The IT Architecture_Closure

7/25/2019 The IT Architecture_Closure

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The IT Architecture

An Information Technology Architecturedefines a company's IT infrastructure and includes

policies and guidelines that govern the arrangements of IT resourcescomputers, data, software,

and communications facilities.

An IT architecture provides a structure to facilitate decision making about technology investment

and use.

An IT architecture ensures that technology decisions are made strategically, not

haphazardly.

A clear idea of their business strategy and the related IT reuirements!

IT and associated costs make up more than "#$ of new capital e%penditures in many

companies already& but while the costs of other resources are increasing, the cost of

IT is decreasing #$()#$ per year.

*ust as the building owner cannot simply tell an architect to build a skyscraper

without first articulating what the function and uses of the building will be, business

e%ecutives cannot e%pect their IT specialists to design an IT architecture without a

clear understanding of the business needs.

An IT architecture has three distinct +layers+

-/ the inventory of IT +building blocks,+

-/ the functional use of the information technology, and

-)/ the strategic plans for the use of IT in the business

Inventory

0omputer hardware

1oftware

2ata

0ommunications links

These building blocks are analogous to the parts and materials -the steel beams, the concrete, the

electrical wiring, the glass/ that the skyscraper builder uses to construct a building.

Computer hardware

Computersare generally classified according to their size and speed into fourmain categories

microcomputers or 30s -the smallest/, minicomputers, mainframes, and super(computers -the largest/.


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Software

0omputer hardware is directed by softwaresets of instructions generally referredto as programs.

Data

2ata is the record of an observed event. In a computer environment, data are numbers,te%t, graphics, images,

and voice stored in a form that can be processed by a computer. +2ata+ becomes +information+ only when it is

analyzed and interpreted to provide meaning.

As a building block for an IT architecture, data may be considered a +raw material.+

Communications links

0ommunication infrastructure enables the sharing ofdata and information among various users within and

outside of the organization.

4arious types of data -such as numbers, words, graphics, voice, and video/ may be transmitted digitally acrosscommunication links, depending on the bandwidthof the linkage.

Networkis used to refer to a system of hardware and software which permits computer(to(computer or

computer(to(peripheral device communication.

5iber cables for wide area networks can transmit data at ." billion bits per second -gbps/. 5iber(based

local area networks transmit at ## million bits per second -mbps/ 6

Functional Use of the Information Technology

The functional use of the IT tells how these capabilities are employed within the

organization.

This layer in the IT architecture is analogous to an architect's blueprint for a building.

It is at this conceptual level of IT functionthat the general manager and the IT architect come together.

The general manager has certain tasks and functions that she needs the IT to perform in order to support

the business.

Applications

2ata

0ommunications


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Strategic Plan for the IT

7eneral managers who understood business issues were typically unfamiliar with

computers. They attended to strategy and management matters, and delegated IT architecture

decisions to the in(house +computer gurus+.

These top(down and bottom(up approaches must meet in the +middle,+ so that the most

appropriate technology is arranged to support the business goals of the company.

Developing an Architecture

1tep .Articulate the business strategy and implications for the IT architecture1tep . Baseline the company architecture1tep ). Determine the key architecture questions1tep 8. Design a planned architecture blueprint1tep ". Initiate the architecture plan

IT enables information to be managed as a strategic resource. IT, however, is

e%tremely fast(changing and comple%. As a result, general managers face a dilemma they can

not leave important IT decisions strictly to the technologists, and they can not hope to be

technically competent to make the +right+ IT decisions for the firm. This dilemma is resolved

by the management construct of IT architecture. An IT architecture is a bridge between

strategy and technology.

Generations of Information Architecture


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Generation

Focus

Driven By

Content


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1st Generation

Systems as

Increasing functionality

Explanation of the need for

197s and 19!s

standalone

and sophistication of

an architectural approach"

applications #ithin

standalone applications$

Analogies #ith %uilding

individual

architecture"

organi&ations$

Simple 'D diagrams or

frame#or(s providing

overvie#s of the architecture$


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'nd Generation

Gro#th in system

Extension and adaptation of

Systems as

199s

integrated sets of

complexity and

diagrams from

components

interdependence"

architectures"

#ithin individual

Demand for soft#are

)opulation of frame#or(s

organi&ations$

reuse$

#ith industry reference


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models$

*rd Generation

Information as

Emergence of the Internet+

Explicit definition of principles

late 199s

corporate

e,commerce+ and an

and %ac(ground theory

and 's

resource #ith

increase in %usiness,to,

Development of multi,

supporting IT tools

%usiness applications"

dimensional architectures"

and techni-ues$

Gro#ing interdependence

.ustomi&ation of information

among organi&ations"

frame#or(s to the needs of


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Adoption of (no#ledge

individual organi&ations"

management+ systems

Generic information patterns

thin(ing+ and a more

and maps$

holistic vie# of information

as a resource$


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Case : framework for information systems architecture

by J. A.

Zachman

The technology itself did not provide for either breadth in scope or

depth in complexity in information systems. Decentralization without structure is chaos.

Information systems architecture is related to strategy both

information strategy and business strategy the paper deliberately

limits itself to architecture and should not be construed as

presenting a strategic planning methodology

Architectural deliverables in constructing a building !

"ubble charts

Architect#s drawings Architect#s plans

$ontractor#s plans

%hop plans

The building

&ow when we loo' at military airframe manufacturing !

$oncepts

(or' brea'down structure

)ngineering design

*anufacturing engineering bill+of+material

Assembly and fabrication drawings

Information %ystems !

%cope, -bectives

*odel of the business

*odel of the Information %ystem

Technology *odel


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Detailed Description

*achine /anguage Description

Information %ystem

Three di0erent types of descriptions of the same product 1

*aterial 2(hat are the things made of34 1 Data *odel 2)ntity+relationship+entity4

5unction 26ow the things wor's34 1 7rocess *odel 2Input+process+

output4

/ocation 2(here the 8ows exist34 1 &etwor' *odel 2&ode+line+node4

The IT Architecture_Closure

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