Aggregated enterprise architecture wisdom
This article had an interesting interview with Tim Walters, an Information and Knowledge Management analyst with Forrester. In it, he emphasizes the role of Social Computing. He’s certainly not the first one to do this, but his comments caused me to think a little harder about this. I like Social Computing, and I have certainly […]
Often getting access to a specific scientific journal can be very cumbersome or expensive, unless you have bulk access through an academic or research institution. In the past few weeks I have been looking for journal articles at the intersection of En…
Often getting access to a specific scientific journal can be very cumbersome or expensive, unless you have bulk access through an academic or research institution. In the past few weeks I have been looking for journal articles at the intersection of En…
Often getting access to a specific scientific journal can be very cumbersome or expensive, unless you have bulk access through an academic or research institution. In the past few weeks I have been looking for journal articles at the intersection of En…
The Conservative Party Manifesto 2010 which I reviewed for their IT agenda and priorities was accessed by me on this link.Before I share my views on this, here is an extract of relevant content.Sections of the document which focuses on cost reduction i…
Enterprise Analysis is a knowledge area which describes the Business analysis activities that take place for an enterprise to identify business opportunities, build a Business Architecture, determine the optimum project investment path for that enterprise and finally, implement new business and technical solutions. The question you may ask: Does this really differs from Enterprise Architecture, and if so, how?
At first sight, business opportunities are not always considered as being part of an Enterprise Architecture initiative, more as an activity which should be considered as an input. But let’s look at this in more detail.
Let’s look at this in more detail by way of mapping activities between BABOK v2* and the TOGAF 9 Framework*. The BABOK is the collection of knowledge within the profession of business analysis and reflects generally accepted practices. It describes business analysis areas of knowledge, their associated activities and tasks and the skills necessary to be effective in the execution:
BABOK v2 Knowledge Area Activity in Enterprise Analysis | Definition | Enterprise Architecture (e.g TOGAF 9) | Differences, observations |
| Requirements Elicitation | This describes the interview and research process-how to best extract needs from stakeholders (and even how to recognize needs they don’t know they have).Elements such as metrics (tracking the amount of time spent eliciting requirements) and elicitation techniques (prototyping and brainstorming are just a couple) among the topics covered | Phase A: Architecture Vision is the initial phase of an architecture development cycle. It includes information about scope, the key steps, methods, information requirements and obtaining approval for the architecture development cycle to proceed | Business scenarios are a useful technique to articulate an Architecture Vision. A Business Scenario describes, a business process, an application or set of applications enabled by the proposed solution , the business and technology environment, the people and computing components (called “actors”) who execute it, the desired outcome of proper execution To build such a Business Scenario, workshops with business users (stakeholders) would be organized |
Business Requirements Analysis | This describes how to write/state requirements that will meet business needs. Key objectives include methods for prioritizing and organizing requirements, as well as the most beneficial techniques for requirements presentation (including state diagrams, prototyping, data flow diagrams, and process modeling, and more). Business Requirements for future project investments are identified and documented. They are defined at a high level, and include goals, objectives, and needs are identified | Business Requirements are collected from business people during the Architecture Vision’s phase using the technique called Business Scenario (as mentioned above). That document identifies what will be the business solutions in generic terms | The Enterprise Architects will define the Architecture Vision phase based on the goals, and objectives of the enterprise gathered from the business. There are two steps: 1. Business people will have defined the goals and the objectives of the enterprise independently from the Enterprise Architecture team 2. The Enterprise Architecture team which include business people gather the requirements based on the previous activity |
| Enterprise Analysis | Begins after a Business executive team develops strategic plans and goals This outlines the crucial (and sometimes political) process of keeping everyone in the loop and on the same page regarding project’s direction and progress. This activity delves into such details as the requirements review and approval processes (including record-keeping). | Most of these activities are taken into account in doing Enterprise Architecture or done directly by the Business executive team before starting an new Enterprise Architecture project | |
Strategic plan development | Done outside of the Enterprise Architecture process by business people but is a key source of information | ||
Strategic goal development | This is done outside of the Enterprise Architecture initiative by business people but is a key source of information | ||
| Business Architecture development | Done during Phase B:Business Architecture, looking at the baseline and target architecture, delivering a gap analysis, a plan and a roadmap | ||
Feasibility Studies | Done during Phase A: Architecture Vision (with a Business Scenario) | ||
Business Case Development | Done during Phase A: Architecture Vision (with a Business Scenario) | ||
New Project Proposal | This is done in two steps: during the Phase A where we identify a Business solution and during Phase F: Migration Planning | ||
| Selecting and Prioritizing New Projects | This is done in two steps: during the Phase A where we identify a Business solution and during Phase F: Migration Planning | ||
| Business Opportunities | This is done during the Phase A: Architecture Vision and the Phase E: Opportunities and Solutions | ||
Launching New Projects | This is done during Phase F: Migration Planning | ||
Managing Projects for Value | This is done during Phase F: Migration Planning | ||
Tracking Project Benefits | Once the project is in production, it is no longer part of the Enterprise Initiative | ||
| Solution Assessment and Validation | Details how to choose the best solutions for specific business needs (as well as assessing how well the chosen solution worked after its implementation).This should also cover risks, dependencies, and limitations that must be identified before proposing any solution | Solutions are identified during Phase E.: Opportunities and Solutions. This phase is directly concerned with implementation, identifying major work packages to be undertaken and creating a migration strategy. Risk management, dependencies are taken into consideration. | |
| Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring | Explains how to decide what you need to do to complete an “analyst effort” (in other words, how to plan a project). This helps intelligently decide which stakeholders, tools, tasks and techniques we will need to get the job done | Covered mostly in the Architecture Vision phase, then in the Business Architecture Phase | Stakeholder management techniques are used within TOGAF, tools and techniques are identified in the Business Architecture phase (modeling, reference models, viewpoints) |
| Requirements Management and Communication | Describes how to identify business needs (the why of the project; whereas requirements are the how) and state the scope of their solutions. This is a crucial piece of the analyst’s work. SMART criteria of measurement, SWOT analysis and other measurement factors that make identifying this root cause data objective and tangible are used | Business Requirements are collected with the business people during the Architecture Vision’s phase using the technique called Business Scenario (as mentioned above). | SMART techniques are equally used. Communication plans are defined. |
This diagram below is a draft map BABOK® and TOGAF 9; more work is required!
Observations
There are obviously overlaps between Enterprise Analysis and Enterprise Architecture, but activities are not always done in the same sequence.
Enterprise Analysis complements Enterprise Architecture but also overlaps in some areas. Organization looking into Enterprise Architecture and specifically TOGAF 9 may consider adopting a Business Analysis framework such as BABOK and integrate them in the Preliminary Phase. If both approaches exist in a company, this would be a great opportunity for optimizing the alignment between Business and IT, and to run an Enterprise Architecture program from a complete business perspective.
About Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK®)
The Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK®) is the collection of knowledge within the profession of Business Analysis and reflects current generally accepted practices. As with other professions, the body of knowledge is defined and enhanced by the Business Analysis professionals who apply it in their daily work role. The BABOK® Guide describes Business Analysis areas of knowledge, their associated activities and the tasks and skills necessary to be effective in their execution. The BABOK® Guide is a reference for professional knowledge for Business Analysis and provides the basis for the Certified Business Analysis Professional™ (CBAP®) Certification.
BABOK® Guide 2.0 represents the development of a common framework to understand and define the practice of business analysis.
Enterprise Analysis is a knowledge area which describes the Business analysis activities that take place for an enterprise to identify business opportunities, build a Business Architecture, determine the optimum project investment path for that enterprise and finally, implement new business and technical solutions. The question you may ask: Does this really differs from Enterprise Architecture, and if so, how?
At first sight, business opportunities are not always considered as being part of an Enterprise Architecture initiative, more as an activity which should be considered as an input. But let’s look at this in more detail.
Let’s look at this in more detail by way of mapping activities between BABOK v2* and the TOGAF 9 Framework*. The BABOK is the collection of knowledge within the profession of business analysis and reflects generally accepted practices. It describes business analysis areas of knowledge, their associated activities and tasks and the skills necessary to be effective in the execution:
BABOK v2 Knowledge Area Activity in Enterprise Analysis | Definition | Enterprise Architecture (e.g TOGAF 9) | Differences, observations |
| Requirements Elicitation | This describes the interview and research process-how to best extract needs from stakeholders (and even how to recognize needs they don’t know they have).Elements such as metrics (tracking the amount of time spent eliciting requirements) and elicitation techniques (prototyping and brainstorming are just a couple) among the topics covered | Phase A: Architecture Vision is the initial phase of an architecture development cycle. It includes information about scope, the key steps, methods, information requirements and obtaining approval for the architecture development cycle to proceed | Business scenarios are a useful technique to articulate an Architecture Vision. A Business Scenario describes, a business process, an application or set of applications enabled by the proposed solution , the business and technology environment, the people and computing components (called “actors”) who execute it, the desired outcome of proper execution To build such a Business Scenario, workshops with business users (stakeholders) would be organized |
Business Requirements Analysis | This describes how to write/state requirements that will meet business needs. Key objectives include methods for prioritizing and organizing requirements, as well as the most beneficial techniques for requirements presentation (including state diagrams, prototyping, data flow diagrams, and process modeling, and more). Business Requirements for future project investments are identified and documented. They are defined at a high level, and include goals, objectives, and needs are identified | Business Requirements are collected from business people during the Architecture Vision’s phase using the technique called Business Scenario (as mentioned above). That document identifies what will be the business solutions in generic terms | The Enterprise Architects will define the Architecture Vision phase based on the goals, and objectives of the enterprise gathered from the business. There are two steps: 1. Business people will have defined the goals and the objectives of the enterprise independently from the Enterprise Architecture team 2. The Enterprise Architecture team which include business people gather the requirements based on the previous activity |
| Enterprise Analysis | Begins after a Business executive team develops strategic plans and goals This outlines the crucial (and sometimes political) process of keeping everyone in the loop and on the same page regarding project’s direction and progress. This activity delves into such details as the requirements review and approval processes (including record-keeping). | Most of these activities are taken into account in doing Enterprise Architecture or done directly by the Business executive team before starting an new Enterprise Architecture project | |
Strategic plan development | Done outside of the Enterprise Architecture process by business people but is a key source of information | ||
Strategic goal development | This is done outside of the Enterprise Architecture initiative by business people but is a key source of information | ||
| Business Architecture development | Done during Phase B:Business Architecture, looking at the baseline and target architecture, delivering a gap analysis, a plan and a roadmap | ||
Feasibility Studies | Done during Phase A: Architecture Vision (with a Business Scenario) | ||
Business Case Development | Done during Phase A: Architecture Vision (with a Business Scenario) | ||
New Project Proposal | This is done in two steps: during the Phase A where we identify a Business solution and during Phase F: Migration Planning | ||
| Selecting and Prioritizing New Projects | This is done in two steps: during the Phase A where we identify a Business solution and during Phase F: Migration Planning | ||
| Business Opportunities | This is done during the Phase A: Architecture Vision and the Phase E: Opportunities and Solutions | ||
Launching New Projects | This is done during Phase F: Migration Planning | ||
Managing Projects for Value | This is done during Phase F: Migration Planning | ||
Tracking Project Benefits | Once the project is in production, it is no longer part of the Enterprise Initiative | ||
| Solution Assessment and Validation | Details how to choose the best solutions for specific business needs (as well as assessing how well the chosen solution worked after its implementation).This should also cover risks, dependencies, and limitations that must be identified before proposing any solution | Solutions are identified during Phase E.: Opportunities and Solutions. This phase is directly concerned with implementation, identifying major work packages to be undertaken and creating a migration strategy. Risk management, dependencies are taken into consideration. | |
| Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring | Explains how to decide what you need to do to complete an “analyst effort” (in other words, how to plan a project). This helps intelligently decide which stakeholders, tools, tasks and techniques we will need to get the job done | Covered mostly in the Architecture Vision phase, then in the Business Architecture Phase | Stakeholder management techniques are used within TOGAF, tools and techniques are identified in the Business Architecture phase (modeling, reference models, viewpoints) |
| Requirements Management and Communication | Describes how to identify business needs (the why of the project; whereas requirements are the how) and state the scope of their solutions. This is a crucial piece of the analyst’s work. SMART criteria of measurement, SWOT analysis and other measurement factors that make identifying this root cause data objective and tangible are used | Business Requirements are collected with the business people during the Architecture Vision’s phase using the technique called Business Scenario (as mentioned above). | SMART techniques are equally used. Communication plans are defined. |
This diagram below is a draft map BABOK® and TOGAF 9; more work is required!
Observations
There are obviously overlaps between Enterprise Analysis and Enterprise Architecture, but activities are not always done in the same sequence.
Enterprise Analysis complements Enterprise Architecture but also overlaps in some areas. Organization looking into Enterprise Architecture and specifically TOGAF 9 may consider adopting a Business Analysis framework such as BABOK and integrate them in the Preliminary Phase. If both approaches exist in a company, this would be a great opportunity for optimizing the alignment between Business and IT, and to run an Enterprise Architecture program from a complete business perspective.
About Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK®)
The Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK®) is the collection of knowledge within the profession of Business Analysis and reflects current generally accepted practices. As with other professions, the body of knowledge is defined and enhanced by the Business Analysis professionals who apply it in their daily work role. The BABOK® Guide describes Business Analysis areas of knowledge, their associated activities and the tasks and skills necessary to be effective in their execution. The BABOK® Guide is a reference for professional knowledge for Business Analysis and provides the basis for the Certified Business Analysis Professional™ (CBAP®) Certification.
BABOK® Guide 2.0 represents the development of a common framework to understand and define the practice of business analysis.
The Labour Party Manifesto 2010 which I referenced for the purpose of this blog can be accessed on this link.The most relevant mention of harnessing the power of Information Technology can be found in section 9:5 of the above listed document. The extra…
As the UK elections 2010 campaigning gathers momentum, all three major political parties have published their manifestos, all PM candidates have already done two televised debates and hit the ground running in various parts of the UK to make us aware o…
Usually i restrict posts in this blog to the topics of strategic IT management and current technology topics. But this was not a usual man anyway. The legend who shaped thinking of modern managers is no more..I was introduced to his work during my MBA….
What looks to be a very simple question is actually a very tough one. The answer to this is of particular importance to a domain architecture team (a team whose scope is larger than a single project or solution), but the principles apply even to a solution architect. The solution architect has a slight advantage […]
So far the articles 1, 2 and 3 in the series have addressed the SOA governance aspects such as, understanding the context, defining the objectives and parameters, understanding various components such as timing and artefacts to govern, roles and respo…