It is my observation that there are no true standards regarding business architecture. Ask any three Business Architects and they will likely agree conceptually on the components that make up business architecture. However, you will get three very different descriptions of how to develop and integrate those components.
There are many techniques available for developing business architecture; and a good Business Architect can adapt just about any set of methods to do so.
Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) looks and sounds very technical. “Architecture” most certainly sounds very specialized. Anything “-Oriented” ranks right up there with “framework” as being steeped in mystery. And what’s a “Service?” It took the business community long enough to figure out what a process was. Now we’re supposed to know what a service is! No wonder SOA has been and still is an IT-driven initiative.
But should it be? IT is certainly involved; someone has to establish the infrastructure. However, should IT decide what services to develop and when?
“Governance.” Mention the word and it elicits a different definition from each person that hears it. Mention governance with regard to the public sector and the first thing that comes to my mind, right or wrong, is bureaucracy.
Considering the forum in which this article is published, I think it is safe to say that anyone reading it already knows the value of Business Architecture. I hope we also share the opinion that the IT Architecture is secondary to the Business Architecture: the business is the driver, not IT.
That is nice theory, but it hasn’t been reality for quite some time. New technology trends emerge, people with an eye for technology see the benefits, and they sell the idea of implementing the new technology based on those benefits.
Business Architecture is not an intuitively obvious concept. It does not conjure up an immediate vision of what it is, or what it comprises. With this inherent disadvantage – the business can’t articulate it easily – how can it be used to align IT with the business?
Business Architecture includes three components: the Functional Architecture, the Process Architecture and the Information Architecture. There are well documented methodologies for developing each component.
Most organizations routinely overlook Business Architecture. Those organizations that do consider it seem to think of Business Architecture as something distinct and separate from Enterprise Architecture. It is not.
Enterprise Architecture is not about technology; it is about the enterprise—the whole enterprise. It is about the people: internal and external. It is about the business processes: strategic, core and support. And, it is about the technology that supports the people and enables the business.
Everyone starts here.
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