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Leon A. Kappelman

The Enterprise Architecture Blog

by Leon A. Kappelman, Ph.D

There is a lot of confusion today about Enterprise Architecture (EA). Many people don't realize that EA is requirements for the whole enterprise, not just an IT system in an enterprise. And just like knowing the requirements is the essence of creating a system, knowing the architecture of the enterprise is the essence of creating and managing it.

I don't know what the "EA" of today will be called in a few generations. I do know we will achieve the EA vision of bridging the chasm between strategy and implementation, of capturing all the knowledge about the enterprise and making it available in real time for every imaginable management need, and of having a shared "language" of words, graphics, and other depictions to discuss, document, and manage every important aspect of the enterprise.

I believe this because the enterprises that survive those next few generations will be agile, adaptable, interoperable, integrated, lean, secure, responsive, efficient, effective, and thereby more able to succeed in a world that demands we do more with less, faster, while traditional boundaries blur, and the rules of engagement change.

What's The Purpose Of EA?

The Society for Information Management Enterprise Architecture Working Group's (SIMEAWG) "Information Management Practices Survey 2007" found a bimodal distribution of the responses to the question "The purpose/function of enterprise architecture is: to provide a snapshot in time of an organization". About 46 percent of the respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed with this statement (nearly 62% were either neutral or disagreed) while only about 34 percent agreed or strongly agreed.

The amount of disagreement with the statement is revealing since it indicates that the majority of respondents do not believe that EA is about the enterprise at all, apparently believing that EA is only about IT. A believe that may doom their IT efforts to a persistent lack of IT-Business alignment, stove-piped systems, and "IT doesn't matter" or "doesn't get it" cost cuts. {The SIMEAWG's survey report "The State of EA: Progress, not Perfection" is available at this time only to SIM members and others who participated in the 2007 survey at eawg.simnet.org but I will try to report additional findings here as issues come up in the discussion. The SIMEAWG is working on the 2008 version of their survey now.)

Website http://courses.unt.edu/kappelman

Comments (4)

	1. 07-06-2008 23:05
	Although having the potential to be the vehicle to bridge the gaps between technology and the enterprise, stragtegy and implementation, or even the "as-is" and "to-be" states of an organization, it assumes that the enterprise was/is intellegently designed to start, or wishes to be so now.    Companies large or small often do not grow nor change according to a strategic plan, but through an organic process of sensing opportunities or requirements and modifying the structure. Often, this is done haphazardly.     In technology, the failure to plan often results in tangible, measureable costs to the enterprise, particularly with the technology department as a cost center structure. In other respects, the costs associated with the failure to plan are not as easily measurable nor recognizable.     This difference makes EA a great fit for the technologists, but not as great a one for management, and will restrict EA's adoption to the technologists for the foreseeable future. Registered

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	2. 07-06-2008 16:42
	I agree and what you describe is the current situation in most organizations at this time. But there are exceptions and many would be contenders for what Peter Senge calls "learning organizations" "where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together" (http://www.infed.org/thinkers/senge.htm). This is the enterprise of the future and EA is a critical component this evolution. Registered

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	3. 12-06-2008 08:36
	Your first paragraph really sums it up for me. At least in my experiences there is a lot of talk of EA and its importance, but every EA effort I have seen in practice really gets pulled to the system architecture layer. In other words the bottom rows of Zachman.    Perhaps, the main reason is that organizations go in with a good spirit and wanting to EA right from the "top", but realize they are trying to architect an enterprise already functioning and get pulled into the weeds to help with fires and system level issues (mainly because your EA team is recognized as senior and talented). Just a thought... Guest

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	4. 12-06-2008 21:03
	You are not alone Steve. The Society for Information Management Enterprise Architecture Working Group's (SIMEAWG) "Information Management Practices Survey 2007" found a bimodal distribution of the responses to the question “The purpose/function of enterprise architecture is: to provide a snapshot in time of an organization”. About 46 percent of the respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed with this statement (nearly 62% were either neutral or disagreed) while only about 34 percent agreed or strongly agreed. The amount of disagreement with the statement is revealing since it indicates that the majority of respondents do not believe that EA is about the enterprise at all, apparently believing that EA is only about IT. A believe that may doom their IT efforts to a persistent lack of IT-Business alignment, stove-piped systems, and "IT doesn't matter" or "doesn't get it" cost cuts. {The SIMEAWG's survey report "The State of EA: Progress, not Perfection" is available at this time only to SIM members and others who participated in the 2007 survey at eawg.simnet.org but I will try to report additional findings here as issues come up in the discussion. The SIMEAWG is working on the 2008 version of their survey now.) Registered

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