The latest from Architecture and Governance magazine

Driving Business Value through IT Investment Portfolio Management

A-G Magazine — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 16:21:53 -0600

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.

Business Capability Maps: The Missing Link Between Business Strategy and IT Action

A-G Magazine — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:46:29 -0500

Business and IT alignment remains a top priority for CIOs and their peers. While many CIOs have made significant progress in gaining a seat at the strategy table, a gap remains in organizing and illuminating executive business thinking in a way that drives consistent understanding throughout the organization. Business capability models are providing many organizations with a new approach to deepen the strategic dialogue between business and IT leaders and increase strategic alignment.

Business Capability Modeling – Perspectives from Around the Web

AG — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:23:46 -0500

In my previous posting on Business Capability Modeling, I synthesized some of the leading perspectives from the analyst community. Since that posting we have also released a podcast with Frank Malta from Merck on their approach to business capability modeling.

I’ve also heard from our community by email and have seen several interesting threads in the blogosphere that I want to share today:

A note from Jan Nilsson Manager EA, RGDS

Business Capability Maps: The Missing Link Between Business Strategy and IT Action

A-G Magazine — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:46:29 -0500

Bringing IT Governance From Theory to Action

A-G Magazine — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:14:06 -0500

Sometimes it feels like a question of fairness. Even as technology has simplified and become almost invisible to most audiences, the complexity of maintaining technology is reaching a breaking point for information technology (IT) organizations. While digital sales and marketing channels proliferate and increase a company’s dependency on technology, little time is invested between the lines of business and IT to communicate corporate goals and how technology can support these goals.

Business Capability Modeling – Perspectives from Around the Web

AG — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:23:46 -0500

I’ve also heard from our community by email and have seen several interesting threads in the blogosphere that I want to share today:

A note from Jan Nilsson Manager EA, RGDS

Business Capability Modeling – Perspectives from Around the Web

AG — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:23:46 -0500

I’ve also heard from our community by email and have seen several interesting threads in the blogosphere that I want to share today:

A note from Jan Nilsson Manager EA, RGDS

Enterprise Architecture and the Elegant Enterprise

A-G Magazine — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:00:00 -0500

First, let us agree on the meanings of our terms. We see enterprise architecture (EA) as a scientific sub-discipline both of computer science and business management. The twice mentioned word “science” here emphasizes our certainty that EA is an exact discipline able to produce precise approaches and solutions. We also see computer science as the underlying scientific discipline that governs the progress of IT as an industry.

Strategic IT Planning Comes of Age - New Forrester Analysis

A-G Magazine — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:18:52 -0500

Since the turn of the decade, forward-thinking executives and technologists have pondered how to use enterprise architecture and IT planning processes to drive enterprise strategy. This has not been an easy road.

In the run up to the dot-com bubble, IT organizations went on a spending binge. Most companies purchased technologies without proper due diligence or strategic planning. By 2000, CIOs had a larger share of the enterprise budget than ever before.

Business Capability Modeling Primer - Part 1

AG — Sun, 31 May 2009 23:19:12 -0500

Recently, I had the chance to talk with Frank Malta, the Chief Architect of drug manuacturer Merck. Frank’s EA team has been eagerly pursuing a vision of enterprise wide business capability modeling for a number of years and has generated quite a bit of success.

EA for Everybody!

A-G Magazine — Mon, 04 May 2009 08:45:00 -0500

During my tenure as editor-in-chief of A&G, I am fortunate to have been exposed to many interesting perspectives on EA written by our contributing authors. In my time as an EA coach, I also have had the pleasure of working with a diverse collection of private and public sector organizations with active EA programs. These two viewpoints afford me the unique opportunity to analyze both what experts are saying about EA as well as how organizations are actually doing EA. Not surprisingly, these two perspectives don’t often align.

Does SOA Really Matter?

A-G Magazine — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:06:00 -0500

There has been no shortage of articles and blogs recently talking about the lack of success that companies are having with service-oriented architecture (SOA). While many people have seen the technology adoption curves from Gartner that show that all new technologies go through a “trough of disillusionment,” it still doesn’t prevent many people from proclaiming that all of the hype was unjustified and asking the question, “Does SOA really matter?”

The Semantic Web and Enterprise Architecture

AG — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 21:16:09 -0500

Over the past 7 years (deeply enmeshed in the world of enterprise architecture) I have never had a conversation with an architect or IT strategist about the concept of the Semantic Web.

However, through the research I do for SciVestor, I have begun to spend time with companies that provide semantic technologies as both consumer solutions and, in a few cases, to enterprises for metadata and information management.

The Semantic Web and Enterprise Architecture

AG — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 21:16:09 -0500

Over the past 7 years (deeply enmeshed in the world of enterprise architecture) I have never had a conversation with an architect or IT strategist about the concept of the Semantic Web.

Opening Thoughts - Architecting the Future

A-G Magazine — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:08:00 -0500

I was sitting at home watching TV the other evening when a commercial came on the screen that blew me way. It depicted the life and times of an old gas station, sitting at the foot of snow-capped mountains—an American outpost where the prairie meets the Rockies. As the time-lapse images progressed over the next minute, the station was demolished and rebuilt at least four times in those sixty seconds, each bringing us closer to a picture of the 21st century oil economy. And then the most unexpected thing happened.

Enterprise Architecture: A Maturity Model Based on Benefits Realization

A-G Magazine — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:05:00 -0500

Building a city without a plan will likely result in confusion, increased expenditures, and sub-optimal results. Similarly, in order to build an effective and efficient IT plan across an agency or multiple government agencies, it is critical to develop a master plan. This master plan is called enterprise architecture (EA).

The Semantic Web and Enterprise Architecture

AG — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 21:16:09 -0500

Over the past 7 years (deeply enmeshed in the world of enterprise architecture) I have never had a conversation with an architect or IT strategist about the concept of the Semantic Web.

Guest Post: Greed, Fear, and Enterprise Architecture

AG — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 09:22:44 -0500

Perspective from guest blogger Andy Blumenthal

With the financial markets tumbling daily now, Greenspan calling it a once in a century phenomenon (an allusion to the Great Depression) and big corporate names going belly up or begging for government bailout or private sector white knights, I think it is worthwhile to look at how our mega-enterprises got to this point and what lesson we can take away as enterprise architects.

Opening Thoughts - Tackling the Topics That Are Important to You

A-G Magazine — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 10:09:00 -0500

It’s hard for me to believe that the magazine we started two years ago to educate and popularize new concepts for aligning IT strategies with business demands has grown to a circulation of twelve thousand subscribers and has become a voice of confidence for many emerging enterprise architecture and governance programs. But with this issue, I believe we have accomplished that and more. I am pleased to announce that Architecture and Governance magazine has garnered another strong endorsement of our vision with our new partnership with Gartner.

Business Capability Modeling: Building the Hierarchy

A-G Magazine — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:24:13 -0600

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.