Applying Enterprise Business Architecture

Why should my company or those companies I support apply an enterprise business architecture?

This workshop offers topics related to enterprise-wide analysis while drilling down into the business architecture. There are many key benefits for focusing on the business architecture, including that it:

• Decreases costs of business analysis activities for projects
• Decreases scope gaps and portfolio management conflicts
• Improves business decision making and the visibility of business process opportunities
• Assures alignment of technology to business valued processes
• Improves communications
• Shortens time for business transformations
• Reduces technology investment risks
• Assists in requirements tracking
• Increases reusability of assets

How might this workshop help me if I don't have a company that is implementing an enterprise business architecture?

The business architecture has many components and artifacts. They might not all be applicable to every enterprise. The techniques and tools that you will apply in the workshop can be tailored to your specific company's environment. The key is to gain a "good enough" understanding so that you can communicate the benefits of relevant business architecture components and artifacts and know which will provide the biggest business value.

Many of these initiatives will take years to implement while changing the enterprise paradigm to effectively utilize the result. Managers tend to be assigned to these initiatives without the knowledge or skills to make them successful. Be ready for these enterprise initiatives! Assure business value when transitioning from strategy to tactical. Participants will learn to identify the best approach to use based on initiative characteristics and business strategies.

• Strategically advise both business and technology organizations
• Leverage architectural models to bridge business units and technology organizations
• Work with product owners to identify gaps between business capabilities and product roadmaps
• Build a business architecture that meets the needs of your enterprise
• Use techniques and tools to build business architecture components and artifacts
• Define scope of initiatives through the reuse of architectural components
• Identify problems and opportunities using the business architecture
• Justify opportunities and assess feasibility of proposed solutions
• Apply architectural principles to business opportunities
• Capture stakeholder views and business requirements
• Assess solution alternatives
• Assess and present alternative solutions for decision making, buy-in, and approval
• Assist in portfolio management prioritization
• Assure alignment by tracking the opportunity's business value and vision from strategy to implementation
• Communicate the business architecture and present solutions to management

• Business analyst
• Business or functional managers
• Product and process owners
• Program managers or project managers
• Solution architects
• Technical architects (application, infrastructure, or information)