What is Enterprise Architecture? Set of models Describe the technical implementation of an organization’s business strategy and business processes “Form ever follows function” Relationship between an organization’s form and the customers’ need for functionality Key role of managers Ensure that the proper architecture is designed and built Information Technology for Managers

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Why Is Enterprise Architecture Important? Provides the overall foundation for achieving an organization’s strategic vision Must be in a state of constant evolution To meet changing business requirements Enables managers to: Increase employees’ effectiveness by enabling high-order thinking Develop new value propositions of interest to customers Information Technology for Managers

Enabling High-Order Thinking Organization’s employees must be able to transition from routine execution of daily tasks to high-order thinking Ability to innovate Vital for adapting to the new global economy Problem with staying too close to customers Sometimes they cannot tell you what they really want Information Technology for Managers

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Developing New Value Propositions Provide a clear statement of the tangible benefits that a customer obtains from using a company’s products or services Organizations use technology to provide value propositions to external and internal customers Result of enterprise architecture Provide a solid foundation for both internal and external customers Information Technology for Managers

Software Architecture Styles Includes multiple styles of computing Categories Centralized and distributed Almost all new software applications are built using the distributed model Information Technology for Managers

Software Architecture Styles (continued) Information Technology for Managers

Centralized Architecture Based on the use of a mainframe computer Supports a variety of local and remote devices Maintains tight control over the software applications that run on it Difficult to add incremental amounts of mainframe computing capacity to handle increased demands Used frequently to process high volumes of transactions Information Technology for Managers

Distributed Architecture “The Network is the Computer” Processing functions and data can reside anywhere on the network or the commercial Internet Distributed applications Share the processing, formatting, presentation, and storage functions across clients and servers Processing capacity is much more scalable Information Technology for Managers

Client/Server Architecture Type of distributed architecture General-purpose model of network computing Client/server system Client requests information from a server and the server performs a database request to the database server Client/server architecture Provides for a separation of responsibilities Enables the application to be organized in layers Information Technology for Managers

Client/Server Architecture (continued) Information Technology for Managers

Client/Server Architecture (continued) Information Technology for Managers

Service-Oriented Architecture Software application development approach based on building user applications out of software services Software service Unit of work developed by a service provider to achieve desired results for a service consumer Well-defined set of rules or protocols Describe how one or more services can “talk” to each other Information Technology for Managers

Service-Oriented Architecture (continued) Use SOA to build a comprehensive set of services Business managers and IT people must define the services to be offered Design how to link and sequence the necessary services Process is sometimes called orchestration Advantages of SOA Ability to respond to unanticipated changes in the business environment Services can be implemented and made available gradually Information Technology for Managers

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A Manager Takes Charge: American Modern Converts to Service-Oriented Architecture American Modern Insurance Group Patrick Law Vice President of Infrastructure Project to replace the insurer’s casualty policy administration system Concentrated on choosing the right technology components required to make everything work Then trained employees to use these new tools Information Technology for Managers

Developing an Enterprise Architecture Unified Modeling Language (UML) Language for specifying, constructing, visualizing, and documenting the artifacts of a software-intensive system Enables system builders and users to work well together Each organization needs to develop its own approach to realizing enterprise architecture Information Technology for Managers

The Boeing Story Wright Brothers Boeing story Cohesion Designed the capability to navigate an airplane using three controls simultaneously Boeing story Representative of both risk-taking and innovation in the new global economy Cohesion Measure of how strongly related and focused the various responsibilities of a software or hardware component are Information Technology for Managers

The Boeing Story (continued) Coupling Measure of the degree to which each software and hardware component relies on other modules to perform its function Ideal component Highly cohesive and has low coupling Information Technology for Managers

Business Processes Enterprise architecture Enables the implementation of a set of digitized business processes Commonality of business processes across business units Determines a set of potential repetitive patterns that add value if digitized Information Technology for Managers

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Process for Developing an Enterprise Architecture Clinger/Cohen act Gave the Office of Management and Budget the authority to dictate standards for “developing, maintaining, and facilitating the implementation” of an enterprise architecture Several organizations within the U.S. government have been audited Information Technology for Managers

Process for Developing an Enterprise Architecture (continued) Numerous approaches exist for creating and documenting an enterprise architecture Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) Divides enterprise architecture into four components Process involves nine steps Once an architecture is defined for one area, the process can move on to other business areas Process of defining the enterprise architecture is never really finished Information Technology for Managers

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Summary Enterprise architecture Service-oriented architectural style Enables routine business tasks to be handled smoothly, efficiently, and reliably Frees up managers to perform high-order thinking Service-oriented architectural style Set of standard reusable and extensible building blocks known as services If the enterprise architecture is built thoughtfully Deal with inevitable changes by reassembling the building blocks Information Technology for Managers