and teams to work together. As a part of our Business Architecture
initiative, we are helping deliver on that need.
In the previous step, we talked of communication -
this was about telling people what information was
available. Here we are talking about consumption of
information - getting them to use it. The distinction
is important as it has been a point of failure for
architecture initiatives in the past. There is no point
in collecting, collating and communicating if people
do not make use of what is available.
In order to aid this consumption we need to think
differently about how we serve up the information.
We need to ensure that we are able to provide the
information people might want, in the format they
want it and at the time they want it. In this respect
we are the servants and they are the masters.
If they want information via the Web or a portal,
this is what we provide. If they want the data
“pushed” to their iPad®
or Smartphone®
, then we
do this too. We should always remember it is their
information - we are simply helping to look after it
and to help them join the dots.
It is worth stating at this point that our perception of the Business Architecture
function is that it is there to assist and support, not to govern or mandate.
This may be one of the biggest differences when compared to traditional
architectural approaches, where “architects” specify solutions. In this model,
architects are just another group of users who consume and contribute to the
information.
Business Value: Ensures everyone is playing on the same team and
contributing to the corporate knowledge base.
SHARING
CORPORATE
KNOWLEDGE
Process
Teams
Architecture
Teams
Business
Managers
8. Step 5
Customers & Coordination
Sometimes when working on architecture
initiatives we forget what business is about -
winning and retaining customers who spend
in ways that are profitable for our organization.
If we don’t do this then we have no business.
So the reality is that a key purpose of our
Business Architecture has to be to help deliver
and support those customers.
There are many ways in which we can help
this. Not least is to assist the organization
with those joined up processes we discussed
in Step 3 and by making it easy for staff to
work together as seen in Step 4. Enabling
the organization to bring the full power of
the combination of people, process and
technology to bear on the customer massively
increases our chances of success. That success is both at the architecture,
where we can be seen to be delivering real value and at the business level.
At this step, we change from being passive with data to being active with
information. We can identify overlaps across processes and data that when
removed will improve organizational ability. We can also assist business
managers to identify new and different ways of working and support them in
their ever-changing needs.
You will have a unique ability, through your knowledge at this stage, to enable
far greater coordination among project teams, business users and staff than is
likely to have occurred before.
The value and importance of this step can never be overstated. A quick look
around the globe at highly successful organizations reveals that all succeed as
a result of great coordination between their staff, customers and suppliers
and a strong focus on understanding and delivering value to their customers.
The value of having people, process and technology aligned may be more
valuable in the long-term to an organization than any single innovation or
product offering.
Business Value: When all parts of our organization work in harmony, then we
generate happier customers, who stay longer and spend more.
GENERATING
HAPPIER
CUSTOMERS
People Technology
Process
9. Step 6
Control & Comply
Often Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) is seen as a check-the-box
exercise, whereas it is key to keeping you in business and your executives
out of jail! These are the two things that rank highest on most executive
agendas. Of course it can also contribute considerable overhead in the
running of your business.
Much overhead comes about because GRC
initiatives frequently run as separate projects
with separate teams working on different
information. This may get you through an initial
audit, but does not ensure that what happens
within your organization is in line with what the
GRC folks think they have captured. Very often
GRC is looked at it purely in terms of financial
perspectives. In reality, it is an operational
issue, that when done right will automatically
address many of the financial issues.
By following the steps thus far and having
all your processes, policies, procedures,
organizational and data information in the same
place, it makes it easier for operational managers
to lead their people and ensure consistency
in how work gets done. By having users of
process/data etc. and the operational managers working on the information in
your repository ensures that if things break or need changes then they will inform
you. (As an example if you can’t book your vacation because a process is broken
how long will it take before you tell someone about it)!
Having your auditors use your data for compliance and regulatory purposes,
acts both as a sanity check for what you do and how you do it. It also helps
executives ensure that their “stay-out-of-jail card” will work.
We have touched on reduced costs in earlier steps, but here we are looking at
the reduced cost of compliance and audit. In one case we are familiar with the
client reported an audit saving of $2,000 per process, and a reduction in audit
time of 33%.
Business Value: Greater consistency and compliance with significantly
reduced costs.
GOVERNANCE
RISK
COMPLIANCE
Auditor
ReducedCost GreaterConsistency
Regulator
Stay in Business Stayoutof Jail
OPEN
FOR BUSINESS
10. Step 7
Change & Compete
Ultimately the only reason to take
the time and put in the effort is so
that you can ask smarter questions
and get smarter answers.
Business Architecture will provide
you with a decision support system
that understands the complexity of
your organization. All too often when
making one change you risk breaking
many other parts.
Your ability to sense and respond to
changes in your customer or market
behavior is vital. With organizations of
all sizes entering new markets and new
geographies there is no such thing as
business as usual.
The “Wheel of Change” is a simple tool
designed to provide you with examples
of the categories of questions you are
likely to need answers to. As you can see it only has 4 rings, each of which
rotate, but still these 4 generate over 1,250 categories, each of which will
contain many questions. Sometimes it is not possible to simplify, sometimes
we just have to accept that things are complex and that what we need are
systems to help us with that complexity.
Use the wheel to help guide you through your own path. The important thing
here is to make sure that the repository, upon which you will rely for your
answers needs to be robust, properly populated, well maintained and available
to all. A good tool should provide you with all the things you need.
The right tool will also enable you to see your information presented graphically,
either via dashboards or reports, in the way that suits your business need best.
Good Business Architecture, just like good Enterprise Architecture is a
process. Consider one cycle round these steps is akin to taking one flight
of stairs - the number of flights you need to take depends on how high your
business wants to climb and how much you can prove the value of each flight.
BUSINESS
NAVIGATION
SYSTEM
Management Dashboard
KNOWLEDGE
REPOSITORY
WheelofChange
STAKEHOLDERS CUSTOMERS
REGULATORS
SOCIETYSTAFFMARKET
G
OVERNANCE REVENUE
RISK
COMPLIANCEWASTE
OPPORTUNITY
TE
CHNOLOGY PROCESS
ORGANISATION
L
OCATIONDATA
APPLICATION
HOW WHO
WHAT
W
HYWHERE
WHEN
AskQuestions?
(Reactive)
SeekAnswers?
(Proactive)
AskQuestions?
(Reactive)
SeekAnswers?
(Proactive)
11. Conclusion
Business-driven, Business-owned and Business-led - these will be the
difference between initiatives that fail and those that succeed. Success with
Business Architecture results not just in the obvious bottom line results, but will
provide your IT teams with more accurate requirements and a greater insight
into how best they can support the organization.
We don’t talk of bridging the gap between “Sales & Accounts” or between
“Marketing and Production”, instead each understands that they have to play
their part in the overall achievement of the organizations goals and objectives.
So it should be with IT, instead of trying to run the business or tell the
business how to run, they need to stay focused on how they can help and
support the business.
Business Architecture is the “glue” that links the pieces together as a
coherent whole. It is the approach by which you can step forward and deliver
the Navigation System for Business, enabling your business to ask smart
questions and get intelligent answers. Ultimately, your success hinges upon
your ability to serve your customers better than the next company; this is only
achievable if everything and everyone in your organization pulls together in the
same direction.
Although you may not need to buy tooling on Day 1, understanding what tools
you will use early in your cycle will certainly save you a lot of pain later.
“Although you may
not need to buy
tooling on Day 1,
understanding what
tools you will use
early in your cycle will
certainly save you a
lot of pain later.”
About The Author
Mark has worked in the IT Industry for over 30 years, he has held executive positions
with a number of software vendors. Well known for his ability to help companies
bridge the gap between business and IT, more recently he has focused helping
business understand how to maximize the value of process programs, from both a
people and systems perspective.
Mark has authored five books “People-Centric Process Management”, “In Search of
BPM Excellence”, “Thrive! How to Succeed in The Age of The Customer”, “Winning
With Enterprise Process Management” and “Extreme Competition” (Contributor).
The range and depth of his experience lead him to be sought after for speaking,
advice and workshops by users, vendors, analysts and conference organizers alike.
Mark can be contacted via mark@markmcgregor.com or www.markmcgregor.com
12. About the Sponsor
Casewise believes that, in order to be successful, architecture initiatives must deliver true business
value. We recognize that although tools are important to complete a Business Architecture project,
organizations will need more than that - including support from Business and IT Leaders,
a corporate culture ready to embrace change and a collaborative team environment.
Therefore, we are excited to sponsor the 7 Steps to Business Architecture White Paper, as many of
the Author’s words are consistent with our approach.
For over 20 years, Casewise has delivered business value to Clients through process-driven
business transformation initiatives. No matter where you are in your BA maturity, our Professional
Services team coupled with our leading software solutions can assist you.
• Corporate Modeler - Allows you to diagram and build a blueprint of your organization,
visually representing what you do, why you do it, how you do it and what enables it.
• Automodeler - Enables you to quickly and easily import data and maps from the Microsoft
Office®
Suite, building models automatically, so you don’t have to re-create the wheel.
• V-Modeler - Provides users the flexibility to continue using Visio®
, while contributing to the
central repository in real-time, so knowledge is shared and reusable.
• Corporate Portal - Enables users throughout the organization to continuously contribute
and update to the initiative over the Web.
• Corporate Modeler Intelligence (CMI) - Creates reports and dashboards that provide
your organization with insights to make decisions.
• Corporate Synergy - Allows you to turn manual processes into automated ones by
easily prototyping and deploying workflow applications.
We believe the best way to achieve success is to partner with our Clients and help them
through every step of their business architecture journey - demonstrating success
at every stage.
With a team of passionate experts, and with offices in the United Kingdom,
United States, France, Belgium and Germany - and a network of global
resellers - Casewise provides thought leadership and solutions enabling clients
to achieve stronger strategic planning, better decision making and improved
business efficiencies.
If you’d like to learn more, please visit us at www.casewise.com
Copyright Mark McGregor www.markmcgregor.com 2010 – All rights reserved
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