The discipline of enterprise architecture (EA) seeks to generate alignment between an organization’s electronic information systems, human resources, business processes, workplace culture, mission and strategy, and external ecosystem in...
moreThe discipline of enterprise architecture (EA) seeks to generate alignment between an organization’s electronic information systems, human resources, business processes, workplace culture, mission and strategy, and external ecosystem in order to increase the organization’s ability to manage complexity, resolve internal conflicts, and adapt proactively to environmental change. In this text, an introduction to the definition, history, organizational role, objectives, benefits, mechanics, and popular implementations of enterprise architecture is presented. The historical shift from IT-centric to business-centric definitions of EA is reviewed, along with the difference between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ approaches to EA. The unique organizational role of EA is highlighted by comparing it with other management disciplines and practices.
The creation of alignment is explored as the core mechanism by which EA achieves advantageous effects. Different kinds of alignment are defined, the history of EA as a generator of alignment is investigated, and EA’s relative effectiveness at creating different types of alignment is candidly assessed. Attention is given to the key dynamic by which alignment yields deeper integration of an organization’s structures, processes, and systems, which in turn grants the organization greater agility – which itself enhances the organization’s ability to implement rapid and strategically directed change. The types of tasks undertaken by enterprise architects are discussed, and a number of popular enterprise architecture frameworks are highlighted. A generic EA framework is then presented as a means of discussing elements such as architecture domains, building blocks, views, and landscapes that form the core of many EA frameworks. The role of modelling languages in documenting EA plans is also addressed.
In light of enterprise architecture’s strengths as a tool for managing the deployment of innovative forms of IT, it is suggested that by adopting EA initiatives of the sort described here, organizations may better position themselves to address the new social, economic, and operational realities presented by emerging ‘posthumanizing’ technologies such as those relating to social robotics, nanorobotics, artificial life, genetic engineering, neuroprosthetic augmentation, and virtual reality.
