ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE
1.0 WHAT IS ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE?
To define Enterprise Architecture, we need to define the concepts and disciplines that combine to create what we have come to know as Enterprise Architecture. We need to understand what an Enterprise is and what architecture is order to understand what Enterprise Architecture is. It is also useful to understand the distinctions between Enterprise Architecture and other Enterprise related concepts and disciplines.
An Enterprise is a collection of resources assembled for the purpose of pursuing and executing some explicit or implied mission or objective. An Enterprise may exist to pursue an economic, political, social, or religious mission or objective or combination thereof. For all practical purposes, every Enterprise in some manner or another has a mission or objective to provide some “product or service” to a “market”. The market may or may not be well defined; and it may be mature or in its infancy. A market may not even formally be known as a market, but exist only as a latent need or demand.
The quintessential aspect of an Enterprise is the result of the specification or the initial designation of the mission or objective of the Enterprise. An example of this would be that the creators of the Enterprise specify that they are going to:
- Engage in the design, manufacture and distribution of some
designated product or product line,
- Provide some service to some kinds of persons or other Enterprises,
- Promote some political or religious philosophy or ideology to some specified group of people, or in some geographical area, or in some political jurisdiction.
Architecture is the art or science of building; the art or practice of designing and building structures; a formation or construction as if the result of conscious act; a unifying or coherent form of method or style of building.
Just as with other instances of architecture, such as Building Architecture, Enterprise Architecture consists of “sub-architectures”. As an example the Building Architecture will consist of:
- A structural architecture (such as the super-structure, sub-structure), and
- The utilities architecture (such as the plumbing, electrical, heating, and ventilation systems).
The Enterprise Architecture will consist of a set of “sub-architectures” that are specific to an Enterprise. The architecture of an Enterprise consists of the following sub-architectures:
- Data Architecture describes the elements or objects of interest to the Enterprise and the activities of the Enterprise,
- Process, or Function, Architecture identifies and specifies the processes that the Enterprise performs,
- Geographic, or Network, Architecture specifies the specific placement of the objects of the Enterprise,
- Organizational (People) Architecture describes the elements of the organization of the Enterprise and their relationships to each other,
- Temporal (Time) Architecture describes the time structure that supports tracking the events and activities of the Enterprise, and
- Motivation Architecture specifies the motivation, the boundaries, the rationale and the guidance that governs the behavior of the Enterprise.
Each architectural component consists of the five perspectives as specified by the Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture. The five perspectives are:
1. Scope (Model) – Planner’s perspective,
2. Business Model – Owner’s perspective,
3. System Model – Designer’s perspective,
4. Technology Model – Builder’s perspective, and
5. Detailed Representations – Subcontractor’s perspective.
The Data Architecture for an Enterprise consists of the identification, definitions and descriptions of the “things” the Enterprise needs to know about, and the business rules that govern the relationships among the “things”.
The Data Architecture includes the Data Base Architecture. The Data Base Architecture consists of the System, Technology and Detailed Representations of the Data Architecture. The Data Base Architecture must map to the Data Business Model.
The Process Architecture for an Enterprise consists of the identification, decomposition (structure) and specification of the processes that the Enterprise must perform in order to provide its product or services to its market.
The Process Architecture includes the Applications Architecture. The Applications Architecture consists of the System, Technology and Detailed Representations of the Process (Function) Architecture. The Applications Architecture must map to the Process Business Model.
The Process Architecture is known as the Function Architecture in the Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture.
The Geographic Architecture for an Enterprise consists of the identification and definition of the locations of activities and/or locations of properties controlled by the Enterprise.
The Geographic Architecture is the Network Architecture as referred to in the Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture. The lower three rows in the Network column in the Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture are what are often referred to as the Information Technology Architecture. People tend to think that these three rows constitute the “architecture of interest” to the Enterprise and therefore erroneously refer to it as the Enterprise Architecture.
The Organization Architecture of the Enterprise consists of the aggregate of units of resources and their structure created for the purpose of carrying out the activities of the Enterprise.
The Organization Architecture is the equivalent of the People column in the Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture. People in positions of authorized Job Classifications assigned to organizational units actually perform the activities of the Enterprise.
The Temporal Architecture for an Enterprise consists of units of time and the relationships among them. The structure of time is used to reflect the events and their occurrences in relationship to each other and their duration.
The Temporal Architecture corresponds to the Time column in the Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture.
The Motivation Architecture for an Enterprise consists of the governance established for the Enterprise. The governance includes the declaration of the purpose of the Enterprise and the policies that are enacted to provide the guidance to achieve the expected behavior of the Enterprise.
Therefore, Enterprise Architecture is the discipline of engineering (designing) and manufacturing (building, constructing, creating) an Enterprise. It is the collective actions to create the Data, Process, Geographic, Organizational, Temporal and Motivation Architectures for an Enterprise. The result of a complete Enterprise Architecture is an Enterprise.
2.0 Distinguishing Between Enterprise Architecture and Management Techniques
Enterprise Management is the actions taken by people with the responsibility and authority to manage (plan and control), decide and direct the course of the Enterprise. Management is the process of performing the planning, staffing, organizing, directing, and controlling of the Enterprise.
One of the major areas of confusion about what is Enterprise Architecture and what are management techniques arises from being confronted with the myriad of management concepts, principles and techniques that have evolved as for managing an Enterprise and for positioning the Enterprise to thrive in today’s world. The list of these is long and will get longer. A few of these that have achieved some degree of acceptance, and success at one time or another are:
1. Management by Objectives (MBO)
2. Management by Walking Around (MBWA)
3. Zero-Based Budgeting
4. Quality Circles
5. Participative Management
6. Total Quality Management (TQM)
7. Six Sigma Quality Program
8. Decentralization
9. Responsibility Accounting
10. Just-In-Time Inventory Management
11. Business Process Re-Engineering
12. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
13. Balanced Scorecard (BSC)
14. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
You will notice no mention of Enterprise Architecture in this group. The above list, except for possibly Business Process Re-engineering, are management techniques, they are not Enterprise Architecture techniques. Management techniques are necessary and required for an enterprise to function. However, they are simply not Enterprise Architecture and cannot substitute for it. However, Enterprise Architecture provides and essential infrastructure to effectively and efficiently apply management techniques.
Enterprise Architecture is not a program or project that management chooses to implement. Enterprise Architecture is fundamental. The issue is not whether to do Enterprise Architecture or not, but how. It is not a new program; it is doing what is all ready being done, better… much better.
Every enterprise has an Enterprise Architecture, however, typically it is not explicit, it is not formalized, it is not known, and therefore it is not managed. The problem is that Enterprise Architecture efforts have been very sporadic, random, un-disciplined, trial-and-error activities. Enterprise Architecture, as it is practiced today by most people, is still a pretty random, un-disciplined, and trial-and-error activity. What is being portrayed as Enterprise Architecture today are most often old practices and techniques repackaged and sold as Enterprise Architecture. Customers have become convinced they need Enterprise Architecture, but don’t know much about it. Consequently, they are vulnerable to the proverbial Enterprise Architecture “snake-oil” sales pitch.
3.0 Choosing How to Do Enterprise Architecture
One of the basic ways to separate the Enterprise Architecture “wheat from the chaff”, so to speak, is to closely examine the methodology espoused by the Enterprise Architecture practitioner, or Enterprise Architect, if you will. Most so-called Enterprise Architects don’t have a formal, defined, rigorous, practiced methodology. Because the concept of Enterprise Architecture is not well defined, just about anything can be presented as being “Enterprise Architecture”. As a matter of fact, even some of the leading advocates for Enterprise Architecture declare that there are many ways to “implement” Enterprise Architecture. There may be more than one methodology, but there are not many.
An Enterprise Architecture methodology must be designed to produce specified, predictable results. It must specify not only “What to do” but most importantly, “How to do it” and “Why”. Moreover, it must be based on a set of concepts and principles that theoretically, logically and empirically establish a basis for producing an aligned, integrated, responsive, flexible Enterprise Architecture that in fact can be used to engineer, manufacture and implement an Enterprise. A methodology which does not comply with these criteria is a waste of time and money.
ENTARCO USA Inc. has a methodology, the Methodology for Enterprise Architecture (MEA), designed to produce specified, predictable results. It specifies not only “What to do” but more importantly, “How to do it” and “Why”. Moreover, it is based on a set of concepts and principles that theoretically, logically and empirically establish a basis for producing an aligned, integrated, responsive, flexible Enterprise Architecture that in fact can be used to engineer, manufacture and implement an Enterprise.
For more information on the ENTARCO USA Inc. Methodology for Enterprise Architecture, contact us at (614) 751-5078.
