An Enterprise Information Architecture (EIA) helps describe/depict the current and future state architecture to support the path necessary to achieve effective changes within the enterprise network. EIA uses governance to define a set of requirements, principles, and models to allow organizations to better share and exchange enterprise information. EIA provides a holistic view to support to information structure, assets and flow of data throughout the enterprise network, allowing for integration of key systems and components of the enterprise. When implemented properly, EIA is going to help transform organization to support future state business strategy and objectives.
5 Steps to Develop EIA within your organization:
- Define the organizations scope and mission – Identifying the businesses goals/objectives and values is essential to provide shared vision and understanding across the organization internally and externally. This step will help align business, information, and technical architectures to later define the road map and indicators to measures success for developing EIA frameworks.
- Identify stakeholders and their responsibilities – Identifying key players and communicating the implementation plan is important for the purpose of buy-in and support. The executive/stakeholder buy-in and support is a crucial part to help make informed decisions that assist with the development of current and future architecture views and support EIA initiatives.
- Establish EIA Governance – The architecture oversight or governance enables effective policy, planning, and decision making within the EIA efforts, linking such processes as strategic planning, project management, security, and workforce planning. Using defined information sharing practices, used within tools and language will ensure consistency and create a shared understanding between all stakeholders throughout the enterprise network.
- Determine current state and future state EIA – In order to create a road map that will define success for the organization, you must first understand the current state and future state objectives for business architecture. Both states define a moment in time that represents the organizations position. Using both viewpoints or models can help EIA initiatives by identify gaps and resources to support the development of a transitional road map to achieve success.
- Develop Transition Roadmap – The transition roadmap is used to describe how an enterprise will manage the transition of its current processes and resources to those in the future view, documenting the enterprise’s performance gaps, resources requirements, planned solutions, and a summary of the current and future architecture. This phase will determine business priorities to support business growth and improvement opportunities.
Once these initial steps are taken, organizations can start to implement EIA Initiatives. As with any process, conducting evaluations and audit will be important to continue growth and improvement. The implementation will also focus on the established information/data, using data analytics to inform and guide decision making processes.
To the audience: What would you suggest differently or change about the steps?
Reference:
Gartner. (2007). Ten Steps to Build an Agile Information Architecture. Gartner.
Garnter. (n.d.). How to Develop an Enterprise Information Architecture [GARTNER FOR IT LEADERS TOOLKIT]. Gartner. https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2277059/pages/l03-readings-general?module_item_id=38409528
Monnappa, A. (2017). How to successfully plan your Enterprise Architecture. Simplilearn.com. https://www.simplilearn.com/how-to-successfully-plan-enterprise-architecture-article
Thanks for the post! I found this insightful. Reading the sections reading I was a little lost but giving this concise description helps. Getting the EIA right will impact the organization in so many ways. Getting the data management sorted out will free up resources to work on those future state items or big new shinny projects.
Thank you for sharing your insightful blog post on developing an Enterprise Information Architecture. Your blog post gives a great overview of the steps involved and highlights the significance that Enterprise Information Architecture has in supporting effective changes within the enterprise network.
Reading through your blog post I thought you laid out the “Five-Step Framework” very well. It is well-structured and covers essential aspects. I believe that the initial step of defining the organization’s scope and mission is crucial for establishing a shared vision across the organization because it sets the foundation for aligning business, information, and technical architectures as well as providing a roadmap for indicators that measure the success in Enterprise Information Architecture development.
I particularly agree with your emphasis on identifying stakeholders and involving them in the implementation plan. I can’t tell you enough how important (in my experience) obtaining buy-in and support from key players (including executives!!!) is. It’s vital for informed decision-making and ensuring the successful development of current and future architecture views that support Enterprise Information Architecture initiatives.
Thank you for your blog post! I look forward to reading more in the future!