What is Enterprise Architecture?

The definition for the term Enterprise Architecture (EA) is still somewhat elusive and we find several definitions in the industry:

ISO/IEC 42010: 2007 i defines ‘‘architecture’’ as: ‘‘the fundamental organization of a system, embodied in its components, their relationships to each other and the environment, and the principles governing its design and evolution.’’

TOGAF™ ii embraces but does not strictly adhere to ISO/IEC 42010: 2007 terminology. The term Architecture has two meanings depending upon the context:

  • A formal description of a system or a detailed plan of the system at component level to guide its implementation.
  • The structure of components, their inter-relationships and the principles and guidelines governing their design and evolution over time.

Currently the Architecture Forum within The Open Group, responsible for TOGAF is working on a formal response related to the definition of EA.

Wikipedia iii uses a number of sources to sum EA up in the following way:

“To some, 'enterprise architecture' refers either to the structure of a business, or the documents and diagrams that describe that structure. To others, 'enterprise architecture' refers to the business methods that seek to understand and document that structure. A third use of 'enterprise architecture' is a reference to a business team that uses EA methods to produce architectural descriptions of the structure of an enterprise.“

How Real IRM defines and uses EA

Enterprise Architecture is the cornerstone of Real IRM’s market focus. EA is the vehicle we use for integrating the resources necessary to create a complete view of the organisation, 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.

Defining the EA role within an organisation

An enterprise architecture role within an organisation is cross-disciplinary, requiring integration of diverse skills, methods and tools, within and beyond the technology community. Holistic EA is pragmatically developed through the ongoing collaboration between business role players, the IT executive team, and the EA team.

In order to understand EA and our solution offering, it is important to comprehend how the knowledge frameworks, the EA Capability, and the Business, Information, Data, Application and Technology (BIDAT) architectures are systemically inter-related.

i http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=45991

ii http://opengroup.co.za/tog/togaf

iii http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_architecture

We advise the reader to refer to the diagram while reading the following subsections.

Latest News

Real IRM on the Agenda at ITWeb's BPM Summit

Enterprise Architecture Consultant and Trainer, Michelle Nieuwoudt, will be presenting at ITWeb’s  BPM Summit which is scheduled for 14-15 September 2010 at Vodaworld in Midrand. The conference theme for this year is "Preparing for Success in BPM".

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New EA Bootcamp for Architecture Entrants

Real IRM’s new five-day EA Bootcamp course is designed to provide a comprehensive introduction to individuals entering an architecture-related role and/or needing a basic understanding of enterprise architecture(EA) concepts. It covers key industry frameworks and standards like TOGAF, Zachman and ArchiMate. The course is aimed at equipping delegates with sufficient foundational knowledge so that they can participate in, and contribute to EA initiatives.

The first course is scheduled for Johannesburg from 4-8 October 2010.

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Insight into Global EA Trends

Stuart Macgregor, CEO of Real IRM, participated in a roundtable podcast discussion on global trends in enterprise architecture (EA) at The Open Group’s Boston EA Practitioners’ Conference in July 2010. Other panellists included Allen Brown and Chris Forde from The Open Group; Eric Boulay from Arismore in France, and Mats Gejnevall from Capgemini in Sweden. Dana Gardner, principal analyst at Interarbor Solutions and ZDNet blogger moderated the discussion.

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SA’s First ArchiMate Course a Success

Real IRM presented our first ArchiMate course from 12-13 July to a full class. The delegates were excited to learn the new language and their feedback rated the course highly with particular emphasis on their enjoyment of the practical exercises and case study.

Real IRM has scheduled further ArchiMate 1.0 Foundation courses in August and October. For more information, go to http://realirm.com/promotions/archimate-foundation-training
 

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EA Forum Tackles Enterprise Architecture Definition

The speaker for the July 2010 EA Forum is Jan Mentz, Senior Lecturer at UNISA. He is currently completing his PhD on the definition of enterprise architecture and has some interesting insights to present on the topic. He will discuss some of the problems with defining EA, highlight the issues that stem from EA’s foundation in information systems and IT, and consider the usefulness of ISO/IEC 42010:2007 as a basis for defining EA.

The EA Forum seminars are scheduled for 27, 28 and 30 July in Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town.

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Real IRM to Present on Stakeholder-driven EA

Johan Schoeman, Enterprise Architecture (EA) Consultant at Real IRM, will be presenting at the Software AG Process Forum event on 12 August 2010 in Johannesburg. His presentation, “Stakeholder-driven Enterprise Architecture” will focus on the importance of following a stakeholder-driven EA approach. 

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COBIT Course in July

Real IRM will be presenting COBIT Foundation and Implementation courses from 7 to 10 July 2010, in Johannesburg. The trainer, Mike Shortt, is one of only three qualified and accredited ISACA COBIT trainers in South Africa.

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