What is Enterprise Architecture?
An Enterprise Architecture (EA) is a set of concepts (with their principles) applied to an enterprise system. Enterprise Architecture is visualized in a conceptual or architecture blueprint or another integral design that uses strategy as input.
The programs and projects that carry out the transformation use these data-driven decision-making visualizations and views of the Enterprise Architectures (i.e., the Designs). EA, with that, directs and guides business change.
The Bridge between Strategy and Transformation
This page explains why the Dragon1 vision on Enterprise Architecture is Decision-Making and how Visual Enterprise Architecture, when effectively used, increases the overall Enterprise Performance.
Visualizing Enterprise Architecture bridges the gap between Strategy and Transformation to increase overall Enterprise Performance.
Positioning Enterprise Architecture as the bridge between strategy and (digital) transformation of the business or organization is becoming increasingly common. The strategy states what the owners/clients and stakeholders want to achieve regarding their goals, objectives, priorities, and requirements.
Architecture Diagram at Conceptual Level
Enterprise Architecture is a coherent set of concepts applied to an enterprise system or structure. So, an EA diagram at the conceptual level should only show the concepts necessary to be implemented in the organization because of the strategy and business model.
Visualizing and Mapping diagrams at a conceptual level.
Enterprise Blueprint at Logical Level
When it is clear what the essential concepts are to be implemented in the organization (as part of the architecture), every concept can be detailed into elements at a logical level. One can create and visualize concept diagrams showing the impact of change and implementation costs. One can also visualize and show all the elements of all the concepts together in a layered blueprint, as below.
What Enterprise Architects often encounter is the necessary input they need for modeling and visualizing EA. The strategy is usually fragmented, inconsistent, has no status, is without ownership, is outdated, unfindable, is a big secret, and is inaccessible.
Example Blueprint of a Digital Twin Organization: Strategy on the left, Architecture in the middle, Transformation on the right.
It is a real challenge for architects not to become the next strategy developers but only the catalyzers of the process of increasing coherence and consistency in strategy. If they do this process well, they will have a perfect starting point for designing and visualizing data for EA at a particular moment. After creating the EA (or other architectures), they are tasked with creating communicative and visual products that help tell the story and ensure that the enterprise architecture visualization is used in digital transformation programs to manage risk, projects, strategy, data, and change for decision-making.
One of their biggest problems is that their EA products aren't used because they are too hard to understand for project managers and project workers who don't see the benefits.
Holistic View of the Company
Dragon1, as an Enterprise Architecture approach, helps you look holistically at the company. Below is an example reference model:
Enterprise Architecture is about discovering and solving weaknesses with a Holistic company view.
EA Principles
Enterprise Architecture Principles describe how concepts (implemented in the organization) work and produce results (principles are enforced working mechanisms). Concepts are selected based on stakeholders' goals, objectives, and requirements. A principle is always true, so it guides behavior and innovation. Principles are normally translated into standards and norms.
Principles are NOT general rules and guidelines.
Principles inform and support how an organization fulfills its mission.
Principles are established on all EA Domains.
Business Principles – provide a basis for decision-making throughout the business:
Business Principles
- Principle 1 – Primacy of Principles
- Principle 2 – Compliance with Statutory Obligations
- Principle 3 – Maximize Benefits to the Enterprise
- Principle 4 – Information Management is Everybody's Affair
- Principle 5 – Business Continuity
- Principle 6 – Common Use Applications
- Principle 7 – IT Responsibility
Data Principles
- Principle 8 – Data Security
- Principle 9 – Data is an Asset
- Principle 10 – Data is Shared
- Principle 11 – Data is Accessible
- Principle 12 – Data Trustee
- Principle 13 – Data will be Analyzable
Application Principles
- Principle 14 – Technology Independence
- Principle 15 – Ease of Use
- Principle 16 – Purchase rather than Develop
Technology Principles
- Principle 17 – Requirements-Based Change
- Principle 18 – Control Technical Diversity
Enterprise Performance: A single starting point of reference
The only legitimate reason to be busy with (spending time and money on) EA is to increase the performance of the enterprise, whether it is for the short term or long term. It is all about Enterprise Performance Management (EPM). Dragon1 Enterprise Architecture Software Platform and Method provides us with a simple but effective framework to outline the most important subjects on this matter:
In the Enterprise Performance Framework, the two most important parts of the strategy are the Objectives and Goals to realize and the directions for achieving the goals.
The strategy, as a coherent whole, is the perfect input for enterprise architects to build and visualize enterprise architectures, like business architecture and IT architecture. The most important EA products are the AS-IS and TO-BE EA Blueprints (an integral conceptual enterprise design) and the Enterprise Architecture Framework Diagram. On top of that, a solution architecture blueprint per project, solution, or change is needed. These products are used in digital transformation or business change projects.
Projects use of roadmaps, solution architectures and EA to create perfect-fitting solutions as a result. Changing or transforming the enterprise into these integrated solutions enables the enterprise to plan and realize the business goals and objectives in the defined strategic direction.
A brief Enterprise Performance example: If the goal is to become the world leader in selling bakery products online via social media, your program of change and projects will need a solution architecture and roadmap on how to embed social media as a selling the platform for the enterprise. NOTE: This sounds much simpler to do than it is!
Now, we will dive into the three parts of the Enterprise Performance Framework:
- Enterprise Strategy
- Enterprise Architecture
- Enterprise Transformation / Business Change
1. Enterprise Strategy - EA starts with Strategy as Input
Strategy can be defined as a set of coherent goals and objectives and the directions to realize these goals.
That said, one can recognize various entity classes in every enterprise that comprise the reference metamodel for Enterprise Strategy. Below, you see the Reference Metamodel for Strategy from the Dragon1 Method. Here, you see entity classes that include a significant part of your strategy.
It is your job to make sure that you create a Program of Requirements as input for enterprise architectures, solutions architectures, or business architectures. Ensure that the enterprise strategy information is included in the requirements program.
Dragon1 platform provides you with an EA Repository tool, Visual Designer tool, and Enterprise Architecture tool with which you can administer, model, visualize, and manage all the information from various strategic documents you obtain and glue them together using this model as a reference.
You may have a different opinion about enterprise strategy. In that case, you can easily alter the model to fit your vision of enterprise strategy.
When enterprise architects ask for a coherent and consistent strategy to match the Dragon1 model above, they often get a zip file with documents. They must create a cohesive and consistent version of this.
If architects do not get strategy handed over by the owner/client or stakeholder as input, they might get on a drift. This means that they start filling in the blanks, and without intending to do so, they become strategy designers.
When architects have blanks or gaps in the enterprise strategy, you should better create dynamic enterprise visualizations for the stakeholders and show them the gaps by requesting them to fill them in. As long as the stakeholders are not ready, you work with assumptions. It is all right to do this, but make sure they know it.
2. Enterprise Architecture as Conceptual Blueprint for Agile Lean Enterprises
Dragon1 considers the total concept of your enterprise, consisting of a coherent set of constructive, operative, and decorative governance, business, information, and technology concepts. In short, Dragon1 defines Enterprise Architecture as a conceptual blueprint for your company. Architecture equals Concept!
Below is an example conceptual model: an EA overview. Enterprise architects are searching for the right concepts for the strategy.
Below is another example of a mixed conceptual & logical reference model with standard entity classes present in almost any enterprise. These entity classes need to be recognized and modeled by architects.
Architects are defined as the designers of a total concept for a structure, enterprise (EA), or solutions (SA) and the supervisors of their realizations. So, they need a specialized design tool to do the job well.
Dragon1 software provides tools for data visualization with which architects can design, analyze, and visualize enterprise architectures and any products they need, such as landscapes, blueprints, roadmaps, visions, maps, business enterprise architecture diagrams, and matrices.
As Solutions / Business / Project / Technical / IT and Security Architects, they design total concepts for an integrated solution for the enterprise to improve its performance.
When designing an enterprise architecture (total concept), you need to use requirements from stakeholders. Architects must always use the strategy as the most important set of requirements.
These total concepts are designed at four different levels of abstraction: conceptual, logical, physical, and implementational levels. They are done in close collaboration with the owners/clients and stakeholders. In the model above, you see common logical-level entity classes.
On this page about the EA Core Reference Model, you can read about the various levels of abstractions. You will read how architects use concepts, principles, and patterns to create building blocks to build, visualize, and implement high-quality integral solutions. We will mention that every architecture design will result in tangible data products: blueprints, landscapes, visions, impressions, and diagrams. These products communicate visual enterprise architecture to stakeholders, like project workers who build the solutions and implement change.
3. Enterprise Transformation / Business Change: Solution Architectures & Roadmap based
At this point, the strategy has served as input for EA. And solution requirements from stakeholders have served as input for solution architectures. Blueprints, landscapes, maps, diagrams, or matrices are created to communicate the architectural designs.
It all comes down to realizing/building the solutions integrally and implementing them as change, transforming the enterprise for the better.
The Enterprise Transformation reference model shows that integral design and change are key. Finally, the projects must have deliverables as outcomes that can be placed in a business or IT plateaus.
A best practice for working on a project effectively with enterprise architectures and designs and keeping them conforming to integral ideas is to create roadmaps. A roadmap dictates what should be done when at best and when it is needed by something else.
The Dragon1 platform is also your online Project Management Tool for effectively mapping, monitoring, managing, and visualizing data enterprise architecture for digital transformation solutions and projects.
You can create or even generate product-breakdown-structures and work breakdown structures from your solution architecture and provide your stakeholders with interactive click-through roadmaps so their hunger for progress information can be fulfilled any time they want.
We live in turbulent times: Heading towards Digital Businesses
New technologies like 3D printing, the Internet of Things, and smart machines are emerging and combining with recent technologies like big data, mobile devices, and the cloud.
The challenge for modern digital business architects is to try to deliver new business value, with sustainability as a starting point, for their organizations in an exciting new way. The more quickly you, as an organization, apply these new technologies, the more you will be on the right side of the game-changing process in various industries.
Making your Business Model explicit becomes more critical
Digital Business is the new word, meaning your organization digitizes and virtualizes on the internet, whether you want it or not. Your competitors will do so, too!
If your business becomes more digital, it is wise to express it in models and visualize data to gain a better grip. Creating an enterprise architecture data visualization enables you to communicate about your new business model and accelerate data-driven decision-making visualizations.
Enterprise Architectures are created using the Data Visualization tool.
Digital Transformation Architects Innovate Digital Ecosystems
The professionals for these new types of organizations are called Digital Transformation Architects. Digital Ecosystems offer new opportunities for innovation and growth and thus offer competitive advantages. The transformation architects use enterprise architectures for digital transformations in LMEs and SMEs. For that to happen successfully, they must place EA between strategy and transformation.
Strategists and IT innovation teams are the Digital Architects. Exciting times are ahead. Let us all look forward to the new ventures that will arise.
Also, read the following resources
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