Part 1 - EA Introduction: Concepts, Methods Flashcards
What is transformation?
How is it different from Business Process Reengineering or TQM?
Transformation is a revolutionary change of the enterprise caused by current or expected problems with the way of doing business.
BPR and TQM are different because they are evolutionary and aim at continuous improvement of the current state rather than moving on to a new one.
Prominent example: IBM
Name some key challenges of enterprises today.
Challenges for enterprises include:
Customers.- increased power, more demanding customers, customizations, needs, digitization, social responsibility, changing preferences.
Competitors.- highly dynamic markets, innovation pressure, globalization, cost pressure, consolidation.+
Technology.- technological advancements impact, new devices, new sales channels, real-time information.
Authorities.- compliance (adhering to laws, regulations, contracts), environmental initiatives, protectionism.
Key challenge: the alignment of business and IT.
Explain the key challenge of the alignment of business and IT:
This refers to the typical causality dilemma of “the chicken or the egg”, specifically in the Enterprise the Business defines requirements but at the same time IT enables new oportunities.
What are core obstacles for a (quick) enterprise transformation?
Where do they come from?
The desired hability to change can be hampered by:
- Legacy applications and infrastructure
- Duplicated functionality of people/technology
- Organizational silos and silo applications
- Missing common understanding and governance of key data resources
These impediments usually come because pilot projects end into the structure of the organization or reorganization efforts were as insular projects.
What are deducted requirements for Enterprise Transformation?
(what things you need to know about the enterprise)
Detailed insights into the enterprise’s entities, their interdependencies and abilities to change are needed in order to cope with these challenges.
Elaborate on the to-be situation, the adaptive enterprise.
What 3 activities are in the Enterprise Transformation:
The adaptive enterprise is the one that adapts quickly to changing market environments.
Activities in the Enterprise Transformation:
- Assess: diagnosis of problem, clarify motivation, requirements, intended transformation results.
- Aim: deciding how to solve the problem, design the desired transformed enterprise.
- Act: apply the transformation.
Describe the VWoA business case discussed in the lecture:
- VW used an strategic change based on product-diversification (tendencies and series of more rapid model introductions).
- Due to these business requirements, IT had to adapt quickly (it lacked a single point of governance).
- The CIO solved the ambiguities of development governance with an internal IT department and a project management office.
- Result = More on-schedule and on-budget IT projects.
- Managing IT Priorities, IT project prioritization by means of an architecture.
What is the take away regarding EAM in the VWoA Business Case?
EA are implemented with a purpose (in VW case: means for project priorization).
Architecture implementation gives insight into entities of an enterprise, explicates their relationships and provides a shared understanding (e.g. IT project contribution to major goals) and a shared commitment (e.g. business unit leaders approve the results of the decision process).
Mention and describe the 7 key applications of Enterprise Architecture that combined are used for informed decisions and ensure compliance of transformations to those decisions:
- Situation description.- EA used for goal/cause analysis to investigate problems/shortcomings in a situation. Shared understanding among stakeholders for a situation.
- Strategic direction.- EA to express and motivate the future direction of the an enterprise. Shared conceptualization and agreement of future direction(s) among stakeholders.
- Gap Analysis.- identify key problems, impediments, chances, threats… and make design decisions to enable a move from a existing situation into a desired strategic direction.
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Planning:
- Partial Solution Selection.- using EA to select one or more standard solutions for the overall solution.
- Tactical Planning.- EA for boundaries, intermediate steps for transformation, make the realization more tangible with EA as planning tool.
- Operational Planning.- using EA to give a clear context and direction for a portfolio of projects.
- Solution Architecture & Portfolio Management.- EA as a high level design of an step that will be realized by a project. EA Management to develop the enterprise strategically by using models.
Mention some definitions of Enterprise Architecture:
- EA as a consciously shaped architecture in response to changing external conditions, describing the transformation of an enterprise from the as-is state towards an envisioned to-be future in a number of cycles.
- EA as a tool or means to support strategy planning and execution.
- EA as a means to manage complexity that enables informed decision-making, planning and governing of transformations.
What are the typical benefits named/accounted for EA?
List them and explain why this view is wrong.
Usual benefits named for EA are those strongly attributable and easily measured/quantified. The most frequent quoted benefits are:
- Reduced costs
- Holistic view of the enterprise
- Improved business-IT alignment
- Improved change management
- Improved risk management
This (limited) view is wrong because the EA has many more benefits.
Mention the categorization of (4) benefits of Enterprise Architecture and list some of them:
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Indirect benefits
- Improved alignment with partners
- Improved customer orientation
- Improved risk management
- Improved asset management
- Improved innovation
- Improved business processes
- Reduced complexity
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Strategic benefits
- Improved alignment to business strategy
- Improved change management
- Improved strategic agility
- Improved business-IT alignment
- Improved communication
- Increased stability
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Hard benefits
- Increased Economies of Scale
- Increased Reusability
- Reduced Costs
- Increased Interoperability and Integration
- Increased Standardization
- Shortened Cycle Times
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Intangible benefits
- Evolutionary EA development & governance
- Provides a holistic view of the enterprise
- Improved decision making
Mention some of the 7 main potential hazards (risks) related to the application of EA:
EA is only a powerful means when it is applied properly and for the right reasons. Means must fit intended objectives.
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Underestimation of communication
- Architects are the hub that connect a wide range of people. Each group should be addressed and understand their role on the change and their input and concerns taken serious.
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Lack of involvement from business
- Success depends on all actors, therefore, everyone’s commitment and input is required.
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Lack of top-level support
- Top management must embrace EAM and use it for strategic decision making.
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Wrong expectations
- EAM is an strategic approach, sets long-term strategies and tactical steps for goals but does not cover operational implementation.
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Establishing EAM as a goal itself
- It should be integrated in management routines, avoiding disconnection/isolation.
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Lack of maintenance
- Architecture governance has to ensure architecture accuracy of the current state so projects can make use of it.
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Lack of success stories
- The beneficial role and outcomes from EAM have to be pointed out and measured across projects.
Mention the main take aways (summary and outlook) from Chapter 1. Introduction:
- Environmental changes, market challenges and changing business models require enterprises to transform themselves.
- Transformation is a very complex task and not easily done.
- EA takes on three different roles to support the activities Assess, Aim and Act.
- There are 7 key applications for EA.
- EA is not a panacea. It is a tool that has to be applied to the right problem.
Mention and explain the definition of Enterprise Architecture:
Definition = Enterprise Architecture is the sum of all structures and artifacts that together provide a view of the enterprise as a whole.
Explanation:
- EA relates to the “product” aspect of architecture, it contains the result of architecture work.
- EA focuses on the description of AS-IS and TO-BE states.
- This definition does not include a description of what the required structures and artifacts are (artifacts that are specifically needed).
Mention the definition of Enterprise Architecture Management:
Enterprise Architecture Management is the use of:
- Models
- Frameworks
- Principles
- Viewpoints
… by architects and other stakeholders in order to strategically govern business and technology in an integrated, IT supported manner with the aim of describing the current and desired state of the enterprise and transforming it as a response to internal and external challenges.
What is the difference between EA and EAM?
Why just EA is not sufficient for the purpose of Enterprise Transformation?
For an Enterprise Transformation, EA is not sufficient because what is missing is a methodology that gives guidelines for developing an AS-IS state and a TO-BE state definition which will help to move from state to another.
This missing “art and science of designing” aspect of the architecture can be refered as Enterprise Architecture Management.
EA and EAM are complimentary, one is not meaningful wihtout the other.
Name and define the 3 different roles of Enterprise Architecture that support the assess, aim and act phases:
Regulative role: EA gives a normative guidance on how architectures must become.
Instructive role: EA specifies the enterprise by using models.
Informative role: EA used for making decisions by using artifacts from generic or organization-specific knowledge.
What are key/important terms/elements and their meaning in the context of EA?
- Stakeholders: others, sponsoring (use viewpoints)
- Architects: execute and govern transformation of the enterprise (use frameworks and create models)
- Frameworks: support the creation of views/models and viewpoints and principles.
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Views/Models: depict the enterprise. Representation of reality for a certain purpose. Subjective modeler selects relevant details.
- Viewpoints guide architects in creating purposeful views. Can include languages, notation, model kinds, design rules and methods.
- View is what you see, viewpoint is from where you are looking.
- Principles: guide enterprise and guides the creation of views/models. Enduring and seldom modified, inform and support the way in which an organization sets about fulfilling its mission.
- Enterprise
What perspectives on Enterprise Architecture exist?
Perspectives:
- Regulation-oriented: prescriptive notion governing the design of an enterprise, focus on principles, leading to rules, guidelines and standards.
- Design-oriented: emphasizes on the comprehensive and cohesive especification of an enterprise in all its facets. Focuses on essential design decisions, as well as at the core structures.
- Patterns-oriented: focuses on the use of design patterns. Bridges the regulative and the design perspective, by applying patterns meeting the regulations in the design process.
What does “Scope of EA” mean and why is this concept so important?
Scope of EA is the limitation. The scope of what is included in the Architecture and encompasses four dimensions:
- Enterprise scope: the focus of the architecture effort on the business sector, function, organization, geographical area, etc.
- Architecture domains: complete EA encompasses all architecture domains (e.g. business, aplication, technology). Depending on the project, not all are required for an specific task, though.
- Vertical scope: if the architecture is not detailed enough it is not useful, if the architecture is too detailed, its modeling consumes too many resources (ROI) and results might be confusing.
- Time horizon: each instance describes the state at a certain point in time. Several intermediate states are defined and periodically reviewed, updated, and refined.
This concept is important as it allows effectively governed and integrated work. Also, the choice of scope is critical to the success of the architecturing effort. They key factor is the complexity of a complete, horizontally and vertically integrated EA. To focus on what creates value to the enterprise and to select horizontal and vertical scopes, time periods, accordingly.
Name and explain each (of the 4) dimension for scoping of architecture work:
- Enterprise scope: whole global cooperation or just some countries or divisons?
- Architectural scope: which layers should be modeled?
- Vertical scope: how much details are sufficient?
- Time horizon: model goal or just intermediate steps?
What are principles and how are they defined?
Mention also some type of principles.
Principles are general rules and guidelines intended to be enduring and seldom amended that inform and support the way in which an organization sets about fulfilling its mission.
Different type of principles exist:
- Business principles: quality assurance and product safety, safety and health at work, corporate social responsibility.
- Architecture principles: common vocabulary and data definitons, services are built on a standard architecture and integrated wit other core services.
- IT principles: all communications encripted, regular OS updates, etc.
Name the 4 basic items of a principle according to TOGAF. For each, name one aspect to keep in mind while formulating it.
Principles need to be understandable for a wider audience and need to be clearly specified with:
- Name: easy to remember
- Statement: should cover the essence fo the principle, as an active statement in the present tense.
- Rationale: motivate the reason for tthe principal’s existence (benefits).
- Implication: desired state when enforcing the principle, state major consequences of adopting such principle.
Mention the groups of stakeholders related to an Enterprise Architecture (typical classes of stakeholders):
Stakeholders can be:
- Involved in a transformation. What part of the enterprise will be impacted by the transformation? What are the boundaries? Thse stakeholders need to be integrated in the enterprise’s long-term strategy. Otherwise, they might support a transformation which is not algined with the overall development.
- Impacted by the transformation results. How can I prepare myself for the new situation? What is the rationale for this transformation? Very different people will be impacted by transformation, e.g. employees, operational managers, customers or business partners. They all have to know the reasons and effects of the transformation and whay they should do in order to be prepared for the new situation (availability dates, required skills, etc.)
- Sponsoring a transformation. What will it cost? What are the benefits? What functions should remain in-house and which ones should be outsourced? Transformation is directly relatedd to the future success of the enterprise. Therefore, the enterprise’s management needs information on the the transformation projects in order to control them. A “compass” to guide strategic decision is required and has to be adequately presented to these stakeholders.
What is a Stakeholder and what is a concern?
What is the relation between them?
A stakeholder is an individual, team or organization (or classes of) with interests in, or concerns relative to a system.
A concern is “any topic” of interest pertaining to the system. Some concerns drive the architecture.
Then, viewpoints are designed with the specific concerns of a stakeholder(s) in mind. Relevance to a stakeholder’s concern is therefore the selection criterion that is used to determine which objects and relations are included in the view.
Draw the stakeholder (Mendelow’s) matrix.
Label each axe and explain each quadrant:
Each type of stakeholder has its specific need for insight, control and overview. Stakeholders have to be integrated in communication processes to inform them about changes and to get an evaluation of the expected impact on their domain.
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Quadrants:
- Keep satisfied
- Key players
- Minimal effort
- Keep informed
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Axis:
- Y: Low->High Power
- X: Level of interest
According to Alpar, what is the typical (layered) structure of an EA?
Name some artifacts (examples) for each layer.
Enterprise Architecture is usually structured in layers with artifacts. There are relations and limitations between each layer:
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Business layer: business strategy point of view
- Artifacts examples: goals, products, strategic projects, interactions, market segments, core competencies.
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Process layer: business processes
- Artifacts: input/outputs, org. units, locations, responsibilities, functions, performance indicators.
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Integration layer: Information System functionalitites
- Artifacts: applications, IS functions, information objects, enterprise services, interfaces.
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Software layer: software artifacts
- Artifacts: sw components, data resources and structures.
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Infrastructure layer: computing/telecom. hardware and networks.
- Artifacts: HW and networks components, SW platforms.
Explain and elaborate on the concept of Viewpoints and Views:
Also explain its relation-differences.
A viewpoint is a specification of the conventions for constructing and using views.
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Viewpoints can help to create the relevant information for each involved group of stakeholders. A viewpoint described “from where you are looking” at something.
- Aimed at a particular type of stakeholder.
- Addresses a particular set of concerns
- Are generic and can be reused across project.
- Can be used in uni-directional (informative conversations) or bi-directional communications (informing stakeholders and receiving feedback).
- Ideally the scope of a viewpoint and the relevant concerns of stakeholders are the same.
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View is a representation of an extract of one or more models from the perspective o a related set of concerns. A view is “what you see”.
- Are specific and need to be created for every project.
- It’s content depend on the scope of the viewpoint.
A view is governed by its viewpoint: the viewpoint establishes the convetions for constucting, interpreting and analyzing the view to address concerns framed by that viewpoint.
Viewpoint conventions can include languages, notations, model kinds, design rules, and/or modelling methods, analysis techniques and other operations on views.
How is the Zachman Framework structured in general?
Elaborate on it
The Zachman Framework identifies different stakeholders of a project: using a table format, it specifies:
- their perspective (rows):
- scope contexts, business concepts, system logic, technology physics, component assemblies & operations classes.
- and defines different types of information/abstraction (columns):
- what, how, where, who, when & why.
The usual descending order on each colum is: identification, definition, representation, specification, configuration & instantiation.
Also:
- Each column has a simple generic model.
- Each cell specializes its column’s generic model.
- No meta concept can be classified in more than 1 cell (cells are unique).
- Diagonal relationships are not permited.
- Changing the names of the rows/columns is not allowed.
- The logic is generic, recursive.
From the ADM, list/name each of its (10) phases and the 4 groups they conform:
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Architecture Context Iteration
- Preliminary
- Architecture Vision
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Architecture Definition Iteration
- Business Architecture
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Information Systems Architecture
- Data Architecture
- Application Architecture
- Technology Architecture
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Transition Planning Iteration
- Opportunities and Solution
- Migration Planning
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Architecture Governance Iteration
- Implementation Governance
- Architecture Change Management
- Center: Requirements Management
Explain the TOGAF Content Metamodel:
The TOGAF Content Metamodel is divided up in line with the TOGAF ADM phases. In each phase of the ADM, inputs, outputs and steps describe a number of architectural work products. The content metamodel defines a formal structure for these terms to ensure consistency within the ADM.
List and explain the constituents of the Enterprise Continuum:
- The Enterprise Continuum clasifies all internal and external architectural assets that are available to an enterprise (see figure).
- The architecture context and requirements are influenced by several factors, e.g. external factors like regulatory changes, technological advances, competitor activity or internal changes in business strategy.
- In the architecting process with respect to the contextual factors,
- Architecture Building Blocks (Architecture Continuum I) are identified and
- then realized by Solution Building Blocks (Solution Continuum II)
- which are deployed as live solutions and become a part of the operating enterprise.
- The deployed solutions influence the context of future changes and requirements on the future target architecture.
