Quantifying the value of Enterprise Architecture
As well as an increase in the number of Enterprise Architects, there’s also an increase in the number of people asking “how do I quantify the value of Enterprise Architecture (EA) to my organisation?” or “what value does my EA group provide?”
There was a time when people would nod when the benefits of EA were mentioned:
better integration from all perspectives (lots of nodding); improved ‘alignment’ between ‘business’ needs and IT spend (vigorous nodding); reduced IT TCO (big smiles); manage change more effectively (looking round the room to see who else is nodding); better support for risk reduction & compliance (jaws tightening); basis for continual improvement and KM (some raised eyebrows)…..
There was a time when people would nod when the benefits of EA were mentioned:
better integration from all perspectives (lots of nodding); improved ‘alignment’ between ‘business’ needs and IT spend (vigorous nodding); reduced IT TCO (big smiles); manage change more effectively (looking round the room to see who else is nodding); better support for risk reduction & compliance (jaws tightening); basis for continual improvement and KM (some raised eyebrows)…..
Increasingly, the nodding is followed by a “well, prove it” or a “well, I don’t see my EA group providing those benefits” (not good for the EA group!).
Most of the things that need to be done seem obvious (but aren’t always done for various reasons): identifying ‘customers’ and stakeholders for EA ‘services’ ; understanding priorities and needs; agreeing on the basis for architectural maturity assessments to get involvement as well as a basis for planning and showing progress, communication plans (including benefit demonstration)…
Another key element in the ‘value arena’ is ensuring that the processes that approve projects and measure benefit are set up to support recognition of EA benefits. Some organisations ‘buy into’ EA in theory but only look at the cost/benefit of individual ‘projects’ and do not explicitly have somewhere that EA benefits can be recognised (gets a bit easier with programs compared with projects).
Although the context is changing in some ways, it’s worth having a look behind Zachman’s quote “You can’t cost justify architecture”.
There’s not a huge amount of publicly available, systematic information on actual benefits from EA programs and functions. However, a couple of places worth a skim:
• Gartner’s “Applying Enterprise Architecture” which gives a couple of examples (NB: subscription required)
• Survey of over 250 CIOs last year about architecture - exec summary:
• Some great images and breakdowns on the “Institute of Software Architects” page:
On a lighter note, there’s a great cartoon at ‘Geek and Poke' with a ‘techie’ talking to a ‘budget holder’: (I changed it very slightly):
Techie: “…WOA, SOA, TOGAF...”
Budget Holder: “ROI?”
Techie: “don’t bother me with buzzwords!”
(not really the same without the cartoon, see it here - sadly it happens too often).
Cheers
Andrew
Most of the things that need to be done seem obvious (but aren’t always done for various reasons): identifying ‘customers’ and stakeholders for EA ‘services’ ; understanding priorities and needs; agreeing on the basis for architectural maturity assessments to get involvement as well as a basis for planning and showing progress, communication plans (including benefit demonstration)…
Another key element in the ‘value arena’ is ensuring that the processes that approve projects and measure benefit are set up to support recognition of EA benefits. Some organisations ‘buy into’ EA in theory but only look at the cost/benefit of individual ‘projects’ and do not explicitly have somewhere that EA benefits can be recognised (gets a bit easier with programs compared with projects).
Although the context is changing in some ways, it’s worth having a look behind Zachman’s quote “You can’t cost justify architecture”.
There’s not a huge amount of publicly available, systematic information on actual benefits from EA programs and functions. However, a couple of places worth a skim:
• Gartner’s “Applying Enterprise Architecture” which gives a couple of examples (NB: subscription required)
• Survey of over 250 CIOs last year about architecture - exec summary:
• Some great images and breakdowns on the “Institute of Software Architects” page:
On a lighter note, there’s a great cartoon at ‘Geek and Poke' with a ‘techie’ talking to a ‘budget holder’: (I changed it very slightly):
Techie: “…WOA, SOA, TOGAF...”
Budget Holder: “ROI?”
Techie: “don’t bother me with buzzwords!”
(not really the same without the cartoon, see it here - sadly it happens too often).
Cheers
Andrew
Comments
I think EA as a domain in itself is still in its infancy and there is a lot of growing up to do, in terms of arriving at metrics that would do any kind of cost-justifying to the organization, and also in itself..there are miles to go..
Posted by: Nirmala Desai | June 5, 2008 12:56 PM