Enterprise Architecture – A Perfect Tool for Operating Model Management

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On this blog I have covered the
discipline of Enterprise Architecture from a number of perspectives. Enterprise
Architecture (EA) can be effectively leveraged as a foundation for Industry
Reference Architectures e.g. The Retail Reference Architecture. Equally
effectively EA can also be leveraged as the mechanism for Business and
Technology Governance as well as Technology Performance
Monitoring. In this article I would like to
propose that Enterprise Architecture is also an effective tool for the
Operating Model management, both for the definition as well as the ongoing
lifecycle management. 


It may be worthwhile visiting some industry definitions
for Operating Model before we explore how Enterprise Architecture can be
effective here. The definition of Operating Model varies based on the
Organisational and Operational context in which it is applied and hence probably
one definition may not fit all Operating Model scenarios. However if I had to
choose one definition, I would like to refer to the IBM’s definition of
the Operating Model (see the picture below)
IBM Target Operating Model (TOM)

IBM proposes that a
Target Operating Model (TOM) helps determine the best design and
deployment of resources to achieve an organization’s business goals. It
provides current operational maturity assessment and roadmap to defining and/or
improving organisation’s Operations Strategy. Key deliverable include business
review, current operating model assessment, desired future state and change
management plan roadmap.
The TOM essentially is seen here as the mechanism to link the business goals and strategy of the organisation with the roadmap for change to achieve those goals. TOM then holds together various organisation concerns such as processes, technology, capabilities, customer view, governance and partners in a single cohesive fashion.
 
Now that we have briefly summarised
an illustrative Operating Model definition, let us explore how Enterprise
Architecture as a discipline or practice can be leveraged as a tool for its
management. There are a number of good Enterprise Architecture Frameworks
available for this purpose and recent revisions of certain frameworks have
further established them as leading candidates for this purpose. I do not
advocate or support a specific Enterprise Architecture Framework on this blog
however for illustration purposes I am going to be using the TOGAF 9 as the
tool for Operating Model Management. I would like to also mention the Zachman
EA framework as the other leading framework which may be equally effective or
in some application scenarios it may be a better fit. 


The purpose of this article is not to
explain or define the TOGAF 9 and I would highly recommend visiting the OpenGroup website for relevant documentation. However for the ease of reference, I
am going to share the TOGAF ADM which is the process for Enterprise
Architecture Management in TOGAF. 
The process links the Vision and Strategy of
the Organisation and its business / functions with a portfolio of change
programs which realises this Strategy. TOGAF uses various architecture
disciplines such as Business Architecture, Information Architecture (Data and
Application) and Technology Architecture as mechanism for linking the Strategy
with Implementation and Governance of Change programs to deliver on the
Strategy. 
The central argument which I am now
going to make is that such a process of Enterprise Architecture can be
seamlessly deployed and leveraged to manage the Organisation Operating Model. A
number of Enterprise Architecture Frameworks and especially Zachman
categorically state that the application of Enterprise Architecture should not
be restricted or limited to the Information Technology systems. It is a true
framework for organisation and business management. For instance applying the
TOGAF to manage the IBM TOM will result in following steps / mapping. The key here is to use tools, processes, approach, templates and constructs from each of the TOGAF ADM stage to define and develop the TOM stages as seen in figure – 1. 
  1. The business goals and strategy can be defined by the Preliminary
    phase while the vision underpinning this is defined in Phase A.
    Architecture Vision
  2. The Assets and the Locations of the TOM along with key processes
    can be captured and defined during the Phase B. Business Architecture
  3. Certain aspects of skills, capabilities, culture and processes too
    can be captured in Phase B
  4. The Technology, Processes, Performance Metrics can be captured
    through phases C and D while defining the Information and the Technology
    Architecture.
  5. The sourcing options and alliances can be identified and
    shortlisted in phase E. Opportunities and Solutions
  6. The phase F of migration planning can be used to identify the
    roadmap for change through what TOGAF calls as transition architectures
  7. Finally culture which is central to TOM needs to be constantly be a
    driving force as well as the recipient for the requirements for change
I would like to again highlight that
this is simply an illustration of managing a view of Operating Model with a
particular EA approach. However a number of other variations can be equally
effectively managed by similar approach. It will probably make sense to present an illustration and mapping using other EA framework such as Zachman…may be a topic for next post on this blog!

References:

Strategy and transformation for a complex world, IBM Global Services, Mar 2011


The TOGAF Architecture Development Method (ADM)


The Zachman Framework