A good foundation for strategy execution is based on sound alignment between business objectives and IT capabilities. It is therefore paramount that details of processes and business transactions that need to be automated be clearly spelt out to ensure that the EA architecture can be put into context. The foundation for execution allows business flexibility and agility by ensuring that current and future states of the business are clear and allow the IT architecture to come up with solution, network and infrastructure technology, applications designs and corporate data structure that will incorporate the growth path of the company and its vision.
Enterprise Architecture Activity Cycle
Some of the major tasks of the EA architect are strategising, architecting, leading, governance and communication. By strategising the architect participates in ensuring that the vision and objectives of business are accommodated in the EA processes that is inclusive of the future state. The arctitecting processes is the technical processes that involve the production of the future state, the documentation of current state, the gap analysis, the generation of the road map and the finally the ensuring standard are in place and are followed. EA architect are also part of leadership of most corporate as they participate in setting up the strategic direction of companies and ensuring the alignment of EA and business objectives. The governance structures ensures that EA governance structures are in place and also that IT governance is documented while organizational governance framework are followed. Projects and programs for IT projects and EA projects and therefore intermarried. A clear communication plan from the commencement of an EA project and the implementation therefore is important at all stages to ensure that stakeholders participate and are carried along. Th is will minimize chances that some requirements are not included.
Just Enough Just in Time Approach
There is the temptation to over optimize on current requirement while failing to take a holistic approach where EA consideration are used with the future state taken into consideration withe details of future requirement incorporated in the technical designs of the solution. A common requirements vision (CRV) developed through the requirements development process should be used to to considers areas of optimization along the areas of configuration, standardization, design principles, technology and products.
The Enterprise Context
The Enterprise context informs all the EA efforts defined through the enterprise technical architecture, enterprise information architecture, enterprise solution architecture and business enterprise architecture to ensure effective strategic integration and focused directional effort.
