Bracken Project Enterprise Architecture Workshop

Sam RowleyLearning Development Manager

Staffordshire Universityc.s.rowley@staffs.ac.uk

Agenda

What is Enterprise Architecture?

• Enterprise:– collection of organizations with a common set of

goals– e.g.• cross-cutting aspect such as student records or identity

management• department• faculty• college• network of institutions

What is Enterprise Architecture?

• Architecture:– description of the functional aspects of an

organisation• people• processes• tools• data• information

– not IT-focussed• not to be confused with IT architecture

What Is Enterprise Architecture?• Enterprise Architecture– high-level, strategic technique – designed to help senior managers achieve business

and organisational change – achieving desired future change through design

• Approach1.Describe current state (‘as is’ or ‘baseline’ )2.Describe vision of intended state (‘to be’ or ‘target’)

• target created to satisfy business goals 3.Use these descriptions as roadmap to guide

organisational change

EA Journey

Typical EA Lifecycle

Principles of EA

• EA is both – process • transition between the current state of an organisation

and its future

– product• the documented representation of the architecture

• EA is as much about process as product– ‘the journey is its own reward’

Coordination with other management frameworks

Benefits of EA• Enables high level alignment between an organisation’s business

processes and the underlying ICT systems• Facilitates clear communication between different groups of people• Provides a roadmap for translating business goals into changes to

the business processes, day-to-day operations and ICT systems of an organisation

• Promotes better understanding of how the business operates• Helps promote an ‘enterprise mindset’• Enables comparison of different strategic visions for the

organisation • Creating an EA highlights all sorts of architectural, governance and

decision-making issues that need to be addressed for the betterment of the business regardless of whether EA is adopted or not

• The Open Group Architecture Framework• The de facto standard EA framework– a tool for developing a broad range of different

architectures

• Provides a method for EA development• Best practice approach– refined over 15 years

• Vendor and technology neutral

TOGAF

TOGAF Architecture Development Method (ADM)

ADM Phases

ADM Phases

Getting the organisation committed and involved

ADM Phases

Getting the architecture right

ADM Phases

Making the architecture work

ADM Phases

Keeping the process running

EA Modelling

• Capture stakeholder concerns• Address concerns by identifying and refining

requirements• Create EA models• Create views of the model for stakeholders– show how concerns and requirements will be

addressed– show trade-offs arising from conflicting concerns

• Modelling language• Intuitive notation• Designed for high-level

modelling– ‘the big picture’– relationships and dependencies

• Designed to bridge different domains– UML in software development– BPMN/BPML in business process

modelling• Fits well with TOGAF

Archimate Elements

Element Types

Archimate layers

Business Layer

Application Layer

Technology Layer

Archimate Relationships

Putting it all together

Archimate vs Business Process Modelling

• Archimate higher level– Focuses on interconnections and relations

• Link to business process maps for the process details

How to use Archimate

1. Start with business layer– process steps first– add actors and roles– add business objects

2. Application layer3. Technology layer4. Create views from the model to fit

stakeholder concerns

Real World models

The Archi Modelling Tool

• Open source, cross-platform tool to create ArchiMate models

• Development funded by JISC• Rapidly becoming the de facto ArchiMate

modelling tool• ...and it’s free!

Archi Demonstration

EA in Practice

• Small scope example - external examiners– business process duplication

• Followed tailored TOGAF process– only relevant scope and steps

• Process:1.Identify Stakeholders2.Gather information, concerns and requirements3.Create models – baseline and target4.Implement solution

Gathering information• Gathering Information– interviews– existing process maps– process descriptions

• e.g. quality process guidance from the Web site• Modelling sessions– with ‘friendly’ stakeholders– avoid a blank slate

• come armed with a model to refine– good response to Archimate

• stakeholders understand the meaning

Baseline Model - Processes

Actors and Roles

Representations

Business Objects

Other stakeholders

Other stakeholders

Other stakeholders

Other stakeholders

Baseline Model

Target Model

Gap Analysis Model

Summary

• Enterprise Architecture– for understanding ‘the big picture’– roadmap for organisational change

• TOGAF– the method– useful toolkit/checklist

• Archimate– the modelling language

• Archi– the free modelling tool

Getting started• Focus on Archimate modelling first– get into TOGAF later if required

• Download and install Archi• Try some modelling on a business problem– Use other models as a guide– Read introductory Archimate documentation

• Start with business architecture layer then move down the layers (if necessary)

• Talk with domain experts to get input into the models and gain better understanding

• Create ‘as is’ before trying ‘to be’

Links to further resources• Enterprise Architecture

– JISC InfoNet Enterprise Architecture: http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/flexible-service-delivery/ea– Doing EA (JISC EA Pilot case studies):

www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/techwatch/jisc_ea_pilot_study.pdf

• TOGAF– http://www.opengroup.org/togaf/– TOGAF 'book': http://pubs.opengroup.org/architecture/togaf9-doc/arch/

• Archimate– http://www.opengroup.org/archimate– Specification: http://www.opengroup.org/archimate/doc/ts_archimate/– Introduction: https://doc.novay.nl/dsweb/Get/Document-43839/ArchiMate_Language_Primer.pdf– Web site: http://www.archimate.org/– Quick reference: https://doc.novay.nl/dsweb/Get/Document-52048/– Guides: https://doc.novay.nl/dsweb/View/Collection-4766

• Archi– http://archi.cetis.ac.uk