Enterprise Architect

The role of the Enterprise Architect

Enterprise Architect Job Description

More and more organizations offer a job description with the title of Enterprise Architect. The level on which an Enterprise Architect acts, though. The job can be anything from Enterprise Information Analyst to System Designer, to Strategic Management Consultant. If you are the head of some Enterprise Architects, often this title is Chief Architect or Lead Architect.

From the perspective of Dragon1, an Enterprise Architect at best works at a strategic level, designing total concepts for enterprise-wide solutions and fundamental strategic business / IT changes.

You can download this Enterprise Architect Job Description PDF and use it for your internal job descriptions. If you want to use this commercially, you need to contact first the Dragon1 Architecture Foundation, info@dragon1.org.

Enterprise Architect Definition

The Dragon1 Open EA Method defines an Enterprise Architect as: The designer of total concepts for Enterprise Structures and the supervisor of the realization of these Enterprise Structures implementing the total concept.

So the focus of an Enterprise Architect is to design architecture, where architecture equals a specific total concept, namely a concept consisting of constructive, operative, and decorative concepts.

Enterprise Architect and Professional Products

Some important professional products and deliverables that are, compliant with the Dragon1 Open EA Method, created by the Enterprise Architect are:

1. Enterprise Architecture Repository (the storage for the dossiers)
2. Enterprise Architecture Dossier (containing products, documents, models, and visualizations)
3. Architecture Documents / Products like
   1. Architecture notes and – memos,
   2. Architecture annual plan
   3. Total Concepts / Architectures descriptions
   4. Architecture Designs
   5. Reference Architectures
   6. Functional Specifications
   7. Cost Estimates
   8. Stakeholder Analysis
   9. Master Plan
   10. User Requirements
   11. Program of Requirements
   12. Scenario Analysis
   13. Impact Analysis
   14. Risk Assessments
   15. Glossary of Terms
   16. Architecture Principles
4. Architecture Models like
   1. Enterprise Meta Model
   2. Distribution-Chain models
   3. Enterprise Architecture Domains Model
   4. Enterprise Architecture Functions Model
   5. Enterprise Architecture Technical model
5. Architecture Visualizations like:
   1. Enterprise Architecture Framework
   2. Enterprise Architecture Landscapes
   3. Enterprise Architecture Situation sketches
   4. Enterprise Architecture Roadmaps
   5. Enterprise Architecture Blueprints
   6. Enterprise Architecture Structure visions
   7. Enterprise Architecture Visions
   8. Sketch Total Concept Design
   9. Stakeholder Onion Diagram
6. Different Viewpoints from the same Architecture Models

This list is not limited but gives a good impression of what Enterprise Architects with Dragon1 Open EA Method normally create for their Owner/Clients.

Enterprise Architecture Tool

Enterprise Architects in their function, role, and task, make use of tools to create architecture products or deliverables. The most used architectural tools are still: Pen, Paper, MS PowerPoint, MS Visio, and MS Excel.

With tools, an architect can create their own building blocks, and fragments and make more reuse of the parts of their architecture.

Dragon1 is a Platform for working with Enterprise Architecture and can be perfectly used as an Enterprise Architecture Tool.

Enterprise Architect Training

Dragon1 Academy offers training and certification in the EA Basic User tool training and also in the Dragon1 Open EA Method (Foundation and EA Bridge) for anyone who wants to become an Enterprise Architect.

The Dragon1 Academy believes that certification after training works both ways. As a professional, you need to take that extra step while training enterprise architects to pass the exam. This will make you master the training theory much better. Also, with a certification, you can communicate your competencies and capabilities to others. Therefore you cannot only certify yourself as an architect in the Dragon1 Open EA Method but also as a user of Dragon1 as an Enterprise Architecture Tool.