Enterprise Architecture Capability

The purpose of the EA capability is to integrate the resources necessary to create a complete EA view of an enterprise, as well as to provide products and services to facilitate the organisation’s transition to an integrated environment with optimised processes that are responsive to change and to the delivery of the business strategy. This EA role is cross-disciplinary, requiring integration of diverse skills, methods and tools, within and beyond the technology community and comprises of:

People – The roles and skills of the individuals are aligned with the BIDAT architecture domains (Business Process Engineers, Information and Data Architects, Application Architects and Technology Architects), EA Office Support who primarily manages the EA office, and the technical team who develop and support the modelling office tools and technical products.

Tools – The toolset includes modelling tools that support numerous BIDAT modelling methods, utilities for managing model quality and integration, reverse engineering tools that synchronise database structures, reverse engineering of application code, reports and website generation tools for providing broad-based access to the model content, business process improvement tools such as simulation, and change impact assessments.

Content - The contents of the EA repository include principles, standards, inventory (such as the applications portfolio), models and roadmaps for the EA domains.

Process - The EA process, combines people, tools, and content in the delivery of EA products and services that add value to the customers of the BIDAT architectural domains.

Modelling Tools

We apply a vendor-independent approach that removes product bias and enables us to compare and integrate modelling products objectively without any preconceived agenda or vested interest.  In order to preserve this independence, we do not accept product sale commissions.   We keep abreast of developments of all the leading EA toolsets and use them to model the BIDAT domains.  We have extended the functionality of some of the leading EA toolsets with a number of reports, utilities and web publishing tools and we are able to integrate these toolsets with modelling and other products such as MindManager, Microsoft Word, Visio, InfoPath and Excel.  This capability reduces the cost of ownership and provides tools that the business community are familiar with and find less intimidating.

Process

We are the South African representative of The Open Group. The Open Group is a vendor and technology-neutral consortium, which ensures that multi-vendor information technology, matches the demands and needs of customers. It develops and deploys frameworks, policies, best practices, standards, and conformance programs to pursue its vision of “Boundaryless Information Flow” - the concept of making all technology as open and accessible as using a telephone.

We have developed a comprehensive toolset and methodology that supports the practical implementation of TOGAFTM1.  Our active involvement in extending TOGAF provides our clients access to industry-leading EA capabilities.

Change leadership

Our EA and IT Governance methodologies incorporate organisational change management. This approach includes the eight step change leadership approach devised by John Kotter and is used to structure the solutions into three broad phases. In essence, these phases prepare the organisation for the change, implement change and then anchor the change before iterating back to create more change. This means that the interventions are applied at the point in time at which they are most effective, while ensuring that the IT Governance and EA processes are sustainable.

Programme and Project Management

We apply the PRINCE2 project management method which has become the UK's de facto standard for project management. The method describes how a project is divided into manageable stages enabling efficient control of resources and regular progress monitoring throughout the project. The various roles and responsibilities for managing a project are fully described and are adaptable to suit the size and complexity of the project, and the skills of the organisation.  Project planning using PRINCE2 is product-based which means the project plans are focused on delivering results and are not simply about planning when the various activities on the project will be completed.

Governance

Governance is fundamental for entrenching EA (essentially a new way of working) into a business. IT Governance, like other governance domains, is the responsibility of executives and shareholders (represented by the board of directors). It consists of the leadership and organisational structures and processes that ensure that the organisation’s strategies and objectives are sustained and extended by its ICT. Without adequate governance, enterprise architecture will remain a theoretical concept that will fail to deliver the desired business benefits. We apply CobiT and ITIL to embed the EA control-points within the broader business processes.

Content

The contents of the EA repository include principles, standards, inventory (such as the applications portfolio), models and roadmaps for the EA domains.

Models are developed incrementally based on business needs. The modelling development work is usually coupled with a strategic project or a business imperative. The use of the Zachman and BIDAT frameworks ensures that the incrementally developed models integrate into the whole.  We have pre-packaged examples of EA principles, standards, inventory, models and roadmaps for the EA domains. Our technical capability can then be used to accelerate the population of content into the EA repository in order to provide models ahead of business need.