Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM)
Fundamentals and relevance of enterprise architecture management (EAM)
Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM) describes the interaction between IT and business activities in companies or public organisations from a holistic and rather abstract perspective.
The term is constantly evolving and today also includes topics such as change management, corporate culture and personnel development.
Architectures in the following areas are considered important areas of EAM:
- Business processes
- Information and data
- applications
- technologies
EAM creates transparent interaction between IT and business activities
The Zachman Framework, published in 1987, is considered to be the origin of enterprise architectures. However, over fifty such frameworks now exist, including such well-known ones as TOGAF (1995, Open Group) and the NATO Architecture Framework.
These frameworks support the enterprise architecture and either focus on structuring (description) or development.
Suitable tools for EAM are also important in order to be able to create and manage models. There are very specialised tools or tools such as Enterprise Architect that are very open and offer great opportunities for more comprehensive modelling initiatives.
Companies benefit from these advantages when modelling their enterprise architecture:
Overall representation of the company through a holistic view and visualisation of interrelationships
Strategic alignment of IT with corporate goals and thus a central basis for decision-making
Improved communication through a common language and better understanding of IT and business unit
Improved governance and compliance through standardisation and adherence to regulations
Increased agility and adaptability to change through model-based scenario analysis
Optimisation of resources and investments through model-based analyses and faster improvement of business processes
Simplified innovation and transformation through model-based experiments with new technologies and business models
EAM with Enterprise Architect
The Enterprise Architect modelling tool offers a wide range of advanced functions for the Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM) application area. These include framework-based architecture modelling as well as features for publishing and collaboration.
Comprehensive standards-based modelling
Create architectural models in a collaborative way
Design and visualise architectural views based on frameworks and standards
Overall support for important frameworks such as ArchiMate, BPMN, Labnaf, TOGAF, FEAF, DODAF, MODAF, etc.
Seamless integration with business tools
Create a consolidated view of information from different tools
Harness the power of RestAPI to seamlessly integrate and exchange data from external systems and ensure that architecture data is synchronised with the overarching tools
Involve key stakeholders by publishing model information in enterprise knowledge management portals such as Confluence or SharePoint.
Manage your architecture inventory
Central repository of skills, applications, services or technology components with all important attributes and dependencies
Filter, split and slice the artefacts you are interested in and analyse them in detail
Update architecture information with granular, role-specific views tailored to your specific needs and responsibilities.
Design tailor-made views
Customisable dashboards help answer important business questions
Capability Hierarchy Map
Capability Application Map
TIME-Methodik (Tolerate, Invest, Migrate, Eliminate) by Gartner
Get an overview of data flows and dependencies between applications through provided and utilised interfaces.
Predefined reports that help analyse costs, business owners, security classification, data classification and much more
Visualisation for analysis and collaboration
Create meaningful visualisations of complex architectural information to support collaboration and due diligence.
Intuitive, role-specific dashboards to answer specific business queries from stakeholders and decision-makers
Ability to slice and dice data and apply heatmaps based on different data attributes
Seamless transitions from reports to inventories and diagrams for analysing model information
Accellerators for EAM
Application Portfolio Management (APM)
A centralised and managed inventory of applications provides clarity about:
Responsible stakeholders
Operating costs
Technologies
Data classification
Security risk and other key attributes
Use The Essential Architecture (TEA) Toolkit, which is based on best practices.
Business Capability Management (BCM)
Align your business strategy and objectives with the capabilities, applications and supporting technologies to optimise your IT investments and achieve the desired business goals.
Here you will find practical use cases from our customers:
NATO nations and partners use Enterprise Architect
The Collective: Models for public infrastructure
Belgian railway relies on Enterprise Architect
KBC Group uses Sparx Enterprise Architect for architecture modelling
Nictiz builds a reference architecture for hospitals with Enterprise Architect
FAQs on enterprise architecture
What is enterprise architecture?
The IT enterprise architecture maps the interaction between IT and a company’s business activities. It differs from software architecture, for example, in its holistic and more abstract view. It is based on the corporate or IT strategy, which is further detailed in the development of the enterprise architecture.
Who uses enterprise architecture?
The IT enterprise architecture is used in companies by everyone involved in the strategic connection between IT and business activities. This therefore concerns the IT department as well as the management and specialist departments within the company.
Ultimately, the aim is to ensure that all departments are optimally supported by IT and that changes in business activities are quickly mapped in IT. In addition to companies, public institutions and the military also utilise the concepts of enterprise architecture.
What are the core components of enterprise architecture?
The following architecture areas are usually referred to as the core of the IT enterprise architecture:
- Business architecture: This is where the company’s business processes and objects are mapped
- Data architecture: This describes the data that is used as part of the business processes
- Information architecture: This represents information and its user groups (categorised according to different information requirements)
- Application architecture (often also referred to as software architecture): This documents the applications that are used as part of the business processes
- Technology architecture: This describes the elements of the IT infrastructure
What are the different jobs in the field of enterprise architecture?
Depending on the size of the company or organisation, the roles involved in creating the IT enterprise architecture are divided up differently. All jobs are ultimately about linking business activities as closely as possible with IT and optimising them further and further.
Well-known roles include
- IT architect: In this role, you are responsible for the development and implementation of a company’s IT strategy
- Enterprise Architect: The Enterprise Architect takes a holistic view of the IT landscape and combines business processes with IT
- Cloud Solutions Architect: In this role, you will be responsible for designing cloud infrastructures and services
- Software Architect: In this job, you design software application structures and select suitable technologies and frameworks, for example
- System architect: In this role, you take care of the entire IT infrastructure and ensure that all parts work well together
- IT service architect: This architect focuses on the provision of IT services. They design service catalogues, processes and service level agreements (SLAs).
- Data architect: This professional field is all about data and data flows
- Security Architect: Here you develop security strategies and guidelines to protect IT systems from attacks.
