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HOT TOPICS: ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE
Many organisations are realising that they are not optimising the return on their IT investment. This usually occurs because they have
not taken a "holistic view" of their requirements. Companies will typically acquire IT infrastructure to provide point solutions with
a narrow focus. In some cases the technical architecture will be defined but little more.
Enterprise Architecture recognises that an organisation's technical architecture is intricately linked to their decision support systems. The business systems in the company must support the decision-making functions, the application portfolio must support the business system architecture and the technical architecture must support the business systems. A breakage in any level of the system will result in sub-optimal operation of the components.
The are four main components that comprise an enterprise architecture can be depicted as follows:
Information Architecture
At the top level the information requirements of the organisation are analysed. A picture is constructed of the information flow both
internally within the company and externally to suppliers and customers. A large component of the information architecture will be the
decision support requirements of the company's executives.
An environmental scan is typically conducted as part of developing the Information Architecture to ensure that known and forecasted
events are considered in the development of the information requirements.
Business Systems Architecture
The next step is to define the business systems required to support the information architecture. It is likely that functional
decompositions of the existing business systems will be required to determine the main processes within the organisation and to identify areas warranting optimisation analysis.
Application Portfolio
The business systems must be supported by appropriate applications. At this level the current applications will be inventoried and
their performance documented. Shortcomings will be documented and areas of re-development, or new acquisition, will be identified.
Technical Architecture
At the technical architecture level the computer equipment, networking equipment and support services will be analysed to determine
their adequacy to the task. Current technology trends, and their applicability to the support of the organisation's objectives will be addressed.
Specific areas requiring attention will be identified and options for development will be documented.
The development of a capital expenditure plan that indicates the likely timeframe for replacement of aging infrastructure can then be
developed.
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