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Info-Tech Research Group, Inc. Is a global leader in providing IT research and advice.Info-Tech’s products and services combine actionable insight and relevant advice withready-to-use tools and templates that cover the full spectrum of IT concerns.© 1997-2014 Info-Tech Research Group Inc.
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Adopt 10 Universal Enterprise ArchitecturePrinciples
Create a foundation of shared beliefs for guiding the use of IT in constructing, transforming,and operating your organization.
Info-Tech's products and services combine actionable insight and relevant advice with ready-to-use toolsand templates that cover the full spectrum of IT concerns.© 1997 - 2014 Info-Tech Research Group
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This Research is Designed For:
This Research Will Help You:
This Research Will Assist:
This Research Will Help You:
This Research Is Designed For:
This Research Will Help You:
This Research Will Also Assist:
This Research Will Help Them:
Our Understanding of the Problem
CIO considering to implement or update EAprinciples.
Chief/Enterprise Architect updating or creatingEA principles.
CIO implementing IT governance framework.
Recognize the need for EA principles.
Secure executive buy-in.
Understand what makes a good EA principle.
Write a set of EA principles for yourorganization or update the existing ones.
Make people follow EA principles youdeveloped.
IT managers and engineers
Business executives
Understand the role(s) of EA principles.
Discover how they can benefit from applyingEA principles.
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Resolution
Situation
!
Complication
?
Info-Tech Insight
Executive Summary
•At every organization, every day, employees at various levels makedecisions on how IT is used in building, transforming, and operating theenterprise. These decisions affect enterprise performance, both shortand long term.
•IT policies assign authorities and accountability for making key ITdecisions, and outline mandatory process steps, but don’t say whatshould guide the decision-making process.
•Naturally, employees in different departments and at different levelshave different, often competing priorities.
•Moreover, employees tend to make decisions leaning on their ownassumptions as to how IT should be used by the organization. ITdecisions, guided by foundational beliefs that differ, lack cohesiveness inachieving enterprise goals and require an increased IT governance effortto achieve policy compliance and realize desired business outcomes.
•EA principles succinctly communicate the organization’s intent as to the use of IT in building, transforming, and operatingthe enterprise and provide a foundation of shared beliefs that guide IT decision making across the organization.
•EA principles represent a key component of IT governance and should guide the development of domain-specific policies(e.g. security policy, procurement policy) that elaborate on particular implications of principles in specific process areas.
EA principles are shared, long-lastingbeliefs that guide the use of IT inconstructing, transforming, andoperating the enterprise by informingand restricting target-state enterprisearchitecture design, IT investmentportfolio management, solutiondevelopment, and procurementdecisions. Without EA principles, ITmanagement decisions are guided byeither employees’ personal preferences orassumptions on how these decisionsshould be made. Lack of EA principlesresults in making ineffective decisions andhigher governance effort required tocontrol and correct them.
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Confirm your need for EA principles
Make the EA principles decision. Understand why your organization needs EA principles. You will discuss the benefits ofhaving good EA principles that are followed, their role in IT governance, and the four-step approach to implement them.
Validate your EA principles group charter
Write the charter to obtain executive approval for establishing a cross-functional working group with representatives fromboth business and IT to write EA principles. Validate it with our Analysts before you present it to your project sponsors.
Understand what makes a good EA principle
Before you start writing your EA principles, review the qualities of good EA principles: approach-focused, relevant, longlasting, prescriptive, verifiable, easily digestible, and followed. Verify your preliminary EA principles ideas.
Review your EA principles
Define your EA principles. Review your EA principles and the accompanying presentation deck with our Analysts beforepresenting them to your IT Steering Committee for approval.
Prepare to get your EA principles endorsed
Prepare to present your EA principles to the IT Steering Committee for approval.
Validate your communication plan and roadmap
Build an EA Principles Operationalization Roadmap and an EA Principles Communication Plan. Validate them with ourAnalysts before you present them to your IT Steering Committee for approval.
Info-Tech is ready to assist. Book a free guidedimplementation today!
Book a Guided Implementation Today: Info-Tech is just a phone call away and can assist you with yourproject. Our expert Analysts can guide you to successful project completion. For most members, thisservice is available at no additional cost.*
*Guided Implementations are included in most advisory membership seats.
Here are the suggested Guided Implementation points in the Implement Enterprise Architecture Principles project:
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There is a silver bullet solution. Use Info-Tech’s 10 universal EA principles as a starting point.
More is not better. Leverage 6,000 years of human experience: limit the number of yourcommandments to 10 and make them succinct.
Every organization can benefit from a set of shared foundational beliefs – EA principles.
Key Insights
•EA principles guide decisions on the use of IT across the enterprise. IT decisions that are informed by a shared set ofguiding principles (as opposed to employee’s assumptions and personal preferences) require less IT governance effortand enable the organization’s cohesiveness in achieving both strategic and tactical goals.
•EA principles represent a key component of IT governance and should guide the development of domain-specific policies(e.g. security policy, procurement policy) that elaborate on particular implications of principles in specific process areas.
•Keep EA principles as short as possible, and limit their total number to 10. The sample architecture principles from TOGAF9 are well intended, but at the same time they are too wordy and too numerous and can be hard to understand.
•As counter-intuitive as it seems, most organizations can benefit from the same set of 10 universal EA principles developedby Info-Tech Research Group.
•The rationale and the implications sections of each principle should be tailored to the organization’s specifics.
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What’s in this Section:
Sections:
Project rationale
•What is an EA principle?
•Benefits of EA principles.
•EA principles and domain-specific policies.
•EA principles and enterprise governance of IT.
•The four-step approach to define and implement EAprinciples.
Project rationale
Develop a sponsored mandate for EAprinciples
Understand what makes a good EAprinciple
Define EA principles
Operationalize your EA principles
Appendix
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What You Will Achieve in this Section
Insight
Project rationale
•Every organization can benefit from a set of shared foundational beliefs on the use of IT – EA principles.
•EA principles are shared, long-lasting beliefs that guide the use of IT in constructing, transforming, and operating theenterprise by informing and restricting target-state enterprise architecture design, IT investment portfolio management,solution development, and procurement decisions.
•Implement EA principles and policies to reduce costs, increase compliance, and improve business-IT alignment.
•An understanding of the benefits of properly implemented EA principles.
•A confirmation that your organization needs EA principles.
•Direction on how to define and implement EA principles by following the four-step approach.
•An understanding of why EA principles are important in the context of enterprise governance of IT.
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What guides IT management decisions at your organization?
A foundation of common guiding principles on the use of IT isrequired to make effective IT decisions across the enterprise
Every organization can benefit from a set of shared foundational beliefs on the use of IT – EA principles.
Info-Tech Insight
Employees’assumptions as tohow IT decisionsshould be made
Employees’personalpreferences
EAPrinciples
Shared beliefs on the useof IT, which are succinctlydefined, endorsed byexecutives, and followedacross the organization.
Enterprise governance of IT
EnterpriseGoals
EnterpriseGoals
- or -
IT management decisions
IT management decisions
Enterprise governance of IT
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Good EA principles harmonize and accelerate execution of business and ITstrategies and enable achievement of business and IT vision and goals.
EA principles represent a foundation of beliefs for creatingand executing business and IT strategies and tactical plans
EA principles are shared, long-lasting beliefsthat guide the use of IT in constructing,transforming, and operating the enterpriseby informing and restricting target-stateenterprise architecture design, ITinvestment portfolio management, solutiondevelopment, and procurement decisions.
Each principle must be considered in thecontext of "all other things being equal." Attimes a decision will be required as to whichinformation principle will take precedence ona particular issue.
A common reaction on first reading of aprinciple is "this is motherhood," but the factthat a principle seems self-evident does notmean that the principle is actually observedin an organization, even when there areverbal acknowledgements of the principle.
Source: TOGAF 9, Chapter 23: ArchitecturePrinciples
EA principles are defined with the following attributes:
•Name. Represents the essence of the EA principle; is easy to remember.
•Statement. Communicates the EA principle succinctly and unambiguously.
•Rationale. Describes the reasoning for establishing the EA principle.
•Implications. Describes when and how the principle is to be applied.
Sample EA principle:
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EA principles summarize the organization’s intent towards the use of IT inachieving the organizational vision and attaining business and IT objectives.
EA principles are a key component of IT governance,promoting desired behavior in the enterprise-wide use of IT
Plan(APO)
Build(BAI)
Run(DSS)
Monitor (MEA)
Evaluate
Direct
Monitor
IT Management
IT Governance
EAPrinciples
Sourcing
Policy
Infrastructure
Policy
Service Mgt
Policy
Risk Mgt
Policy
PerformanceMgt
Policy
…
Domain-specific policies
Domain-specific implications of EA principlesshould be outlined in corresponding policies.The policies should clearly andunambiguously state decision accountabilitiesand authorities, corresponding threshold, andmandatory process steps.
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Policies can be seen as “the letter of the law,” whereas EA principlessummarize “the spirit of the law.”
EA principles provide a foundation for enterprise-widedecision making that affects current and future use of IT
“The spirit of the law”
“The letter of the law”
How shoulddecisions be made?
EAPrinciples
Decisions on the use of IT
guide,inform
direct
control
Sourcing
Policy
Service Mgt
Policy
Risk Mgt
Policy
PerformanceMgt
Policy
…
Domain-specific policies
Who has theaccountability andauthority to makedecisions?
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