Enterprise Architecture Program

Key Initiative Overview

Enterprise Architecture Program

Key Initiative Overview

Richard Buchanan Research Managing Vice President

This overview provides a high-level description of the Enterprise Architecture Program Key Initiative. IT leaders can use this guide to understand what they need to do to prepare for this initiative.

Analysis
Enterprise architecture (EA) is a strategic planning process that translates an enterprises business vision and strategy into effective enterprise change. The EA program institutes a collaborative, shared planning process. EA teams work with business and IT stakeholders to dene a future-state vision in terms of requirements, principles and models. They then compare the future-state vision to the current state, identify gaps and plan investments to ll them. EA is not IT-focused, but business-driven and comprehensive. The future-state vision helps coordinate the analysis ofand develop a plan to harmonizerequired changes in business functions and processes, information and data provisioning, technology capabilities and application solutions. An effective EA program will help align IT investments with long-term strategy, reduce risk, deliver higher-quality information and engineer adaptive solutions and technical services.

Consider these factors to determine your readiness

EA planners must charter the program and ensure that senior leaders support it. They must also establish program milestones, plan ongoing renements and devise strategies to tackle hurdles such as how to: Assess EA program maturity, and improve it. Dene EA in a useful way. Explain the business benets of the EA program. Gain credibility and build momentum by picking low-hanging fruit projects. Use EA to improve the quality of information for decision making.

Conduct your enterprise architecture program in six phases

Gartner recommends that chief architects and their teams establish and evolve the EA program using six major phases. The phases may vary depending on the problems you are trying to solve and the decisions you are trying to make: Strategize and plan: Gain agreement on the major problems to be solved; charter the EA program; and develop a future-state description comprising the requirements, principles and models. Assess current state: Identify your current level of strategic and EA maturity; gather existing documents that describe your business and technology capabilities, practices, formal process models, data and systems. Assess competencies: Identify budgetary, stafng and other requirements to prepare the business for the analysis of strategy. Review the established budgeting mechanisms and processes used in the business and strategic-planning organizations, and consider rening them. Gain approval: Leveraging the charter from phase one, provide business and IT executives with a formal plan, and bring business and IT experts together for a shared strategic-planning exercise. Develop the requirements, and assess the results. Implement: Analyze the ndings from strategic-planning and EA efforts to prioritize the gaps to be lled. Develop investment plans using business cases that emerged from EA efforts. Present the ndings to stakeholders and leaders to get investment plans approved. Operate and evolve: Improve and rene your efforts. Over time, the future state will be articulated in greater detail. gartner.com/ea
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Enterprise Architecture Program

Key Initiative Overview

Read More From Gartner About Enterprise Architecture Programs

The following is just a sampling of the research and tools Gartner clients have access to every day.

Strategize and plan

The CFOs Essential Guide to Enterprise Architecture ID: G00167209 CFO concerns and enterprise architecture issues align in many areas, but a lack of dialogue between the two parties often prevents the synthesis of results. Enterprise architects and CFOs will nd a morecollaborative relationship to be mutually benecial. Five Best Practices for Building the Enterprise Architecture Team ID: G00164979 One of the greatest challenges faced by chief architects is to facilitate, engage, inspire and coordinate people from across the enterprise to work as a team. Failure in this critical activity can doom an EA initiative. Enterprise Architecture Research Index: Integrating Enterprise Architecture With Business Strategy ID: G00166041 This research index presents Gartners considerable published research on improving the business strategy alignment of enterprise architecture work, with specic focus on the business context and common requirements vision denition.

Assess current state

Five Questions the CIO Should Be Asking About Enterprise Architecture ID: G00167384 In the current economic climate, an effective enterprise architecture program is a necessity, not a luxury. These ve questions will help CIOs ensure that the EA initiative is on track to deliver business value. Toolkit: Basic Enterprise Architecture Metrics ID: G00146170 This sample template shows how a retail bank captured and organized the metrics it used to communicate enterprise architecture compliance and effectiveness. Toolkit: Business Issues for EA and Your Enterprise Personality Assessment ID: G00170393 This tool uses the Gartner Enterprise Personality Prole to provide guidance on critical enterprise architecture issues. Factoring organizational culture into the guidance increases the chances of EA success.

gartner.com/ea
2010 Gartner, Inc. and/or its afliates. All rights reserved. Gartner is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. or its afliates. For more information, e-mail [email protected] or visit gartner.com. EUKEINEAPROVRW012110

Enterprise Architecture Program

Key Initiative Overview

Assess competencies
Enterprise Architecture Research Index: Enterprise Architecture Case Studies ID: G00165931 Case studies can be extremely useful in understanding how research is applied and best practices are implemented in reality. Thirteen Worst Enterprise Architecture Practices ID: G00164424 To keep EA efforts on the path toward success, it is as important for EA teams to understand the worst practices as it is the best practices for supporting EA. We outline some of the worst practices and provide action for how clients can avoid these situations. Pattern-Based Strategy Will Have a Profound Impact on the Practice of EA ID: G00169889 Pattern-Based Strategy will change the scope, focus and mind-set of enterprise architects.

Gain approval
What the C-Suite Needs to Know About EA, and What the EA Team Needs to Know About the C-Suite ID: G00167784 Enterprise architecture is a powerful tool for business leaders. A best-in-class EA program is an invaluable tool to drive efciency and cost optimization in the enterprise, as well as to ensure that investment drives future growth. This research collection explains why. Five Ways CIOs Can Use Enterprise Architecture to Increase the Business Relevance of IT ID: G00167455 CIOs are under increased pressure from business leaders to show the business relevance and value of IT. Leading CIOs are using the EA process as a key to transforming IT and addressing this challenge. Why Do Enterprise Architecture? ID: G00167677 Many EA stakeholders keep asking, Why are we doing EA? This research provides simple answers for effectively communicating EAs purpose and value to different constituencies in IT and the business.

Implement
Enterprise Architecture Research Index: Enterprise Solution Architecture ID: G00165990 Gartner has published considerable research on enterprise solution architecture. This research index presents a simple way to understand and then navigate as needed to the research that is focused on more-specic ESA issues. EA and ITIL: The Business Architecture of IT ID: G00170791 Enterprise architecture and Information Technology Infrastructure Library efforts often seem disconnected; however, when they are well-integrated, they become more effective at improving IT and the enterprise. Chiquita Brands: Synchronizing the Supply Chain at Speed ID: G00167008 Chiquita Brands is a leading international marketer and distributor of fresh fruits, vegetables and other food products. The company has 26,000 full-time employees with 2007 revenue of $4 billion. Chiquita is investing in developing value-added products, expanding consumption and driving growth in higher-margin distribution channels and protable geographies. The company operates several supply chains focused on bananas, salads, healthy snacks and other foods gartner.com/ea
2010 Gartner, Inc. and/or its afliates. All rights reserved. Gartner is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. or its afliates. For more information, e-mail [email protected] or visit gartner.com. EUKEINEAPROVRW012110

Enterprise Architecture Program

Key Initiative Overview

Operate and evolve

Predicts 2010: Major Changes in Store for Enterprise Architecture ID: G00172857 Accelerating rates of change will have a profound impact on traditional enterprise architecture, as stakeholder interests become more divisive, interdependencies more complex and behaviors more chaotic. These trends are reected in our EA predictions for 2010 and beyond. Enterprise Architecture Research Index: Enterprise Architecture Performance Management ID: G00165845 Measuring the impact of enterprise architecture is critical. This research index provides links to Gartner research on EA performance management that will help architects determine the right metrics program that will measure the impact of EA and demonstrate the value of EA investments. Using Benchmarking to Drive EA Progress ID: G00167460 Enterprise architects may receive resistance when moving from the conceptual to the logical future state because it is time-consuming and implies change. Benchmarking can be used to cost-justify progressing with enterprise architecture.

gartner.com/ea
2010 Gartner, Inc. and/or its afliates. All rights reserved. Gartner is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. or its afliates. For more information, e-mail [email protected] or visit gartner.com. EUKEINEAPROVRW012110

Key Initiative Overview

Strategic Insights on Key Initiatives

All your initiatives are important, but some are mission-critical. Key Initiatives organize the vast Gartner resources around the projects and programs at the top of your list, helping you achieve demonstrable business results efciently and cost-effectively. Our 650 analysts engage in 260,000 one-to-one interactions each year with 60,000 clients from 10,000 organizations worldwide. Every day, clients tell us what they do to support their key decisions and processes for the initiatives that matter most to them. We apply that knowledge to deliver targeted insight and valuable tools just in time, from strategic planning through implementation and benets realization. Our solutions evolve with our clients changing needs, but our commitment to quality never changes. Key Initiatives address signicant business opportunities and threats, and typically have dened objectives, substantial nancial implications, and high organizational visibility. They can involve multiple projects, but are typically implemented by a designated team with clear roles and responsibilities, and dened performance objectives. Its our solemn mission to guide your key decisions and processes so you achieve the highest possible returns at the lowest possible risk. So which initiatives will make or break you this year? Dont worry, weve got you covered.

Key Initiatives
Application Development Application Governance Application Integration Application Overhaul BPM Technology and Tools Business Continuity Management Business Intelligence Competency Center Business Process Program Management Cloud Computing Compliance Corporate Performance Management CRM Customer Experience Management Data Center Modernization and Consolidation Data Management and Integration Maturity Enterprise Architecture Program Enterprise Architecture Stakeholder Engagement Enterprise Social Software ERP Identity and Access Management Information Governance Infrastructure Application and Data Protection Information Security Program Management IT Cost Optimization IT Governance ITIL and Process Improvement IT Risk Management Master Data Management Microsoft Windows 7 and Ofce Mobile Enterprise Strategy Negotiating Vendor Contracts Outsourcing PMO Portal Strategy SharePoint for ECM SOA and Application Architecture Strategic Planning Supply Chain Management Vendor Management Virtualization VoIP, Unied Communications and Collaboration

Three ways to learn more about how Gartner can help you move your Key Initiatives forward: Contact your account executive. Attend a webinar: View additional resources: gartner.com/webinars. gartner.com/ea.

2010 Gartner, Inc. and/or its afliates. All rights reserved. Gartner is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. or its afliates. For more information, e-mail [email protected] or visit gartner.com. EUKEINEAPROVRW012110