Enterprise Architecture Helps Managing Change by Connecting Business and IT
1/27/2011 7:26 AM EST
Enterprise Architecture Helps Managing Change by Connecting Business and IT
Helsinki, 2011-01-27 13:26 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Enterprise Architecture
Helps Managing Change by Connecting Business and IT
Organizations of today must decide how to respond to the multitude of
challenges they face. The only permanent things are change and the need to
address it. This is best addressed by Enterprise Architecture that creates a
holistic view of processes, information, applications, and technology. QPR's
Enterprise Architecture solution offers a coherent method of modeling and
needed software.
With the help of Enterprise Architecture, organizations are understood and
managed as a whole. With Enterprise Architecture work, organizations can
identify and interconnect their objectives, processes, process information, and
information systems and their technology platforms.
“Enterprise Architecture is a management discipline for making decisions
regarding the organization and its architecture. Once the sum of the
organization's parts is understood, the organization can be strengthened in
innovativeness, growth, competitive advantage, and in the ability to produce
added value”, says leading Enterprise Architecture expert Jaap Schekkerman.
Schekkerman is the founder and leader of the Dutch Institute for Enterprise
Architecture Developments (IFEAD). In addition to this, he lectures about
combining Enterprise Architecture and Service-Oriented Architecture in a
Master's Program at Technical University Delft. In January, Schekkerman
keynoted an Enterprise Architecture customer event arranged by QPR Software.
QPR has strengthened its Enterprise Architecture consultancy business by
organizing it as a separate function and hiring talent from outside the
company.
As with all management initiatives, there are also several approaches to
Enterprise Architecture. According to information technology research and
advisory company Gartner, the correct choice is determined by business, the
business landscape and matters of preference.
“The chosen approach is always affected by the business landscape, organization
members, internal policies, vision, and experience. Regardless of the approach,
Enterprise Architecture must always support change. The key to success is to
create an architectural model that best supports future demands and not just
those of the present moment”, Schekkerman concurs.
“We in QPR believe that systematical and iterative development methods, such as
TOGAF, combined with the Archimate notation best serve process and services
oriented Enterprise Architecture. With the help of this combination it is
possible to build a link between the business and the IT landscape”, says Miika
Nurminen, Director of Enterprise Architecture services at QPR Software.
According to Jaap Schekkerman's findings business centricity strengthens its
role as the leading approach to Enterprise Architecture.
“One could say that business is information technology is business. That is to
say that business is dependent on information technology, and that without the
latter there is no former”, Schekkerman summarizes and continues: “To succeed
in Enterprise Architecture, one must understand business requirements and
translate them into the language of information technology. The best way to get
support for execution is to show the benefits of solving tangible business
problems by means of architecture.”
In order for the Enterprise Architecture undertaking to produce added value,
its results must be usable and measurable. The architectural process in itself
should be productive and pragmatic. To ensure that it is not made obsolete by
changes in business, the planning phase should be short, lasting at most a few
months.
“Enterprise Architecture services provided by QPR present the opportunity to
reach through business processes and services without interfering with business
operations”, Nurminen says.
The most commonly achieved benefits of Enterprise Architecture are unified
organizational operations, increased systems compatibility, and improvements in
change management. In addition to this, it is possible to achieve significant
financial gains. This has been studied, among others, in the United States,
where all governmental organizations have been obliged since 2001 to define
their enterprise architecture. One of the studies that comprised eight
undertakings shows that financial gains exceeded costs in eight weeks. Another
study of 75 organizations revealed that the achieved benefits rose to US $670
million, while total cost amounted to only US $170 million.
In Finland, the public sector is generally ahead of the private sector in
architectural matters. Miika Nurminen provides an explanation by the fact that
the public sector operates in longer term using more complex information
systems. When visiting Finnish organizations, Schekkerman has observed that
enterprises focus mostly on future objectives and neglect the architectural
present state. Schekkerman wonders how organizations can reach their goals if
they do not know where they are right now.
“The point is not in doing modeling for the sake of modeling. Instead one
should choose what needs to be improved during a certain architectural
development cycle. Only this way one is able to assess how large a change is
needed”, Miika Nurminen confirms.
About QPR Software
QPR Software Plc offers the best services and software for developing business
processes and enterprise architecture. QPR has more than 1,500 private and
public sector customers across the globe in more than 50 countries. QPR's
shares are listed on the NASDAQOMX Helsinki Ltd.
QPR - Quality. Processes. Results. www.qpr.com
For more information, please contact at QPR Software Plc:
Miika Nurminen, Director, Enterprise architecture service
Email: miika.nurminen[at]qpr.com
Phone: +358 40 5031 982
More about QPR EA Services at:
www.qpr.com/services/qpr-enterprise-architecture-consultancy.htm