Enterprise Architecture planning

Explore The Enterprise Architecture Toolkit

Most organizations go through a series of steps or phases in order to establish a

viable enterprise architecture. The differences among company cultures and individual advocates assures that each company follows a more or less unique approach in the planning for Enterprise Architecture.

Most organizations work their way through at least seven steps of planning, as follows:

1.      Agree on the Need

Nothing happens until senior management agrees that an enterprise architecture is needed.

2.      Establish an Organizational Structure

Once there is a general agreement on the need for an enterprise architecture, the next question is who is going to manage the architecture.

3.      Select a Framework

Each organization needs to determine just what types of documents and models it will include in its enterprise architecture. The result defines that organization’s

framework.

4.      Select a Tool and Repository

Enterprise Architecture means the need to keep track of a wide variety

of documents, diagrams, models and charts. The only reasonable way to do this is to use a software tool that organizes the information and stores it in a repository, in order to quickly obtain all of the documents, diagrams or models that refer to a given business goal or process, or to a specific activity or application used in a process.

5.      Organize the Existing Material

Once a company has established an enterprise architecture group and selected a framework and a software tool, it should begin by collecting everything it can that is specified by the framework.

6.      Begin Using the Enterprise Architecture

An enterprise architecture, even an incomplete one, will provide planners with a better way of conceptualizing how a change should be organized and phased. Therefore most organizations begin to use their enterprise architecture even before it is complete.

7. Extend and Maintain the Architecture

Once the initial enterprise architecture is established, and the initial documentation is placed in the repository, the enterprise architecture group should proceed to extend and maintain the architecture.