Enabling change in dynamic environments...5 EXECUTIVE PAPER / Architecting Modern Enterprises...
Transcript of Enabling change in dynamic environments...5 EXECUTIVE PAPER / Architecting Modern Enterprises...
By Jazz Badeshia
Enterprise Architect – Practice Director, Consulting UKIE.
Enabling change in dynamic environments
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Enterprise Architects are CXOs ‘Supercharged IT Anthropologists’
We Re-Define Enterprises:
‘… setting strategies for outcome based demand;
delivered back as outcome based demand enriched with capability …’
‘…I always love one of the sayings from our founder, Henry Ford. He said, “A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business,” and so giving back is a very important part, and that’s how you
build trust...’
Mark Fields, CEO of Ford Motor Company, US [1]
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Why are we CXOs / IT Anthropologists?
We understand business dynamics and the interrelationships these business drivers have on individuals, organisations, and environments. We study and help organisations change and adapt over time to realising the positive impact of outcomes enterprises are striving to achieve. We work in ‘5 Dimensions’, business modelling, information relationships, application intent, technology frameworks, and the new Enterprise Architecture dimensional category – SECURITY.
EAs (Enterprise Architects) need to navigate the CIO paradigm, working at the C-
suite level, understanding shareholder value and talking multiple business languages
to transform and architect a new organisation out of the challenges they either creep
into or suddenly fall over board into in a sea of shark attacks.
This white paper looks to introduce a concept
called ‘Architecting Modern Enterprises’, where
I openly greet business outcomes as a
foundation for structuring future direction of
increasing value in organisations. However,
outcomes alone do not change the direction of
organisations. Outcomes need to be
structured, planned and directed, I phrase this
as outcomes delivered to the power of strategy.
The power of strategy shapes organisations
and the skill of the Enterprise Architect can
internalise the outcome to help organisations
structure strategies and deliver roadmaps for
value enhancing capabilities
OUTCOMES: Outcomes stem from changes in the contextual nature of the
industry an organisation operates in, the context of change can be external
or internal to an organisation.
STRATEGY: A Strategic framework is a representation of the context (inner
and outer), focusing of minds, to assist your organisation to follow a course
that resonates with all individuals (context).
DELIVERY: A logical but outcomes focused method to realise strategy and
outcomes for the benefit of the organisation and sometimes the context in
which the organisation operates.
‘Anthropology (noun) study of human beings,
especially their society, customs and beliefs’
‘Anthropologist (noun) a person that studies
anthropology’
Chambers Concise Dictionary & Thesaurus,
Chambers Harrap Publishers, 2001
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OUTCOMES
To truly understand the meaning of outcomes, EAs should think of themselves a little like historians [2], we need to understand how
organisations have evolved and changed over time. A recent experience of mine really brings this to light. A famous retailer covered in the
media throughout the course of 2017, highlighted how their bad practices and behaviours led the organisation into a spiral of negative
branding and consequently negative performance lasting a number of years. The Grocers Conduct Authority (GCA) identifying a number
of malpractices.
Human behaviour is at the root of this impact, and largely the context of
organisations is driven by the human interaction for either the benefit or detriment
of an individual or organisation.
In particular, Andrew Pettigrew learnt from his work at ICI (Imperial Chemical
Industries), ‘recognizing the past, projects the present, toward the future, in a
particular way making some outcomes more likely than others’ [2].
While working in a completely different industry, Association Football, football clubs
are interesting organisations as their outcomes are easily measureable, categorised
into winning the league, league status, winning a domestic trophy, winning
European Trophies. It is this last category that is particularly interesting, Leeds
United in the late 1990s and early 2000s chased European glory as an outcome, but failed spectacularly as they did not understand the
strategy or did not plan for the strategy behind the outcome.
My summarised analysis below highlights [3] the demise of Leeds United
stemmed from their attempt to chase European glory, however, forgot
about domestic stability, in short Leeds United experienced:
Insufficient revenue generating capability, as shown by the large
amounts of unused stadium capacity placing it and other clubs in to
administration
Loss of revenues from relegation, through loss of TV broadcasting
revenue and loss of gate receipts as attendances fell
Excessive wage costs, partly reflecting over-optimistic aspirations
for the club by owners, management and fans
The ensuing on-field demise translated into off-field financial difficulty.
Loans were called in, and Leeds United began their journey to the lower
leagues in terms of both money and position, where they are still 10 years
on struggling to correct years of mismanagement and poor strategic
planning.
The dichotomy of examples I provide here, is to emphasize that no
industry is devoid of needing to understand how to build outcomes in the
correct manner, strategically planning will result in either, ‘rags to riches’
or ‘riches to rags’ stories. Throughout this paper, I will provide some
references to these examples of dichotomy to highlight meaning and purpose.
As I mentioned EAs will need to look at returning outcomes back to organisations with enriched capability (the re-definition effect), much
like improving working capital by x % or increasing service levels by y %. There are multiple ways we would analyse this, going from ‘root
cause analysis’, ‘scenario planning’, ‘business value matrix’ to ‘shareholder value tree’ appreciation.
‘...our strategy is that we have to drive costs
down. The only way I can see ...with a major
impact, is that we build on new technologies and
that we should go into digitisation, which is also
a standardisation process, especially as we are
a very capital-intensive industry…’
Rainer Seele CEO of OMV AG, Austria [1]
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Scenario planning as a technique is all about understanding business
world uncertainties and certainties [4], or as I term it ‘disruption’. In the
case of planning for the future, it is the uncertainties that build the
colourful picture of a plausible scenario and future direction. This can
help organisations build the right growth strategies, EAs will get
organisations thinking around principles like:
Delivering Superior Value
Recognition that no specific advantage is sustainable
Learning and continuous innovation
Building relationships with customers, suppliers, employees
and other stakeholders
Our role as EAs in this phase is to lead an organisation in the following
construct:
1. Stage 1: Setting the Scene – understanding business direction, setting objectives and gaps needing to be filled
2. Stage 2: Determine the Disruption Factors – identification of the uncertain elements derived from a wide range of knowledge
bases aligned to the understanding from Stage 1; this stage is the ‘assessment of disruption’
3. Stage 3: Reducing Disrupting Factors – continuing with the ‘assessment of disruption’, it is required to reduce the numerous
factors down to the dozen (+/-) most important factors, as shown in the example here (factors affecting IT Industry). The process
of deciding which factors are most important is dependent upon two characteristics, which are:
a. Degree of Disruption
b. Degree of Importance to Organisation
The decision processes taken to reduce the multiple factors all help to move the scenarios to ‘outcomes’. An ‘outcome’ will describe a
consistent set of endstates for the industry/organisation; competition, regulation, technology, economic cycles, politics, etc. are all present
in our critical uncertainties, factors critical in determining the correct strategic direction (see section on Strategy). Taking into consideration
the timeline of the planning horizon, along with industry critical metrics, such as market share, margins, customer behaviour, regulatory
intervention, etc. it will be seen how these elements serve as milestones along the way to realising the outcome.
The assessment of uncertainty can be translated into a simpler view, by constructing, a shareholder value tree out of the analysis
performed, which can then drive the basis of setting strategies and objectives of how the business can improve or where it needs to focus
its attention to enhance capabilities, an example is shown below.
Disruption
Import
ance
to O
rga
nis
ation
High
High
Low
Low
1. Mis-consulting laws
2. Terrorism
3. Hacking
4. Mis-consulting advice5. Social Unrest
6. Immigration and
Working laws
7. China/India diversify
into consulting
8. EU expansion
9. UK joins euro
10. UK leaves Euro
11. Economic cycles
12. Global recession
13. Industry
consolidation
14. Price Wars15. Competition
16. IT Spend Cycles
17. Exchange Rates
18. Monopolistic Market
19. Staff shortages
20. Retirement age
increase
21. Consumer
preference
22. Disgruntled employees
23. Cost Conscious
24. Business Practice
Change
25. Health issues
26. Marketing activities
27. New market, new
industries
28. Interaction of teams
29. Working in unstable
countries30. Staff strike
31. Consolidation of
ERP/CRM
32. Best practice role
reversal
33. Hosting
34. Hardware
Improvements
35. Simplified business
processes
36. Increasing
redundancies
37. Decreasing prices
38. Emerging markets
rise
39. Niche players in the
SME market
40. New entrants from
MNCs
41. Resellers enter
consulting
42. Sarbanes Oxley
laws43. Certification of
Consultancy Industry
44. Limiting Foreign project
members
45. Increased auditing
46. Natural disasters
47. Increased air travel
48. Increase in virtual
working
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Understanding the Outcome Economy
My diagram above provides an outlook of aiming to use technology to improve organisations
underlying profit and loss capabilities, a view also shared by PwC[1]. PwC surveyed CEOs and
found they wanted more Technology and more People. Interestingly, 79% believe that Technology
will replace more human activities over the next 5 years, but conversely 67% of the CEOs also want
to increase headcount. CEOs are now focusing on an equation of ‘Technology + Talent equals
Innovation’, in a paradigm of 79% seeing their organisations growing organically and 63% of this
population looking to drive cost reductions much harder. However, CEOs are increasingly struggling
with finding the right resource, the right capability to provide this organic growth, they found the
‘hardest skill to find are those that cannot be performed by machine’. The top five skills importance
where deemed to be:
Problem Solving
Adaptability
Leadership
Creativity and Innovation
Emotional Intelligence
Unsurprisingly these are the most difficult skills to recruit.
Therefore, as EAs we help organisations on their way to understand and plan for this dynamic,
as ‘IT Anthropologists’ we appreciate these business dynamics, the table below provides a
start to structured questioning to how we need to think about Outcomes and Capabilities
KEY QUESTIONS KEY VALUE OUTCOMES KEY VALUE OBJECTIVES
What capability is being developed? Business Definition (Process Domains) Target Operating Model
Transformation Strategies
What benefit(s) does that capability
deliver
Benefits identified and qualified Opportunities and Priorities
Enterprise Roadmap
How will we measure that benefit Benefit enablers documented Current Global and UK Initiatives
Impact of Global on UK
Data and Integration Patterns
How will those benefits be realised KPIs identified with clear linkage to capabilities Initial appreciation of KPIs to Business Value
Outcomes (Drivers)
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STRATEGY
The power behind strategy lies in the leaders that develop and position strategies for the greater good of the organization. We have all
seen the values of Dyson, Branson, Steve Jobs, Stelious et al and how they have shaped not only the economy, which they operate in,
but also the organisations, which have become prominent in the eyes of the world.
Every organisation needs strong leadership and direction to ensure they course their way through the challenging world outside and
maximize the internal operations. The value EAs bring in this space is paramount to turning the power of strategy in true capability enriched
outcomes. The EA ‘IT Anthropology’ behaviours during the strategy cycle of align, assimilate, and adapt, allows EAs to influence and guide
leaders (C-Suite) to ensure organisations develop the correct thinking in driving strategy to improve their bottom line, and more importantly
beat their competition.
Enterprise Architect ‘IT Anthropology’ Behaviours
EAs need to understand the external and internal perspective of any organization which would shape the
leaders thinking in developing the right capabilities, EAs would need to assimilate information and utilise
methodologies such as Lean and Six Sigma in their thinking to talk about the voice of the customer, and
the likes of Gartner to discuss Demand Driven Supply Chains or Customer Centricity, to illustrate the
distances between customers and organisations is now much closer than we think to determine the
appropriate decision making approaches. EAs need to be cognizant of cloud technology advnces and the
rapid response these systems deliver, meaning data needs to be real time and understood fast to be
ahead of the competition. EAs need to adapt to changing technology landscapes in creating flexibility to
achieve set strategies.
In shaping strategies, leaders are 1 or 2 of 10 schools of strategy, but EAs would need to be mindful of all 10 and then determine which
combination would fit the challenges and outcomes ahead. Mintzberg et al in Strategy Safari talk about 10 schools of strategy [4].
‘…Among many other
obligations, today’s CEO
has to know how to
address or manage
polarity. The customer
wants a quality product at
an affordable cost, with
transparency and a story
that is consistent with the
best values in society.
Shareholders want the
best, fastest return on a
product, with better
optimisation of capital. And
these are the conflicts that
create value and generate
progress, and that are not
necessarily mutually
exclusive. Herein lies the
value of management and
the reason management is
paid to provide this
service…’
Sergio Rial CEO of
Santander Bank, Brazi3]
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The Design School Strategy formation as a process of conception
The Planning School Strategy formation as a formal process
The Positioning School Strategy formation as an analytical process
The Entrepreneurial School Strategy formation as a visionary process
The Cognitive School Strategy formation as a mental process
The Learning School Strategy formation as an emergent process
The Power School Strategy formation as a process negotiation
The Cultural School Strategy formation as a collective process
The Environmental School Strategy formation as a reactive process
The Configuration School Strategy formation as a process of transformation
These scholars cut the 10 schools in to 3 groups, most leaders stumble from stage to stage, and would probably fall in to the Learning or
Cultural school (this school is about the collectiveness
of all the other schools). Therefore, our job as EAs is to
help these leaders navigate the strategy safari, my
thinking is more simplistic, success in developing and
driving strategy can be distilled into three core
categories:
1. Perspectives
2. Framework
3. Journey
EAs take the strain of working out the best strategy to
use, by using the IT Anthropology behaviours to ensure
clients are led through the challenges of transformation
programmes.
Perspectives
EAs need to drive next level thinking into understanding the outer and inner boundaries of control (the degree of disruption), effectively
the macro- (unknown disruption) and micro (known disruption)-economies in which organisations operate. The outer boundary is
concerned with social, economic, competition, political, etc. influences and inner boundary is concerned with the organisations structure,
culture, politics, power, etc. influences.
‘…Outwardly Ofcom have nothing to do with the Premier League television deal – that is the matter for the European
Union – but behind the scenes they are helping to shape the EU strategy..’
Daily Telegraph [3]
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For example, the majority of organisations rely heavily on a mechanistic structure and
look for this type of organisation structure to provide rules and policies that everyone
is forced to follow. This is the industrialisation of modern day businesses. One major
problem with mechanistic organisations like large monoliths such as IBM, GE, or
public sector organisations and burgeoning ones in various industries is that they
stifle innovation; going against the very equation we now see of technology plus talent
equaling innovation.
Mechanistic structures would follow high complexity, formalisation and centralisation,
the very thing we try to achieve to build in centres of excellence, but this should not
be at the expense of innovation or competitive differentiation. Following a mechanistic
structure, organisations are actually driving its people to perform routine tasks,
behave in a programmed manner, creating slow responses to the uncertainties of
developing a new business in an already vibrant market. Therefore, slow reaction in
developing new business outcomes will hinder strategy since, markets change very quickly and therefore the confines of the mechanistic
structure would not allow organisations to adapt and mold to the changing environments. EAs bring value in redefining organisation
structures resembling organic and dynamic businesses, which are flexible and adaptive. Emphasis falling on lateral rather than vertical
communication. EAs build target operating models creating a balance between an innovative organisation built upon, expertise and
knowledge rather than authority of position, loosely defined responsibilities, and emphasis on exchanging information rather than giving
directions, and centres of excellence based on role based culture to ensure those industrialised activities really do provide the economies
of scale.
Another burgeoning consideration is the Internet of Things (IoT) and the impact of ‘Cyber
Security’ on organisations. Understanding data collected about customers will have a
significant impact on how consumers trust organisations. This data is an incredible asset for
companies and their customers. It enables businesses to deliver a better service, develop
closer relationships with their customers and earn their trust. It enables customers to get more
targeted offerings and engage with companies in ways that are more meaningful, however,
84% of people say breaches of data privacy and ethics causes them to lose trust in
organisations [1].
Therefore, it is perspectives we need to understand balancing power, politics, market
dynamics etc. from outer and inner boundaries, ensuring the world in which organisations
transform in, can actually deliver commercial value and become a leader within in their field.
Without understanding perspectives and boundaries and the span of control in which to
operate in, strategy realisation will not enable outcomes.
Framework
This part of the white paper is the 1st locked part of structure to any delivery; EAs need
structure to building any component of a target-operating model, much like a Building
Architect needs structure to ensure their buildings stand the test of time through principles, policies, and standards.
The Enterprise Architecture framework will document the strategy and vision containing the detail necessary to define the reference
architecture to deliver against the outcomes. It also defines the roadmap for continuous improvement as the organisation changes over
time against the various perspectives.
An Enterprise Architecture Strategy and Vision details the conceptual architecture proposed for the outcomes (effectively the scope of
work), thus providing a view of the longer-term architecture objectives the organisation is trying to achieve. The role of the EA will be to
create clarity so that initial work may be undertaken to verify and align the business outcomes and resource requirements, and define the
outline information requirements and associated strategies of the architecture work to be done.
‘…As technology in the workplace increases, it
will have a big impact on both people and
culture. It’ll change the type of people you
employ. It’ll change the culture of delivery within
the organisation. It’ll drive us away from
applying human thoughts to things which can
be automated in a very logical way...’
Peter Harrison Group Chief Executive of
Schroders plc. UK [1]
‘…Digital technology is central to both
our customer solutions and our
operating practices. For example, we
are implementing platforms that make
it easier for our customers to access
their information and monitor their
consumption, and to optimise their
buildings’ energy use. We also make
significant use of digital technology to
improve industrial performance, by
implementing predictive maintenance
at our plants, for example…’
Isabelle Kocher
Directeur Général du Groupe (CEO)
ENGIE of France [1]
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Once the history is understood, the EA will describe the ‘TARGET’ architecture state. The EA focuses on describing the key business
opportunities or issues to be addressed by the proposed architecture development using the ‘5 Dimensions’ of Organisation architecture
domains (Business, Information, Application, Technology and Security) to describe it, as shown in the diagram below.
The methodology to develop the Enterprise Architecture Strategy and Vision can be created by multiple methods, the skill of the EA will be
to pick the correct one, typical ones used are TOGAF (The Open Group Architecture Development Method), ITIL (Information Technology
Infrastructure Library), Zachman, etc..
Strategy development, as mentioned before is being cognizant of the past and taking the organisation forward to a new world. The
framework must show some consideration to this previous history, describing the perspectives of the current situation including problems
and successes currently experienced, review current business strategy, capturing business motivation (Drivers, Goals, Objectives, and
Metrics [to measure benefit]) against demand being requested. The EA will analyse the business capability model and identify relevant
capabilities; typically, the current analysis would include:
Stakeholders Matrix.
Business Motivation Model.
Business issues.
Opportunities and drivers for change.
Capability Model (to highlight capabilities in scope).
The EA will describe how the architecture considers the outcome requirements, explaining how the architecture will help address issues
and concerns raised and support achievement of business goals and objectives. A clear description of anticipated benefit is presented,
providing an outlook of what value to drive from the portfolio, programme or projects of work to be scheduled, as a process of building the
Enterprise Architecture Model.
Definition
StatusProcess L2
Preliminary shortlist of metrics and
KPI
Expected financial
impactValue Driver(s)
Metric/KPI
Current
Metric/KPI
Value
Targeted
Metric/KPI
Value
Estimated One
Time impact
Estimated
Annual
impact
Estimated
5 yr impact
Impact
Considerations
Number of FTEs for the process "manage
pay" per $1 billion revenue
Consolidate/outsour
ce relevant HR Cycle time in business days from Rationalize IT Cycle time in business days to resolve a
Number of FTEs for the process "manage
Payment errors as a percentage of total
Percentage of payroll disbursements that
Percentage of employees receiving payroll
Systems cost to perform the process
Total cost to perform the process "manage
1. Elimiation of third
party time keeping
system
2. Elimination of
ATOS service fee
3. Reduction in per
FTE payroll
processing cost
8 6 4 Wave 1
Pre-
requisitesRoadmap Wave
HR & Payroll
OptimisationFully shaped
Hire to
RetireManage Pay XXXX XXXX XXXXX
ProjectFunctional
Area
Relative
financial
impact (scale
of 1 to 10)
Risk levelStrategy
Alignment
EAs start to group the business in to streams / verticals (such as
Procure to Pay, Order to Cash, etc..) capturing key aspects of the
future mode of operation and identifying dependencies between
streams to support roadmap sequencing in the Enterprise
Architecture Strategy and Vision.
EAs will describe capability maturity increments desired by the
business to achieve their desired business outcomes (and
associated benefit).
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Arriving at this point the EA would have documented the reference architecture, aligned, assimilated and adapted policies, principles and
standards that need to be referenced to describe how the target state will align to Business Strategic direction delivering the outcomes.
The ‘5 Dimensions’ of Organisations represents architectural views to address specific stakeholder viewpoints identified in the current
situation. ‘5 Dimensions’ of Organisations are categorised as:
Business Architecture: including process and organisational factors, such as roles, functions and target operating model.
The vision for business capabilities, such as strategic procurement, or integrated business planning; specifically the EA would:
o Define detailed Business Scenarios describing future state.
o Group high level requirements to business scenarios.
o Describe the future state capability maturity desired.
o Build a detailed Capability Roadmap and describe key maturity increments.
o Describe target state Conceptual business processes.
o Describe target state business operating model and relevant role changes.
o Describe anticipated business benefits in alignment with increments of capability maturity.
o Describe constraints, assumptions, risks and issues.
o Define architecture requirements.
Information Architecture: the conceptual information model and business information model. A common model for corporate
data and language rules that underpins business processes; specifically the EA would:
o Identify target information entities which will be used by referencing the Conceptual Information Model and Business
Information, creating master data principles.
o Link information entities to business capabilities and Business Processes described in the Business Architecture
section.
o Describe centre of excellence definition and governance processes (where information will be mastered and which
organisation unit and roles should govern it).
o Describe the system of record (where the information entity that is master data item and the system that is recognised
as that which holds the master data record).
o Describe the security classification for each Conceptual and/or Business Information Entity.
o Describe constraints, assumptions, risks and issues.
o Define architecture Requirements.
Application Architecture: encompassing the application reference architecture model and the application strategic intent. The
applications packages that support data transactions; specifically the EA would:
o Identify which application components will be required, referencing the Application Architecture Model.
o Describes the conceptual target state of business capabilities including future state view of single or multiple groups of
applications based on meeting business outcomes and Business Strategy.
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o Show the major applications in scope of the change and how these support the business process, information flows
and roles.
o Provides a long-term view of target applications.
o Define an application roadmap to support the architecture vision.
o Describe constraints, assumptions, risks and issues.
o Define Architecture Requirements.
Technology Architecture: the lean, mobile, scalable devices, hardware, network platforms that deliver applications operations
and the technology patterns to drive better integrations; specifically the EA would:
o Identify which application components are being used by referencing the Technology Architecture Model
o Link technology to applications described in Application Architecture
o Describe what technology change is required to support target state application landscape
o List what patterns are applicable
o Define a technology roadmap to support the architecture strategy and vision
o Describe constraints, assumptions, risks and issues.
o Define Architecture Requirements.
Security: strategy to protect and integrate the organisation on to a single secure solution to drive greater corporate responsibility,
gain consumer trust through being secure with all data management and IT disruptions / disaster recovery; specifically the EA
would:
o Identify which security components are being used by referencing the Application and Technology Architecture Model
(define and protect for Internet of Things within the boundaries of the scope)
o Link security to applications described in Application Architecture
o Define how sector or regional specific data security requirements (e.g. HIPPA, GDPR) will be met
o Describe what security change is required to support target state application landscape
o Define a security principles and policies to support the architecture strategy and vision
o Describe constraints, assumptions, risks and issues.
o Define Architecture Requirements.
Governing for Excellence
Like all strategies and adherence to achieving the intended aims, the EA will also need to act as a keeper of the vision letting only those
perspectives that will improve or assist the Enterprise Architecture Strategy and Vision to succeed in delivering its outcomes.
The governance model defines the controls we have in place to regulate the way work is delivered. The responsibility of the EA is to have
a Governance model in place, to ensure decisions that are made throughout
a programme of work, can be traced back to an authority, terms of reference
or mandated client policy.
EA Strategy Roadmap Gateway is fundamentally about decision-making and
controlling activity, and should not be confused with business-as-usual
management. It is the strategic task of setting goals, direction, limitations and
the framework of accountability. This governance gateway determines ‘what’
the client does and what it should become in the future, rather than ‘how’ it
operates. It provides oversight, approval, and control that regulates and
controls the day-to-day activities.
Fundamentally, the EA is the gatekeeper to:
chart the governance mechanisms regulating how day-to-day work is achieved, and
Providing guidance for colleagues to help them in decision making.
‘…Focus on a few key objectives … I only have three
things to do. I have to choose the right people, allocate
the right number of dollars, and transmit ideas from one
division to another with the speed of light. So I’m really in
the business of being the gatekeeper and the transmitter
of ideas…’
Jack Welch, Former Chairman and CEO of General
Electric, 1981-2001.
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In practical terms, the EA is there to help answer questions such as:
“Why are we doing this?” - Are we meeting our customers’ objectives?
“Does this feel right?” - Who bears the risk?
“Who else needs to know?” Whom do we need to tell about this?
This will also help to identify not only the ‘who’, but the ‘when’ to ask such questions.
The EA should pull together a set of standardised Terms of Reference (ToRs) (see example below) describing the purpose, remit,
accountabilities and methodologies for each meeting during the governance activity. Having standard ToRs encourages consistency,
improves transparency, challenges the purpose, identifies duplications and provides accurate reporting of decisions made and where
required escalations to the next level.
‘…Corporate governance is only part of the larger economic context in which firms operate that includes, for
example, macroeconomic policies and the degree of competition in product and factor markets. The corporate
governance framework also depends on the legal, regulatory and institutional environment. In addition factors
such as business ethics and corporate awareness of the environment and societal interests of the
communities in which a company operates can also have an impact on its reputation and its long term
success…’
Definition of Corporate Governance
OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development)
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Journey
In driving to an Enterprise Architecture Strategy and Vision and coming out with a roadmap for delivering programmes, the EA needs to
instil the ‘path of agile delivery’ in the wake of ‘business modulation’. The ‘path of agile of delivery’ is effectively making use of the V-
Model concepts (see next section) and ‘business modulation’ is managing the amplitude of business change, power and politics within
that context of business transformation.
The influence of power and politics has a great impact on the framework for delivery and the results that delivery will produce. Change
gets stuck because processes can become so hardened, in ways that do not create receptivity to change. Meaning the development of
organisations is hindered by the power of people involved in the process. These old stakeholders are linked to existing processes
where an entrenched view within these constituencies minds act as blinkers to understanding external dynamics of the changing
environment. Meaning some of the personnel within new business opportunities and those related to achieving a new paradigm their
personal power is threatened, and the only way old stakeholders know how to protect their patch is to put up barriers and resistance to
change. Personal agendas matter; surprisingly few people put the companys best interests above themselves during any change
intiative. To quote sport and the Secret Footballer:
However, the only way to fight power is to fight it with power itself, meaning dynamic people and an innovative mind-set at the heart of
an organisation is a necessity to driving change and change power dynamics for the benefit of creating better results.
Organisations would do well to utilise some of the research done by Hammer where his paper on: ‘Reengineering Work: Don’t Automate,
Obliterate’ [6] illustrates organisations should radically redesign the business processes to reflect the new dynamic ways of doing business
harnessing the power of the right personnel and technologies, advocating an ALL or NOTHING approach.
Clearly, this research is in tune with:
In addition, aligned to Oracle’s accelerators, utilising ‘modern best practice’ [7], driving change positively and reducing time taken to
deliver transformations. Taking leading out of the box technology and having this implemented by skilled resources taking a ’path of
agile delivery’ to deliver results and innovation quickly.
Hammer, would argue that reengineering relies on recognising and
challenging old assumptions and rules that will make the
businesses under-perform and breaking away from them, i.e.
moving away from the old way of managing businesses and
allowing some entrepreneurial flair to exist in helping innovation
and flexibility to flourish. Therefore, by reviewing and changing the
scope of the business and re-organising the business network
structure, organisations can reengineer their business processes
once more but this time looking to enhance capabilities.
‘…If there is one thing I have learned, is that every player in every dressing room has an agenda…everyone
is in it for themselves…’ [5]
Secret Footballer– Tales from the Secret Footballer, Guardian Faber, 2013
‘Use computers to redesign – not just automate – existing
business processes’ [6]
M. Hammer – Reengineering Work: Don’t Automate, Obliterate, HBR, July-Aug ’90
𝑇𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑛𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑦 + 𝑇𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡 = 𝐼𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
15 EXECUTIVE PAPER / Architecting Modern Enterprises
Taking a path of agile delivery organisations should be looking to seek efficiencies (evolutionary
curve) in the first instance, streamlining core business practices. Thus, the main objective is to
optimise achieving operational brilliance within the span of control. Seeking efficiency is about
concentrating on the internal aspects of the organisational boundary. However, having realised
what it takes to achieve operational brilliance internally; organisations should understand the
dynamics of the external environment where organisations begin to change their business
network (reach) and scope. By attempting to redesign these aspects, organisations would then
take on a ‘revolutionary curve’ and look to develop its business that would be enhancing
capabilities and delivering value add and more revenues. It is the skill of the EA to determine
when an organisations business dynamics needs to follow a revolutionary curve or a smaller
evolutionary progression, in the context of managing the business modulation via the path of
agile delivery.
It must be recognised that gaining such reward from revolutionary activities would come at a
significant effort of attempting change, and this is where issues lie, leaders need to keep the
faith and desire to transform their organisations to develop significant capabilities.
‘…I think that the biggest change
that I see happening in the next 20
years is that there is going to be
big overlapping among the
different industries. So, there is
going to be fierce competition
among the mature industries – for
example, telecoms will fight with
energy companies, energy
companies will fight with the
automotive companies, and so
on…’
Francesco Venturini CEO of Enel
Green Power, Italy [1]
‘…Ephemeralization, a term coined by R. Buckminster Fuller, is the ability of technological advancement to do
"more and more with less and less until eventually you can do everything with nothing," that is, an accelerating
increase in the efficiency of achieving the same or more output (products, services, information, etc.) while
requiring less input (effort, time, resources, etc.)…’ [8]
16 EXECUTIVE PAPER / Architecting Modern Enterprises
D2 = Disruption and Delivery
Managing Strategic Problems: Managing Forces of Disruption
Factors relating to the transformations of businesses can be linked to that of IT projects and successful completion of such projects.
Except in this case the successful completion of business projects would be deemed by its viability and sustainability as a transformed
business for many years to come. Therefore, problems such as business buy-in, selecting right resources, relationship management,
stakeholder perceptions, to name but a few, are critical to successfully building a business, the figure below highlights some of the issues
that jeopardise the successful transformations of businesses and projects alike.
Having used this analogy between IT projects and
business strategy it is clear to see that a number of
similar problems can be faced by each activity. The
diagram clearly illustrates how an organisation can
become out of control through a sequence of events
that have either been attributed to lack of buy-in or
personal power prevailing to the business not
actually taking the transformation seriously (the
Secret Footballer example), not managing the
factors of disruption. This clearly results in an
organisation becoming lost and the required
outcomes to successfully operate the business will
never be realised, because organisations (leaders /
management) lose sight with the degree of
importance a disruption has on the outcomes.
Therefore, learning from over 20 years of consulting, I use technology (in this case, utilising Oracle) as a driver for change, much like
cloud services (Software, Platform, and Infrastructure -as a Service) is changing business thinking in the 21st century. Leading to re-
addressing processes and looking to deploy and recruit key resources (internally and externally) meaning the EA must manage the
amplitude of the business modulation and keep it within the span of control to ensure the whole strategy for organisational change can
follow the Enterprise Architecture Strategy and Vision, taking organisations through a revolutionary change. What I am implying, the
strategy of organisations should be pulled along by the driving force of IT; using the levers of processes and individuals to realise the
outcomes. EAs often have to step back and change the structure of the processes before one was able to change the strategy, which
would then reinforce structural changes. Meaning EAs need to make organisations understand their market dynamics, allowing them to
develop significant changes to processes being developed leading to organisations resembling a more organic, dynamic, flexible, and
innovative structures, more conducive and receptive to enhanced capabilities to meet the outcomes.
‘…we are concerned the board must evolve with the right skill set and expertise, which provides a package
of knowledge to help the club achieve a higher level of growth going forward…’
Chairman, Crewe Alexander Football Club [3]
17 EXECUTIVE PAPER / Architecting Modern Enterprises
Delivering Strategic Programmes: V-Model
This part of the white paper is the 2nd locked part of structure to any delivery; the EAs at this stage of the re-definition lifecycle will provide
the handshake to the ‘Delivery’ team. A core component of delivery will be to utilise the V Model.
The V Model is a modified representation of a traditional system development lifecycle that aligns activities and outputs in the start-up
stages of a project, up to the actual building of the
capabilities. The diagram below pulls together the
stages of discussion so far, into a complete view of
the re-definition lifecycle.
It should become clear now, that EAs are embedded
in helping organisations realise benefits and
supporting them in developing capabilities over the
course of a delivery lifecycle, that takes into
consideration the strategy development as well as
seeing the strategy to fruition via programme
delivery.
Breaking down the V-Model further, there are four
levels of qualification to ensure the solution being
developed is assured to deliver against the
outcomes and create the capabilities being sought.
The left hand side of the model describes the breakdown from outcomes to the creation of system artefacts. The right hand side illustrates
the corresponding verification and validation required as the system is configured and deployed.
EAs would operate at the highest level of the model to provide an assurance role to the solution being delivered, as controll ing both
gateways during the solution delivery process. The expectation will be that consulting or service integrator (SI) partners will plan and
perform the day-to-day delivery work that goes into designing, configuring and building solutions and capabilities.
18 EXECUTIVE PAPER / Architecting Modern Enterprises
Assurance Gateways
EAs focus must be firmly on helping organisations to achieve their target business outcomes. In the Enterprise Architecture Strategy and
Vision EAs assist, organisations articulate the changes in capability they need to achieve, and will guide them by defining the high-level
technology changes that will enable the business improvements required. EAs will focus on the higher-value activities of engaging with
organisations (at the C-suite level), understanding their business, and helping them achieve their strategic aims.
When the programme moves to the lower levels of the model, the traceability matrix will help manage the interaction of the organisational
business transformation team and the consulting vendor, to produce the products and artefacts that go into delivering a new solution or
capability. While the EA role will shift toward quality assurance, assuring the products that the programme delivers, and in some cases,
also the process that the delivery team has undertaken to achieve those products. ‘Assurance’ means EAs should:
Review and quality-assure delivery contractual deliverables, ensuring that each is fit for purpose and meets strategic needs
Make sure delivery teams are aware of their responsibility to adhere to the Enterprise Architecture Strategy and Vision
Be accountable for the programme or project adhering to all relevant governance, particularly stage-gate governance
Make sure the delivery teams reports progress against plan throughout the engagement
Maintain visibility of delivery-managed working logs such as RAID logs, action plans, and defect logs
EAs should expect to assure the quality of products delivered throughout the engagement, and where necessary be prepared to reject
products that are not of sufficient quality. Product assurance will be conducted through ensuring traceability from business (objectives)
specifications through to acceptance verification. Validation is necessary for the solution (product) delivered by a programme, and, for
the satellite systems, which interface with the solution.
Specific products that the delivery team will be expected to deliver will depend on the nature of the programme or project and will be
defined with the organisation. Deliverables that would typically be expected to be quality-assured could include:
Detailed programme and project implementation plans
Objectives capture documentation
Outline and Detailed solution designs
Validation strategies and plans
Validation reports and defect logs
Change requests and impact assessments
Validation will provide documented evidence of compliance with the functional and operational requirements approved for the
implementation of capabilities. The EA will drive the qualification processes as the programme charts through its stages, the diagram
above categorises four levels of qualification:
Design
Installation
Operational
Performance
Detailed Design
Functional
Specification
Tech Design
Specification Test Procedure
Additional
Information
Process Level 1 Process Level 2 id Process Level 3 id Process Level 4
id
Global
Process
Owner
Related
Design
Principle
Business
Requirement
Category
Pain point Category Root cause Category Related
Site
Solution
Category
Doc. ID/
version
Doc. ID/
version
Doc ID/
version
Doc ID/
version
Comments
Order To Cash B.1 B.1.1 B.1.1.1 Efficiency -
removal of
repetitive
manual
processes
Complete
organization
setup
Delays in Sales Order
Processing
Lack of automated
interfaces
ALL System
Order To Cash B.1 B.1.1 B.1.1.2 Common data
- single
consistent
definitions
Single view of
Customer,
Vendors and
Contracts
Delays in Sales Order
Processing
Lack of automated
interfaces
All
Traceability matrix
19 EXECUTIVE PAPER / Architecting Modern Enterprises
These qualification gates provide programmes the necessary assurance to move from one stage to the next:
Qualification Validation
Design The design of the Target Process Solution Design specifications, along with relevant
extensions to third party systems.
Required business processes will be specified through detail design documents and
gap specifications, leading to configuration of the solution design and final
configuration instructions.
These design specifications will include details of the system and will be traceable to
the functional specification and the business objectives.
Extension components and non-standard feature design and code reviews will be
performed and documented.
Installation The solution should test to ensure it is built and operates as an integrated business
solution and to verify that the implemented solution is functioning according to the
Functional Specification and the detailed requirements in the High Level Design.
The solution should be verified to ensure performance under load, to a standard
acceptable to justified requirements.
Verification should be justified, defined and executed to challenge the extended
components for detection of incorrect operation. Justification of tests will be through
functional risk assessment, grading risk of failure for each scenario.
Tests should be designed, executed and registered in a traceability matrix to ensure
coverage and completeness.
Operational The solution should verify through testing as acceptable to the business and operable
with a reasonable set of data, according to the agreed Enterprise Architecture
Strategy and Vision.
Tests should be designed, executed and registered in a traceability matrix to ensure
coverage and completeness.
Performance The solution should verify the capabilities have delivered against the outcomes and
can be measured on an on-going basis through a benefits realisation validation
process, and aligns to the Enterprise Architecture Strategy and Vision. Measuring the
KPIs using SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timeliness)
principles.
Definition
StatusProcess L2
Preliminary shortlist of metrics and
KPI
Expected financial
impactValue Driver(s)
Metric/KPI
Current
Metric/KPI
Value
Targeted
Metric/KPI
Value
Estimated One
Time impact
Estimated
Annual
impact
Estimated
5 yr impact
Impact
Considerations
Number of FTEs for the process "manage
pay" per $1 billion revenue
Consolidate/outsour
ce relevant HR Cycle time in business days from Rationalize IT Cycle time in business days to resolve a
Number of FTEs for the process "manage
Payment errors as a percentage of total
Percentage of payroll disbursements that
Percentage of employees receiving payroll
Systems cost to perform the process
Total cost to perform the process "manage
1. Elimiation of third
party time keeping
system
2. Elimination of
ATOS service fee
3. Reduction in per
FTE payroll
processing cost
8 6 4 Wave 1
Pre-
requisitesRoadmap Wave
HR & Payroll
OptimisationFully shaped
Hire to
RetireManage Pay XXXX XXXX XXXXX
ProjectFunctional
Area
Relative
financial
impact (scale
of 1 to 10)
Risk levelStrategy
Alignment
20 EXECUTIVE PAPER / Architecting Modern Enterprises
CONCLUSION
This paper has highlighted the importance of the
Enterprise Architect and the role this resource plays,
in providing organisations a clear agile path to
achieve its outcomes, through a structured model and
a number of techniques / frameworks along the way
to achieve success.
The support of senior leaders is critical in providing a
holistic perspective. Senior leaders must openly back and understand the re-definition lifecycle and its importance of communicating
future strategies, generating value and moving the organisation forward into new paradigms.
Outcomes: Making use of techniques like scenario planning, business value matrix, determining which disruptions are important to an
organisation to allow leaders to set correct outcomes, objectives, and goals for organisations to meet shareholder value expectations,
outcomes will be cognizant against industry and organisational cultures and philosophy.
Strategy: Understanding Perspectives, Frameworks and the Journey an organisation needs to take, ensuring they can begin driving
outcomes enriched with capabilities. The EA at this stage is critical to ensuring strategy can power outcomes and business direction;
delivering against the core values sought by the organisation. Skills sets around ‘IT Anthropology Behaviours’ are core to driving senior
leaders in realising the strategy; structuring and governing the business across ‘5 Dimensions’ for success with an operating model that
can truly perform in the new world context an organisation will be moving towards. The journey is a constant reinforcement that
Technology + Talent equals Innovation that will drive enhanced capability because of the revolutionary change in the organisations
network of operation.
‘…You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change
something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete…’
Richard Buckminster Fuller, July 12 1895 – July 1 1983, American
architect, systems theorist, author, designer, and inventor
21 EXECUTIVE PAPER / Architecting Modern Enterprises
Delivery: The first component around delivery is the management of forces of disruption and creating governance excellence throughout
the re-definition lifecycle, ensuring you can control the programme of work within the boundaries of control defined by the organisation.
The second part is about constant solution validation and taking the transformation journey through a traceability structure to ensure we
qualify from one stage to the next, and actually deliver on the outcomes we set out to enrich with capabilities, that can be ‘SMART’-ly
measured.
Finally, this papers construction is on the same principles documented. My outcome directive was to give back to my fellow colleagues
(clients, employers, suppliers, all) the lessons I have learnt so far. Achieving transformations though understanding perspectives, being
cognizant of the impact transformations have on the lives of individuals with the sole aim to improve the life of humans and payback to
society the kindness and support shown to me in my continuing journey…
‘…Good architecture should be a projection of life itself, and that implies an intimate knowledge
of biological, social, technical and artistic problems…’
Walter Gropius, 18 May 1883- 5 July 1969, German Architect and Founder of Bauhaus School
and Pioneer of Mastering Modernist Architecture
22 EXECUTIVE PAPER / Architecting Modern Enterprises
STARTING YOUR RE-DEFINTIION JOURNEY…
Oracle Consulting Enterprise Architects are skilled ‘IT Anthropologists’ and understand your business landscape, to make your
organisation a ‘Modern Enterprise’ delivering outcomes to the power of strategy. Enhancing your capabilities and creating value from the
start of strategy definition to the end of the roadmap, underpinned by a continuous improvement programme to transform your business
as the leading competitor in your field.
Our Oracle Consulting Enterprise Architecture Practice consists of four key services to help you improve your business:
Solution Leadership: Leading you through the complete re-definition
journey and delivering a solution that can provide strategy to meet your
outcomes with enhanced / enriched capabilities
Health Checks: Our EAs also provide capabilities in checking your
journey and providing feedback on meeting your outcomes, objectives
and goals
Architecture Governance: A governance service to ensure you can
build your solution and meet your stakeholder commitments, with a
robust assurance model
Partner Management: Keeping your service integration partners
honest, and making sure they have the necessary knowledge
connection to drive value out of your solution deployment.
Oracle has the necessary skill set to deliver your complete re-definition
journey, underpinned by our Oracle True Cloud Method (TCM)
specifically designed to deliver maximum effectiveness when enabling
Oracle’s own cloud services. It is based on Oracle Consulting’s cumulative experiences in implementing cloud applications over the last
several years.
TCM© is Oracle Consulting’s Solution First approach, based on both Oracles Modern Best Practices and
Oracle Consulting’s pre-built solutions. Visualisation techniques are used to allow our clients to
understand the new standard solution from the very start, and modern best practices are assessed for
business value to determine where to focus process optimisation. The Oracle True Cloud Method will
help clients to take ownership of the new way of working in the Cloud.
23 EXECUTIVE PAPER / Architecting Modern Enterprises
We ‘Engage’, to understand your business landscape and validate your outcomes are achievable through a purpose built
strategy and vision
We ‘Focus’, with Solution First using Oracle Modern Best Practices combined with our additional pre-built solutions. By doing
so Oracle Consulting guides you through the adoption of Oracle Modern Best Practice processes removing the need for
extensive requirement gathering and design effort, and aligning smartly with your objectives and goals.
We ‘Refine’, by utilising Visualisation of the Oracle Modern Best Practices; you obtain a clear understanding of the working
application so that informed decisions can be made on how best to adopt these.
We ‘Enable’, with attention and effort spent on optimising those processes that drive value for your organization, whereas
transactional automation-ready processes are adopted out of the box.
We get you ‘Live’ and have you ‘Operate’, via Cloud Adoption to assist you in taking ownership of the new application and of
new ways of working in the Cloud, in order to maximise end-user adoption and ongoing value of the solution.
24 EXECUTIVE PAPER / Architecting Modern Enterprises
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jazz Badeshia is an Enterprise Architect Practice Director for Oracle Consulting in UK and Ireland. He has more than 20 years of
experience as an Enterprise Architect and strategist, with focus specifically on business transformation covering finance, manufacturing
and supply chain domains. Jazz advises clients in multiple industries, including retail, life sciences, logistics, food and beverage, and
public sector.
Jazz’s journey so far:
20 years ERP consulting experience
8 consulting Organizations1
7 implementation methods2
2 Indian consulting houses3
20 blue chip clients
12 successful projects
2 failed projects
1 Software Solution: Oracle
35,000 consulting hours and counting…4
Jazz can be contacted at [email protected]
END NOTES
[1] – PwC, 20th Annual Global CEO Survey, 2017.
[2] – S. Cummings and D. Wilson, Images of Strategy, Blackwell Publishing, UK, 2003.
[3] – J. Badeshia, A Strategic Risk Assessment of Football, Warwick University, UK, 2006.
[4] – Strategy Safari, Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, Lampel Prentice Hall, 1998.
[5] – Secret Footballer – Tales from the Secret Footballer, Guardian Faber Publishing, 2013.
[6] – M. Hammer, Reengineering Work: Don’t Automate, Obliterate, Harvard Business Review, July-August, 1990.
[7] – Oracle Modern Best Practice Link, https://www.oracle.com/uk/applications/modern-best-practice/index.html#close
[8] – R. B. Fuller, Nine Chains to the Moon, Anchor Books, 1938, 1973, pp252-259
1 Logica, Druid, Atos Origin, IBM, Deloitte, Accenture, Infinity Consultancy (own business), Oracle Consulting
2 Oracle Application Implementation Methods, R2I, Accenture Delivery Methods, IndustryPrint, Prince2, KPE, TCM
3 Wipro, Cognizant
4 Charles Q. Choi, June 6, 2011, Too Hard for Science: Seeing if 10,000 hours makes you an expert
(http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2011/06/06/too-hard-for-science-seeing-if-10000-hours-make-you-an-
expert/)
25 EXECUTIVE PAPER / Architecting Modern Enterprises
About Oracle Consulting
Oracle Consulting is the #1 Consulting Organisation for Oracle Cloud Implemenation. The team is focused exclusively on Oracle Cloud
solutions and staffed with the experts that others turn to for best practices. With our global scale of more than 7,000 experts in 175
countries serving more than 20 million users, we know how to get you up and running in the Oracle Cloud as quickly and cost effectively
as possible.
Oracle Consulting uses field-tested methodology and a network of worldwide experts to develop solutions that address your challenges
and strategic initiatives, providing you with a complete, transformational cloud journey that modernizes your business.
Accelerate Change. Drive Agility.
Strategize, accelerate, and transform your future.
Create your cloud strategy. Define a cloud migration strategy and develop use cases.
Accelerate time to market. Improve business agility and react quickly to changes in the market.
Transform while reducing TCO. Optimize business process while gaining predictability of costs.
Would like to find out more? Get in touch with our EA Team now.
Paul Mardle Jazz Badeshia
UK Head of Enterprise Architecture UK Enterprise Architect Practice Director
26 EXECUTIVE PAPER / Architecting Modern Enterprises
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