Enterprise Architecture

Conclusions

Extract from a paper presented by Dennis A Stevenson to the Department of Information Systems, University of Cape Town , in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Commerce in Information Systems, June 1995. Copyright subsists in this material.

[Page Administration ] [IS World Net Navigation Map ]

Note: for references cited in this section see “references ”.

Conclusions

In an economy where the primary resource is knowledge, organisations must strive to acquire intellectual capital. While much intellectual capital will reside with individuals, there is potential for a wealth of such knowledge about the business to be retained, independently of individuals, by creating and maintaining an integrated set of models of the organisation. These models are collectively referred to as the Enterprise Architecture.

With the pace and nature of change moving into the realm of discontinuous discontinuity, forward thinking organisations are moving from an economy of make-and-sell, to one of sense-and-respond. In this climate leaders must implement strategic thinking as design rather than planning. Holistic and adaptable design will position the enterprise to respond rapidly to changing markets and circumstances. Enterprise Architecture is a set of integrated models covering all major aspects of the organisation; it is a workshop of tools and techniques for designing the adaptive, sense-and-respond, enterprise.

In a turbulent environment where strategies have to be implemented in tactical timeframes, business leaders must manage-by-wire, much as jet pilots must fly-by-wire to cope with the speed and complexity of modern aircraft. If the informediation supporting managing-by-wire is to satisfy the requirements of the adaptive enterprise, it must have as an essential foundation, a well designed Enterprise Architecture.

A sense-and-respond enterprise is likely to invest in a mass customisation capability to gain the competitive advantage of creating high-volume, low cost, ‘snap together’ offerings from modular elements, in response to one-off customer requests. In order to achieve this, products, processes, data, systems and work units must be appropriately modularised, and the actual and possible interactions between the modules must be modeled. Enterprise Architecture is the facility for such modularisation and integration.

However, not every Enterprise Architecture will provide the desired outcomes. Innovative design in the creation of the architecture is essential to ensure that it is adaptable; that it contains within itself the ability to change itself. Such design requires a high degree of skill, experience and dedication on the part of the designers.

The Enterprise Architecture must provide a holistic, integrated view of the organisation; but in order to contain the complexity of the design problem, it may be sub-divided into categories such as business architecture, data architecture, application architecture and technical architecture. The goal of the architecture must be to deliver business solutions. The architecture function must be well staffed and structured and must make it’s presence felt “at the workface” on all major projects.

Finally we conclude, along with Sowa and Zachman (1992) that: “Architecture is no longer mere intellectual entertainment. It will become an imperative for any enterprise that intends to be a serious player in the information age.”

IS World Net Navigation Map

IS World Net Home Page (net map or text only )

IS World Research and Scholarship

Enterprise Architecture

Page Administration

This page is maintained by Dennis A Stevenson who can be reached at dstevens@aztec.co.za.

This page was last updated on July 15 1995. Although we will attempt to keep this information accurate, we can not guarantee the accuracy of the information provided. Users are advised to look at our disclaimer .

Any feedback will be appreciated.