EA, like any architecture, represents the structure of an Enterprise and its documentation describing how the Enterprise operates. The better the architecture, the better the outcome, the returned
value.
A good architecture structure reduces duplications and overlays in processes, platforms, projects and sometimes people and it consolidates the many interconnections.
A good documentation describes the structure, standardises best practices and technologies, maps strategies on architecture components and architecture layers such as proceess to people and
technology. It makes understanding the operation and training people easy.
The Enterprise Architecture delivers value, as soon as it is designed and implemented. In fact, it does that, gradually, while it is implemented by increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of your Enterprise. EA soon becomes an asset in its own, returning value to your Enterprise.
Project justification is done at Business Case time, before the start of the development by
enumerating and estimating a number of key benefits. Ideally, all these initial benefits should be
tracked and measured at implementation time to prove the delivery of promisses. Same applies to EA.
The EA scope is key though, since more scope should return more value. EA iterations may add
scope and as such new value. EA is differently described by different sources.
EA, is it an IT only architecture? Then you are are looking only at the benefits of standardising
technology and integrating applications. With business and people architecture the picture changes significantly. The Business, Organization and IT alignment and ensuing benefits can be only achieved
if you include in scope a Business Architecture.
Once the scope and deliverables are established, the benefits and business case of the development can be estimated. The EA success should be measured against the listed benefits and deliverables scope rather than against an abstract EA that does not have an agreed definition but promisses a lot, in vague terms.
A table of key business improvement benefits, the way to measure them, and their stakeholders
should be defined from the beginning and measured at the end of an EA iteration. The key benefit
indicators may be grouped in a few categories:
operational (those enhancing the operation): single customer view (master data management)
development (improving your innovation and product development process); NPD: time to market
governance (enabling understanding, communication and decision making in the organisation)
support (enabling creative people and technology support processes); single version of truth for reporting
The EA development success is measured at implementation time with project progress indicators.
An EA maturity framework will help you also measure progress in the development phase and
compliance at exploitation, by measuring success from a process and extent of business participation points of view rather than from a business value view quantified in key improvement
indicators.
Value sometimes comes down to how do I justify my job as an EA architect!
Firstly, many "EA architects" are not really doing an EA design work. They are Enterprise level technology and applications integration experts and IT veterans.
But if your are really doing EA work, using the business benefits stated in the business case,
measured by key improvement indicators correlated with a maturity framework evaluating the EA
development progress and compliance to EA, can save your job.
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