The alignment of business and IT has been a chief management concern for more than two decades. Two recent surveys revealed that it continues to be a top priority for CIOs in 2009. A contributing issue is the lack of functional relationships between business and IT units, complicated by the complexity of the service delivery mechanism. There is also the attitude that a quick application fix, if implemented, will be the magic bullet that solves the problem and increases confidence and collaboration within the business units receiving the IT service.

Irrespective of the business space your organization might be in, you will find that information technology has become an essential and critical component for the success of your organization. Understanding and implementing new solutions aligned with the overall business vision and strategic plans of your organization, while maximizing the return on new investments and fully leveraging existing assets, heavily depends on how well you understand your organization’s entire IT investment portfolio in addition to strategic intents.

Enterprise architecture is a relatively new discipline within IT and even newer within traditional business management paradigms. Studies show that EA wasn’t widely practiced as a formal function by most companies until early 2000 (75 percent of all EA programs are less than six years old¹).

Most people would accept that IT’s track record in estimation is not great. So how can we improve estimation? To improve estimation we need to understand the challenges and life cycle of estimates over the course of a project and what information estimates need to be based on.

Anyone who frequents EA-related conferences, webinars, discussion groups, and other open Q&A forums quickly discovers that there are questions that come up over and over again. Those asking the questions say they cannot find short, easy-to-consume, and direct answers to their questions from traditional research sources such as the Internet. They prefer to get personal answers to their questions and have the opportunity to engage in a discussion that is contextually relevant to their situation.

Today’s enterprises are more than ever forced both to react to environmental changes resulting from a staggering globalized economy and to proactively seek new business opportunities. These aspects demand that an enterprise not only has its business—and IT—functions aligned, but also has incorporated management policies that increase overall flexibility and agility. To enable this enterprise agility, managers must know what their company is good at and which areas retain potential for improvement.

In Business Capability Modeling: Theory and Practice, we introduced a set of techniques for modeling business capabilities: unique combinations of people, business processes, and physical assets that deliver value to customers or shareholders. The business capability model is a useful abstraction that connects business strategy to the future business architecture.

The point of knowledge (POK) is a real place. POK is where elements of know-how for business operations are developed, applied, assessed, and ultimately retired. In other words, POK is where business rules happen. Knowledge is power, so you can also think about POK as point of empowerment.

Over the past decade, companies, government agencies, and academic institutions around the world have made significant investments in enterprise architecture. This move was largely spurred by two factors. The first was the Year 2000 challenge. Faced with the task of modifying program code that relied on a two-digit year field, many systems managers were shocked to find what a poor understanding they and their people had of their organizations’ existing IT applications and data.