In this article we explain what both Enterprise and Solution Architectures should deliver to the organization and how the output of architect’s work can add value.
The ability of quickly accessing the necessary information from across the entire corporate ecosystem becomes a critical organization’s success factor. The Enterprise Model plays a vital role in addressing this demand as the source of that information. Therefore, it would be natural to expect that Enterprise Model would grow as the result of the Enterprise Architecture's activities. However, our research shows a broad picture that many organizations are not ready to issue a request to their architects to produce the model, while Enterprise Architecture teams are not ready to commit to this task. Although the standards and advanced enterprise architecture tools already becoming a mainstream, the fact is that the most common Enterprise Architecture tools used today are Excel, Visio, and PowerPoint. It looks like the early days of business analytics adoption, but the nature of the data is different, and it spans across the entire enterprise. Therefore, it is about the architects adopting to the demand.
An organization may employ two types of architects, each with their own scope of work:
Enterprise Architect (EA)
Enterprise Architecture owns the strategic vision of an enterprise. However, Enterprise Architects may not have enough experience, capacity and other factors to be able to contribute to an Enterprise Model. The model simply may not be on their list of concerns due to the overall understanding of their role.
Enterprise Architecture is often seen as an office or department responsible for defining technology strategies and technology evolution road maps, providing consultancy in the technology areas, conducting architecture reviews, defining corporate standards and watching for risks and compliance. What may not be happening is that the Enterprise Architecture department delivers Enterprise Architecture as a design artifact, as Enterprise's Model.
Solution Architect (SA)
Solution Architects are often hired to work on solving a business challenge. This involves a process which results in the definition of various changes that must be made to various enterprise components, such as structure and behavior of the systems, processes, people’s roles, data or infrastructure. It also requires defining the migration paths and considering various options, opportunities for reuse, risks and any possible business impacts. A combination of the solution process and production of the resulting design artifacts is part of the theory and practice of Solution Architecture.
Solution Architect’s role is often misrepresented and underutilized, while the work is often carried on by unprepared people outside of the EA context. For example, text with illustrations is a common solution architecture style, and the documents are produced strictly within the project’s context. Although it could be enough for presentations and information sharing, it is not enough at the practical level. As a Senior Manager of a large Canadian Government agency once emphasized,
…. I cannot imagine that you could be successful by taking a piece of design like this to any production company and asking them to produce something based on it. This may only work in our case because the folks who work downstream can start their round of discovering of what is required and then they figure out how to do it. There is little value in this type of architecture, it does not survive long beyond the review meeting, and this is not the way we want to keep going.
It appears that although an organization may employ two types of architects, there is no unifying theme that would make the two groups of architects jointly contribute to a common Enterprise Model. The situation cannot change without changing the way of how architecture work is organized. One of the main required changes is redefining the roles and responsibilities of the architects.
Redefining the roles of Architects could become a low-hanging fruit in the pursuit of value-added benefits from the architecture profession.
Refining the role of Solution Architect as a Modeller
Solution Architecture is Enterprise Architecture’s extension and a tactical arm. Solution Architects are focused on solving practical business problems while working along the lines drawn by Enterprise Architecture. SA’s role is to continuously contribute to the model’s evolution through various projects. The leadership should be ready to support the role with the necessary organizational changes, and provide the necessary training and tools.
Refining the role of Enterprise Architect (EA) as a custodian of the Enterprise Model
While SA does much of the leg work producing and updating the models, the EA in is in the business of reviewing the models and accepting the models into their custody for permanent care. Before a change to the model gets accepted, multiple rules may apply.
Figure below shows a responsibility grid, which is a part of our framework, and ensures that Solution Architects who work along the project lines (vertical) have the necessary touch points with Enterprise Architects and other SME, as well as collaborate across technical competency lines (horizontal), keeping the model alive and evolving.
In this framework, it is the governance’s role to define and regulate these relationships and take responsibility for the policy enforcement. It is the project management office’s role to adjust the process and accommodate the need of architect’s collaboration and ensure that project funding is secured for any additional tasks to be taken from the enterprise backlog.
Once the environment is set up and the workflow is established, the model can start evolving and bringing value. Establishing the model is a creative way of converting project losses attributed to undue information mining activities into innovation funds.
The initial setup of the architecture practice can be done as a turn-key operation, a.k.a. ‘EA Out-Of-Box’ and delivered as either a separate project or as part of a larger initiative.
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