What is all the fuss about Enterprise Architecture?

Isn't Enterprise Architecture just business analysis on steroids? This is a question posed to me on quite a few occasions. The best description of the importance of Enterprise Architecture was given to me by the MD of Oracle NZ Peter Idoine when he succinctly described it as follows: “The role of the Enterprise Architect is to intervene for the benefit of mankind”

So what does this all mean?

Early simplistic definitions of Enterprise Architecture described the role to better align technical projects with business needs, however the complexity and main stream focus of IT today goes way beyond this and Enterprise Architecture should consider all of the environmental factors associated with an organisation in the same way that a manufacturing company would do so when procuring and provisioning a new production line.

To put it simply, Enterprise Architecture is where business capability (financial and market goals) and technology capability (products, vendors, and functionality) are tied together with organisational capability (people or process) to drive an ongoing strategy or desired outcome. The whole concept of the Organisational Capability is often forgotten and overlooked when companies review, select and procure new IT systems leaving themselves with a new expensive system modeled on old archaic processes!

This is where Enterprise Architecture “intervenes” to identify the linkages between the strengths and weaknesses of the project, program or strategic initiative beyond the current requirement and provide guidance and direction on how these factors tie together.

One small step for Enterprise Architecture one giant leap for mankind…